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Possible learning experiences
Whatever the weather
Suggested learning outcomes
Students will:
- develop movement to interpret the world they live in (1/2B1);
- explore and describe their feelings and emotions when moving in different situations (1A4).
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Underlying concepts
Socio-ecological perspective
Recognising factors that influence how they feel and move.
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Possible learning activities
To motivate the students:
- play music before or while the students are moving;
- discuss the weather, for example, what the weather was like yesterday, is like today, and might be like tomorrow;
- look at and discuss pictures of weather and talk about what types of weather the students have experienced, such as snow, hail, or an electrical storm;
- sit outside and watch clouds, looking for recognisable shapes in them.
All kinds of weather
- Ask the students how they could show today's weather with their body. Could they show a windy, sunny, cold, cloudy, or rainy day? How could they show thunder and lightning with their body?
- Discuss with the students how weather affects us, especially our moods, in various ways. The students could show how they feel on a hot muggy day or on a cold day when it is pouring with rain. They could show how they splash in the puddles.
- The students could move like a weather pattern of their choice and could choose to make appropriate sounds with their hands, feet, or voices to represent environmental noises. The students could watch each other moving and try to guess what type of weather each person is representing (1/2B1).
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Foggy fun
- Discuss with the students how it feels to move through fog. Divide the class in half, making one half of the class the water drops that form the fog and the other half cats trying to get home for dinner. The fog moves slowly around the room without touching anything but making it difficult for the cats to get home. The cats try to avoid making contact with the fog while attempting to reach home (the other side of the room). When all the cats are home safely, reverse the roles.
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Variations and extensions to this activity could include the following:
- Make the fog thicker and thicker by gradually reducing the area for movement.
- Glue water drops to the spot so that they need to reach out towards the cats.
- Discuss the idea that the heavier the fog is, the slower you should move in it.
Weather dances
- In some cultures, people perform rain dances when they are in need of water. The students could think of the type of weather they would like, and each child could make up a dance to bring on that kind of weather, for example, a sun dance, a wind dance, or a storm dance. After watching each other conveying weather patterns through movement and shapes, the students try to guess what weather each person is dancing for (1/2B1).
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Variations and extensions to this activity could include the following:
- Small groups could develop a weather dance to depict any day's or week's weather pattern.
- After discussing the type of weather they may encounter on a tramp or picnic, the students could use their imagination to pack their daypacks with the appropriate clothing and to set off on the hike, dressing and moving appropriately for the changing weather.
- Blindfold a small group of students, who move together in their make-believe boat to Treasure Island. On the way, they must dodge a variety of weather conditions, which are acted out with sound effects by the rest of the class.
Assessment opportunity
Students show ways they can portray the weather through movement (1/2B1).
Students working within level 2 will link movements to show weather.
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Teachers' notes
Resources required for this activity could include:
- graphic pictures of weather patterns;
- music, such as Rossini's William Tell Overture, that expresses the development, passage, and passing of a storm.
Movement skills
The students' increasing spatial awareness plays an important part in the development of their movement skills.
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