Creative Dance Lesson Plan on Inference
Grade: 2nd Length: 45 minutes Written by: Chelsea Alley
Student Learning Outcome: The students will demonstrate an understanding of what inference is and how to use it as a tool in comprehending literature as well as functioning in everyday life.
Equipment Needed: Hand Drum; CD player; CD with creative dance music; “Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing,” by Judi Barrett
Utah Core – Language Arts
Standard 7: (Comprehension) Students understand, interpret, and analyze narrative and informational grade level text.
Objective 2: Apply strategies to comprehend text.
e. Make inferences and draw conclusions from text.
Behavioral Expectations/Warmup: (5 minutes)
Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes
Move each part to warm-up, then do the whole sequence five times as fast as you can!
Standard 7: (Comprehension) Students understand, interpret, and analyze narrative and informational grade level text.
Objective 2: Apply strategies to comprehend text.
e. Make inferences and draw conclusions from text.
Behavioral Expectations/Warmup: (5 minutes)
Head, Shoulders, Knees, Toes
Move each part to warm-up, then do the whole sequence five times as fast as you can!
Head: Think
Shoulders: Don’t bump other people
Knees: Have fun!
Toes: Foot away from the objects/walls, good shoes or barefoot
Eyes: Watch
Ears: Listen
Mouth: No Talking
Nose: Take a deep breath . . . Here we go!
Experience/Identify: (10 minutes)
“Today we will learn a new word. As human beings, we view the world in a very special way. We take what we already know and use it to interpret new information. This is called making an inference. Or we take what we know from several different places and use that knowledge to form a belief about something. Literature often depends on inferences of the reader. Let’s practice making some inferences. We’ll read this book, “Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing” and cover up the pictures. We’ll use what we already know about each animal to make our own conclusions about why they shouldn’t wear clothing.” Begin to read the book, covering the pictures. Ask students to raise their hands and make inferences about the reasons behind each statement. After a couple of pages, instead of having students vocalize their inferences, ask them to stand up, spread out, and move in a way that would show why each animal would have a problem.
Explore/Investigate: (15 minutes)
Explore/Investigate: (15 minutes)
Ask students to pick their favorite animal from the book and explore creative reasons it shouldn’t wear clothing through movement. (For example, a porcupine has sharp, poky quills that would destroy any clothes. How could you do sharp and poky movements? A snake wriggles around on the ground and could get clothes dirty and torn, how can you show those movements through dance? Etc.) After a few times, split the class in half. Instruct the dancing students to use movement qualities to give their peers information on which animal they chose. Ask the watching students to pick one person and see if they can figure out which animal the dancer chose. “How did you make that decision? It was an inference – you took what you already knew from reading the book, talking about the animals, and the movement qualities the dancers used to make an inference about what the dancer had chosen. The dancer didn’t have to tell you, you interpreted it with what you already knew.” If any guesses are wrong, discuss the fact that inferences can be right or wrong, it is simply an individual’s educated guess, it’s what we think or conclude – not necessarily what is actually happening. Switch groups.
Challenge the students by asking them to pick a new animal – one not in the book – and find movement that would describe characteristics of their chosen animal that would be problematic when wearing clothing. Again, ask students to make inferences about the movement qualities they are seeing their peers use.
Create/Perform: (10 minutes)
Divide students into four groups. Allow them time create a dance together. Use the dance sandwich (or ABA) as a format. It must begin and end with an interesting shape that links with someone else and have a middle that shows the groups’ favorite two animal characteristics from the book plus one of the animals not from the book. Encourage them to be creative in choosing movement qualities to show the characteristics. Have the groups perform for each other. Ask students watching to look for the creative ways their classmates showed the characteristics through movement as well as make an inference as to which new animal the performers chose to showcase.
Connect/Analyze: (5 minutes)
What was your favorite characteristic to show? Why? What information do you think you need to make an inference? What clues can you use as information to make inferences? What did you learn about making inferences?
Connect/Analyze: (5 minutes)
