Rabbit is an expert in this area, so i am posing the question in hopes of her input, but ALL others are very welcome please, to add their thoughts.<P>Rabbit, i am interested to see some easily accessible user-friendly well-focused (is it beginning to sound like i'm lazy? i am!) information, regarding the learning/movement skills/co-ordination development of very young children - say from age 2 (or even earlier) to age 8,9,10.....<P>'normal' kids that is.....those 'age and stage' skill acquisition type of tables....<P>i've seen them before, and no longer have copies.<P>do you know where on the net one would find this info?<P>obviously i am interested in this from the point of view of appropriate dance teaching for young children, and also from the point of view of looking at how the body builds normal movement skills.

Grace I have some wonderful documents on this, with your pemission I will post them here if you want to open a space for them.<P>The documents are a product of brainstorming with another teacher who is also interested in this area.<P>

go for it, absolutely - do you need anything from me? use this thread, for starters, and if you need any assistance, email me: grace@criticaldance.com<P>thanks in anticipation

Learning Goals<P>For students 3 years old:<P>1. Listening skills <BR>(social/emotional Domain)<BR> - Listening ears<BR> - Identifying sounds by listening<BR> - Hearing and responding to simple directions: e.g.<BR>"stop and freeze", "looking eyes on me"<P>2. Looking skills<BR>(social/emotional/cognative Domain)<BR> - Spacial awareness)<BR> - Looking eyes<BR> - Finding an object from hearing its name<BR> - Follow the leader games, seeing an action and copying it<BR>- Exploring shapes; circles, squares, triangles…..<BR>- Seeing fellow students while moving and not bumping into them<P>3. Concentration skills <BR>(Cognative/ small motor/gross motor)<P> - Finger dexterity games<BR>- Balancing activities, e.g. tightrope walker, or across the bridge<P>4. Control skills <BR>(Social/emotional/cognative)<BR> - sitting still for short periods with attention on teacher<BR>- Standing still for short periods with attention on teacher<BR>- learning to work as a group to form a circle<BR>- Learning to take turns, one at a time..<BR>- Standing in line, going to the end of the line<BR>- Learning to speak only when called on<BR>- Listening to what other students have to contribute<P>5. Co ordination skills<BR>(Small Motor/gross Motor/cognative)<BR> - Finger dexterity; finger games of all sorts<P>- Hand eye co ordination games; e.g. with balls, bean bags, rhythm sticks….<P>6. Body awareness skills<BR>(Cognative)<BR> - Being able to name most body parts<BR>- Knowing where body parts are; e.g. the knee is between the calf and<BR>the thigh.<BR>- Be able to come up with imaginative uses for all the body parts<P>7. Space awareness skills<BR>(Social/emotional/ Spacial awareness)<BR> - Personal space versus general space<BR> - Respecting other peoples dance space<BR> - Moving as a group without bumping into others<BR>- Moving in different pathways; curvy, straight,zig zag, spiral, dotted….<BR>- The concepts of big and little shapes and movements<P>8. Spatial orientation skills<BR>(Spatial awareness/lgross motor/cognative)<BR> - Learn we can move forward, back ward<BR> and sideways<BR>- Learn we can move in the low, medium or high level<BR>- To understand the concepts of:<BR>over / under,<BR>above / below<BR>behind / in front / beside<BR>through / around / between<BR>in / out,<BR>inside / outside<BR>on / off<BR>open / closed<BR>together / apart<BR>alone / connected<BR>mirroring / shadowing<BR>near / far<P>9. Shape Understanding<BR>(Cognative/gross motor)<BR>- The body can make shapes<BR> - Explore rounded, square, triangular<BR> twisted, curved, straight, symmetrical and<BR> asymmetrical<BR>- Shapes that are on balance or off balance<P>10. Locomotor skills<BR>(Gross motor/spacial awareness/cognative)<P> - Walking, running, tip toeing, hopping on one foot, galloping, sliding, skipping,<BR>- Using a drum beat rather than music allows you to get movements with musical accuracy<P>11. Movement skills<BR>(Gross motor)<BR> - Jumping, leaping, bouncing<BR> - Swaying, rocking, shaking<BR> - Bending stretching, stooping, crouching<BR>- Turning, twirling, spinning, rolling, tumbling<P>12. Flexibility <BR>(Cognative/gross motor)<BR>- Understanding that we try to touch the toes with knees straight<BR>- Length in the lower back by encouraging tall posture when sitting<BR>- Hip flexibility through any exercises that use sitting in "V" position and butterfly position <P>13. Strength<BR>(Gross motor)<BR> - Upper body strength; e.g. "Walrus walk", wheel barrow<P>14. Feet exercises <BR>(Samll motor/gross motor)<BR>- Rolling a ball with the feet<BR> - Walking on newspaper with out making noise<BR> - Showing dancer's feet for "foot inspection" at least one time during every class (teacher to place in correct alignment and student to try to hold it for a short period of time using their own muscles)<P>15. Right and Left skills <BR>(Cognative/spacial awareness)<BR> - Be able to do things equally either side<BR>of the body<BR>- Be able to copy handedness from the teacher<P>16. Posture and stance skills<BR>(Gross Motor)<BR> - Feet in parallel "in the shoebox"<BR> - No rolling ankles <BR> - Knees are side by side<BR> - Legs are straight (no bent knees) and knees and ankles are together.<BR>- Awareness of the spine and its purpose; with building blocks show what happens if the spine bones aren't well lined up (theory)<BR> - Exercises which encourage sitting tall<P>17. Dance vocabulary <BR>(Cognative/gross motor)<BR>- Knee bounces<BR> - Points (not a technical tendu)<BR> - Free transfer of weight (Rocking/swaying)<BR> - Turning around<BR> - Climbing the stairs (preparation for marching)<BR> - Clapping hands<BR> - Stamping feet<BR>- Jumping out of and into the shoe box (parallel échappé)<BR>- Step and together traveling sideways, later maybe add forward<BR>- Walking with pointed toes or "sneaky walks" (shhh the baby is sleeping so we have to walk quietly)<P>18. Hand movement skills <BR>(Small motor)<BR>- Sharp fingers versus soft fingers<BR> - Wrist circles<P>19. Arm movement skills<BR>(Gross motor/cognative)<BR> - Any movement of the arms while using<BR>ribbons or scarves teaching the skills of:<BR> arms move up and down<BR> arms move side to side<BR> arms move in circles<BR> arms move in squiggles<BR> arms move forward and back<P>20. Head movement skills<BR>(Small motor/gross motor/cognative)<P> - Head can turn "no no no motion"<BR> - Head can go up and down "yes motion"<BR> - Hand eye co ordination; any activity that involves arm movement encourage them to follow their hands with their eyes<P>21. Musicality skills<BR>(Cognative/gross motor/small motor)<BR> - Dancers can move fast and slow<BR> - Awareness of rhythms e.g. listen to a ticking clock and move in time with the "ticks"<BR>- Locomotor skills in time with drum beat<BR>- Copy rhythms; e.g. follow the leader<BR>- Passing an object in time with a steady beat (e.g. bean bags balls<BR>of crumbled paper are easier to control at this age the balls)<BR>- Hitting a rhythm stick in time with a beat<P>22. Musical qualities - Scales and pitch<BR> - Phrasing (AB)<BR> - Tempo (fast and slow)<BR> - Expression (emotion)<BR> - Volume (loud and soft)<BR> .<BR>23. Energy & Dynamics skills <BR>(Cognative)<BR> - Contrast the following concepts;<BR>Light versus heavy<BR> Sharp versus smooth<BR> Slow versus fast<BR> Soft versus hard<BR> Weak versus strong<BR> Push versus pull<P>24. Action skills <BR>(Gross motor)<BR> - Shaking, stomping, yelling, wiggling, squirming yawning, crawling, creeping, scooting, climbing, balancing, shuffling<P>25. Patterning skills<BR>(Cognative)<BR> - Learning that dancers phrase things in<BR>groups of "2<BR> or 4 or 8"<BR> ( dancer's magic numbers)<BR>- Do 8 repeats of 1 movement, then 8 of another<BR>- Do 4 and 4<BR>- Do 2, 2, 2 and 2<P>26. Interactive skills<BR>(Social/emotional/cognative)<P> - Working with an object<BR> - Working with a partner<BR> - Working co operatively with a small group<BR> - Working co operatively with a large group<P>27. Improvisation skills<BR>(Cognative/gross motor)<BR> - Freedom to explore any movement and show it<BR> - Listening to suggestive music and showing a movement that the music suggests<BR> - Read stories the can be "acted out"<P>28. Mime skills <BR>(Social/emotional./cognative)<BR>- Showing the emotions through body language explore:<P>happy, sad, grumpy, shy, tired, excited, sleepy, grouchy, mad…<BR> - Learn simple dance mimes: me, you, love, dance<P>29. Pantomime skills<BR>(Cognative/social/emotional)<P> - Pretend games; e.g. try to be a bird in a<BR>nest…<BR> - Acting out situations with movements<P>30. Memory skills<BR>(Cognative)<BR> - Develop the ability to remember simple movement sequences (simple is the key word)<BR>- Learn verses of simple poetry <P>31. Developing respectfull relationships<BR>(Social/emotional)<P>-a bow of curtsy to the teacher as formal goodbye<P>-aplause to the teacher as a thank you<p>[This message has been edited by Rabbit (edited September 26, 2000).]

The above document is an easy access to base any creative movement program upon. It adresses the areas of Social/emotional domains quite heavily as these are the years of socialization.<P>It encompasses the gross and fine motor skills that the young child will find within thier natural ability. At this stage of developement physical challenge is not recomended, the focus is to provide venue for further developement & perhaps more importantly an opportunity for the child to be garenteed success, thus making their first dance experiance a confidence builder .<BR>I have many more documents for following ages, I do not have anything for 2 yrs and under as I have never worked with toddlers in a creative movement setting.<P>To best use this, I advise you focus on one or two areas at a time ie> social /emotional + gross motor for one lesson, this way you will not overwealm the children...repeating on a theme seems to work best then choose something different for each class.<P>30 minutes per class at this age is great, also holding creative movement classes at this age works very well if you run them in 7 week sessions..this would go, 6 weeks of classes @ 30 min per/class & on the 7th class invite parents & guests, you then hold a little demo class (performance). I do this as I do not allow anyone yournfger than 6 to perform in year end production.<P>enjoy

thanks rabbit - that's great - will take more time to read it all. very useful as a future reference point at this board, i'm sure.

As I consider work of this nature to be an on going project, I would welcome any comments or contributions you would like to share.

Rabbit, i have just moved each of the continuing posts into their OWN threads. they are marvellous! thank you so much. <P>i had thought i could email you to thank you personally for this contribution, but have just noticed your email is not available, so please accept my thanks on the board here.<P>what i would hope could happen, IF you like the idea, is that after we have had time to properly read and comment and discuss some of your work here in the discussion threads, we might store them here at criticaldance (with your copyright, of course) as Articles in our FEATURES section? please consider this, and email me if you have any queries....<P>the FEATURES section is here:<BR> <A HREF="http://www.criticaldance.com/features/features.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.criticaldance.com/features/features.html</A> <P>btw, i notice we are a bit behind on getting our articles up, there - already there is a queue of articles by david slade waiting to go in there, on dance technique issues - yours would be added to those......if you were happy with that idea....

Thank you for sharing all this with us. It's very interesting! My compliments. antoP.