Unit 2 focuses on the topic 'Seed dispersal ' from the Key Stage 1 Science topic 'Plants'. Dance expert, Claire Pring, works with a Year 2 class and their teacher to create a dance exploring different forms of seed dispersal.
Unit 2 also explores how the teacher can build co-operation and a collaborative approach among pupils.
Go to the Teachers' Notes for full details of how to use the CPD film (for teachers) and the Dance Challenge and Final Performance films below (for teachers and pupils).
Seed dispersal - CPD film for teachers
Claire Pring joins a Year 2 class to work on their dances which explore different kinds of seed dispersal.
Title: STEP-BY-STEP - DANCE CPD
Caption: Building Co-operation
Claire Pring: I’m here in Cardiff where I’ve been working with a fantastic Year 2 class. They’re exploring movement ideas inspired by their work on seeds and pollination.
Caption: Warm up ~ Swaying & Balancing
Claire: Good morning, everybody.
Children: Good morning.
Claire: What you were doing there was just beautiful swaying, well done! But I wonder, can you make some of that swaying action even bigger? And I noticed some people including some balances or even some twists. Shall we have another go?
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Claire: Really watching your actions, well done, oh adding in turns.
Claire: Here we’re introducing the movement ideas that we will develop through the lesson. The children are doing this independently, working in their own space which can be challenging for some.
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Claire: This time I’d like you to see if you can change the dynamics of your swaying. Sometimes take it really slow, slow motion, and other times faster.
Caption: Context ~ Application
Teacher: I wonder, can anybody tell me places that a seed comes from?
Child: A tree.
Teacher: A tree, fantastic! Anywhere else?
Child: A fruit.
Teacher: A fruit, fantastic!
Claire: So, what I’d like you to think about now is dandelion seeds, the very light ones, and what makes the very light ones travel around? What pushes them?
Children: Wind.
Claire: The wind, brilliant! So now what I’d like you to do, with all those lovely swaying and tilting actions, I want you to think about the dandelion seeds and we are going to use them to help us travel around the room.
Teacher: When we travel around the room boys and girls, what do we have to be mindful of?
Child: Don’t bump into each other.
Teacher: That’s right we’ve got to move around the room safely.
Caption: Creative Exploration ~ Dynamics, Pathways and Levels
Claire: Now is a good time to add the music. Select something that helps to set the mood and introduce it quietly at first. This will inform rather than dictate their actions.
Claire: You can change the dynamics so you can do some fast movements or some slow actions.
Claire: The children will respond naturally to the atmosphere and rhythm of the music.
Claire: Like the dandelion seed getting blown by the wind.
Teacher: You can go all the way low to the ground and if a big gust of wind came along, would it blow you off into the air again?
Claire: This is the creative work that comes from their topic on seed dispersal and asks the children to explore the irregular pathways that the seeds might travel in the wind.
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Claire: So, we are going to think of those seed pods now when they dry out and then suddenly, pop, they explode. Show me a way of popping. 3, 2, 1, pop!
Children: Pop!
Claire: Can you make just a hand pop?
Children: Pop!
Claire: Both arms!
Children: Pop!
Claire: Two arms and a leg!
Children: Pop!
Claire: Two arms, two legs!
Children: Pop!
Claire: Brilliant. So, this time when I put the music on whenever you want to, you’re gonna add in a pop. Like the seed pods bursting open.
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Child: Pop!
Claire: Beautiful I loved how you went from that smooth, smooth sway into a sudden pop! Beautiful.
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Teacher: So, what should I be looking for here and how can I differentiate?
Claire: What you can do to support children with less experience is just focus on one particular area and if children want more challenge, you can just add in a couple of extra layers, so maybe they add in more turns or they might add in a combination of moves to get their coordination going.
Teacher: Okay.
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Teacher: How would a seed travel if it was close to water like a river or a stream?
Child: It would float away.
Teacher: It would float. Could you float and flow like a little seed around the hall?
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Claire: It’s really important to allow the children to move safely and unhindered by others.
Teacher: Oh, I like that you’ve gone with your legs up in the air as well. Could you do it with your legs and your arms.
Claire: Maintaining this can be challenging but by working in short bursts and with regular reminders it can be done very successfully.
Caption: Creative exploration ~ Contact
Teacher: What I would like you to now is to get yourselves into partners.
Claire: Now, we are going to think about the idea of the seeds sticking to anything that goes past. So out of the two of you, one of you is about to make a shape - any shape you like - but one you can hold. Because then your partner has got to see if they can find a way of sticking to it. So if my shape was this and Miss was my partner, she might stick on there because then - hold your shape - because I’m going to escape for a moment - stay where you are - and I’m going to find a different way of sticking on.
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Claire: Oh nice, what about connecting in a low way? Could you maybe connect with a foot next time, using different levels? Doesn’t always have to be standing.
Claire: By guiding the children, they become familiar with boundaries such as the amount of strength to apply, thereby developing the self-discipline required to work with others while demonstrating care and consideration.
Caption – Composition ~ Alternating Patterns
Claire: Your dance compositions, your duets, are looking fabulous. A duet has got how many people in it?
Child: Two!
Claire: Two, yes. But I’d really like to see if you could start off with one of your shapes and then find that way of either twisting or shifting to dislodge that seed and separate. But then it’s up to you whether you are going to explode! Or whether you are going to drift through the air like the dandelion seed, or maybe you are going to float like you are in a river or a stream.
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Claire: The benefits of dance are usually divided into physical, mental and social. Here we are emphasising the social dimension. This includes learning to trust ourselves and those we are working with; building mutual respect; and taking on a range of roles and responsibilities.
Teacher: So why don’t you roll that way, and you roll that way? How about that? And then stop and then why don’t you both stand up and you could pop towards each other?
Children: Pop!
Caption: Performance ~ Analysis
Teacher: We are going to partner up with another duet and then you are going to perform your duets that you have created while the other one watches and then you will swap.
Claire: So we are going to look and see if we can work out what actions they’re showing us.
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Claire: What do you think they’re doing at the minute? They’re going slowly and smoothly. Do you think that’s the dandelion seeds, or the exploding ones, or the ones in the river?
Child 1: …a jump.
Child 2: Exploded one.
Claire: Well spotted!
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Claire: So by giving them the opportunity for feedback but also by role modelling it throughout the lesson, the children’s understanding of what it is they’re doing, their ability to describe it, to interpret it, to analyse the actions, should be improved.
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Claire: So, they’re using lots of difficult body parts?
Child 1: And using loads of things we learned today.
Child 2: Like teaching us some more work that we could try and do. Like, so if we do one of this and then we add something, something else.
Claire: So they’re inspiring you, are they?
Children: Yeah!
Claire: Giving you more ideas.
Children: Yeah.
Caption: Cool Down ~ Dynamics & Levels
Claire: We’re going to go back to our idea of the dandelion seed that’s so light and sways so gently in the breeze. You’re getting lower to the ground; gentle breeze and it settles on the ground.
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END.
Seed dispersal - Dance Challenge
Year 2 pupils create and perform their dances exploring different kinds of seed dispersal. Experts Laura Nicholson and Claire Pring will decide at the end which pairs will take part in the Dance Performance.
TITLE: DANCE CHALLENGE
Caption: Seed Dispersal
Presenter: In today’s Dance Challenge the theme chosen is 'Seed dispersal'. Deciding which dancers are the most creative and collaborative are dance experts Laura Nicholson and Claire Pring.
Claire: Hello everybody.
Children: Hello.
Laura: I really love this idea of seed dispersal that you’ve been working on for your dances. It’s a fantastic dance idea because they’re so many different movements and changes in that theme.
Claire: So, you’re going to work in your duets, to create your own choreography using those ideas, you’re gonna have five minutes to work on it and then we’ll get to have a look at them, so are you ready to do that?
Children: Yeah.
Claire: Start the clock!
Laura: Sorry to interrupt you, can we just have a little chat to see how you’re getting on. What’s your group name?
Child: The Dandelions.
Caption: THE DANDELIONS
Claire: The Dandelions.
Laura: Can you tell us a little bit about your dance and what ideas you’re using?
Child: I do the wind.
Laura: The wind, was this like floating on the wind, gently? Was that what that was? Well, okay we’re going to leave you to it, I think.
Laura: Hi you three, what’s your group name?
Children: Sunflower Seeds.
Caption: THE SUNFLOWER SEEDS
Laura: The Sunflower Seeds, ah fantastic, I love that name.
Claire: And I noticed you were thinking there about the lightness of the dandelion seeds. Did you manage to capture that?
Child: Yeah.
Claire: Brilliant well done!
Laura: Earlier on I saw you do those big explosions, and you had your arms stretched right up. Is that right? Is that what you saw them do?
Child: Yeah
Laura: Fantastic.
Claire: We better let you get on with it, well done everybody.
Laura: Remind us what your group name is?
Child: Really Really Wild Seeds.
Caption: THE REALLY REALLY WILD SEEDS
Laura: And are you a very wild group?
Child: Mm-hmm.
Laura: Mm-hmm.
Claire: Now, I noticed you’re doing lots of those lovely shapes where you’re connecting to your partner. Are there any bits in there that you’ve seen so far that you think they need to see?
Child: Yeah.
Claire: You’ve made a great start there, don’t you think?
Laura: Really great and some excellent teamwork from this group and I can wait to see your finished dance.
Claire: One more minute!
Laura: Hello, you three, looks like your hard at work here. What’s your group name?
Children: Stickies.
Caption: THE STICKIES
Claire: Stickies and is that because you’re thinking about how the seeds stick onto things? That’s a great name.
Claire: Ah, so you’ve got some traveling, that’s a lovely idea, what have you seen, what have you noticed?
Child: You know why they’re sticking because there’s a lot of sticky things.
Claire: Well then that’s an excellent name that they have chosen.
Laura: See you soon.
Claire: Okay everyone, time’s up!
Presenter: So which dance group will impress the most, with their creative choreography? First up, it’s The Really, Really Wild Seeds.
Caption: The Really Really Wild Seeds
(Dance)
Presenter: Beautiful work, well done. Next up, it’s The Dandelions.
Caption: The Dandelions
(Dance)
Presenter: We were almost blown away by The Dandelions. Now it’s The Stickies.
Caption: The Stickies
(Dance)
Presenter: Great choreography. Now for the final group. It’s The Sunflower Seeds.
Caption: The Sunflower Seeds
(Dance)
Presenter: What fantastic dances. Now it’s time to decide.
Claire: Well done everybody, you have made some amazing dances there, you must be very proud of yourselves. What did you notice in other people’s work? Because we want your help.
Child: When Naheem and Thomas were doing different moves but the same one.
Claire: So they were complementing each other what they were doing?
Child: Yeah.
Claire: Beautiful.
Child: I like Fae and River’s.
Claire: And what did you spot that you really liked?
Child: Because I liked when they stick and then they just go.
Claire: Thank you for that feedback. Now we’ve got a pretty tough decision to make of which dances we’re gonna have look at next.
Laura: You’d all started out with the same ideas but you’d each gone in a kind of different direction with it and came up with something that was unique to your group, and they were all absolutely brilliant. So it’s very, very tough, but I think the two groups that we would like to see again are going to be… the Dandelions and The Really Really Wild Seeds.
Presenter: So, the Really Really Wild Seeds and The Dandelions it is. Their final dance performances are coming next.
END.
Seed dispersal - Dance Performance
Two of the Year 2 pairs perform their seed dispersal dances.
Resources
Teachers' Notes for Step-by-Step: Dance in Schools
The Notes offer a comprehensive guide to using the content in the series (pdf).
Download audio
Download the audio session for the 'Seed dispersal' unit (mp3)
Unit 2: Seed dispersal - Slideshow. image
Still images from the 'Seed dispersal' session showing planning, creating, performing and assessing.
Dance frameworks for Unit 2: 'Seed dispersal'
Use the additional frameworks to extend your exploration of 'Seed dispersal' into a broader theme of 'Out and about'.
Framework: Out and about - Planting seeds
Print / download the framework (pdf)
Framework: Out and about - Pollinators
Print / download the framework (pdf)
Framework: Out and about - Seed dispersal
Print / download the framework (pdf)
