How to Use Our Curriculums for Ages 1.5 to 7
After almost 6 years of developing preschool dance curriculums, there's one question I've really found impossible to solve.
How do you create a 100% ready-to-go curriculum for dance teachers around the world? Teachers with different age groupings, different combinations of dance forms, different class lengths, and different abilities?
The short answer is: you can't. BUT, I do believe you can make a curriculum that's about 90% done-for-you so that teachers can plug and play curriculum materials into their own classes to fit their individual needs.
Today's post is really for those teachers who use our Little Dancer Curriculum or our new OUB Fairy Tale Curriculum. But I think it will be useful to those of you who don't use these curriculums but do teach preschool and early elementary dance. I'll be talking about things like class structure, determining the level of technique to teach, etc.
HOW ARE THE LESSON PLANS SET UP?
When you take a look at our lesson plans, you'll see a plan to use for weeks 1 and 3 of a given month and another to use for weeks 2 and 4 of that month. This lesson plan is designed for a 45 minute class that meets once a week. Here's something to keep in mind: If you have a very small class (maybe 4 to 6 students), you'll get through a single lesson plan in a lot less time than if you have a larger class (maybe 10 to 12 students), even if you have a teaching assistant for a larger class.
THE THEMES ARE MEANT TO BE FLEXIBLE
The curriculums are designed to do one theme per month. BUT, they are also designed to be flexible. That's why there are 24 of them.
If you teach year-round, you can rotate through 2 full years without repeating a theme (unless you want to).
If you don't teach year-round and want to use all of the themes, consider doing a single theme for 3 weeks instead of a full month. Do the weeks 1 and 3 lesson plan the first week. Do the weeks 2 and 4 lesson plan the second week. Then, on the 3rd week, do the lesson plan week that was your students' favorite.
If you don't teach year-round, you also have the option to skip a couple of themes. If there are any that don't really excite you, keep to a theme each month, but don't use all 24 themes.
WHAT IF YOU'RE TEACHING A COMBO CLASS OR THE BALLET PORTION OF YOUR CLASS IS LESS THAN 45 MINUTES?
If you're teaching a combo class—say ballet, tap and jazz—and you plan to spend 15 minutes on each in a 45 minute class, or 20 minutes on each in an hour long class... you're not going to be able to make it through every activity listed in the prewritten lesson plans. In this case, I'd recommend making sure you do centre barre, traveling, and centre allegro as your core ballet elements. Then move onto jazz and tap. If you have extra time, you can fill it in with the extra free dances, games, or an obstacle course.
Here's something else to consider: When I taught classes at my studio, here's how it was set up. Three and four year olds could take a 30 minute ballet class, or they could take a 45 minute ballet and tap combo class where 30 minutes was ballet and 15 minutes was tap. Five and six year olds could take a 45 minute ballet class, or they could take an hour long ballet and tap combo class where 40 minutes was ballet and 20 minutes was tap. At 7 years old, students could start a true beginning ballet class. They had the option to come twice a week. The first (required) day was a one hour traditional ballet class. (But the final 5 minutes was free dancing if they needed it.) The second (optional) day was a one hour "contemporary ballet" class. The first half of it was a traditional ballet barre, but in place of a ballet centre, we did a more contemporary/modern center.
So in my case, my combo class options didn't take away much, if any of the main "ballet" class lesson plan. There’s definitely no right or wrong though. If you’re the teacher and not the studio owner, ask your studio owner or director what they expect from you. Beyond that, your job is to teach your students.
WHAT ABOUT TEACHING DIFFERENT AGE GROUPS?
The age groups listed in our curriculums should act as guides. They should be starting points but not the be-all-end-all.
1.5 to 3 years old—This is designed for 18 months up to 3 years old. Developmentally, this is a pretty big age span. However, the difference lies in how much help is provided by parents. If you have a small toddler program at your studio, you can keep this as one class. Just expect parents to guide their little ones a lot if they are in the younger half. Then expect parents to be more hands off for little ones who are in more of the 2.5 to 3 age range. If you have a large toddler problem at your studio, you could divide this into 1.5-2.5 and 2.5-3.5 years old. And while I do recommend having this as a parent-tot class, you wouldn’t necessarily have to make your 2.5-3.5 year old class include parents. For this class, I recommend a 30 minute length.
3 to 5 years old—This class could also be called your 3 and 4 year old class. These are your students who are in preschool and pre-k. They haven’t started kindergarten yet. Some may turn 5 before the end of the school year, but most (if not all) will begin the school year as 3 or 4 years old.
(I originally called this my 3-4 year old class at my studio. But I had so many parents ask me if their child needed to change classes when they turned 5 that I changed it to 3-5 years old.)
5 to 7 years old—Similar to the previous level, these are students who are in kindergarten or 1st grade. Most will start the school year as 5 or 6 year olds. Some 1st graders will turn 7 during the school year.
For ages 7+, check out this post for recommendations.
When you use any of our curriculums, start with the age group closest to the age group you’re teaching. If you’re unsure, start with the lower level and move up as needed to make sure your students aren’t missing anything. For example, if you teach a 4-6 year old class. Start with the 3-5 year old lesson plans. If it seems too easy, move up to the 5-7 year old lesson plan. You may even find yourself using some activities from each age group. That’s totally okay!
You’ll even find you have some years where your students progress faster than average and are more gifted. Other years, you may have a class of the same age who needs longer to accomplish the same.
DO I HAVE TO STICK 100% WIth ACTIVITIES IN THESE CURRICULUMS?
Remember, you don’t have to stick with the exact combinations in our lesson plans. If your students need them adjusted, make changes. If they inspire you to create another combination all in your own, do so! This curriculum is meant to cut your planning time down by 80 to 90%. It gives you all the pieces for your classes. You just need to put the pieces together and make a few tweaks depending on your individual students’ needs.
Inspire, guide, and spread joy
My goal with any of our dance curriculums is to give you the tools to not just teach correct, age-appropriate technique. I want to help you bring the art of dance to life for your students. To make it interesting. To bring joy to their lives through dance. Finally, to bring joy and confidence to your own teaching.