Think and Poop

Today I unleashed some spectacularly expressive movement from the 2^nd graders simply by having them make each letter of their name with their whole bodies. They spelled it on three different planes (flat on the floor, sitting, standing), moved the shape around the room (jumping, galloping, swinging), created a legato dance in slow motion moving smoothly from one letter to the next while I played Bach on the piano. Lovely!

I then grouped them in three’s and had them spell a word in a group shape and move the quality of the word. Things like “hop,” “cat,” “car.” Each group performed with the others guessing. Great fun and interesting way to evoke new shapes and movements.

Finally, they made groups of 4 or 5 kids and predictably, divided up into boys and girls. They had to think of their own word (keeping it a secret from me and the other group), practice and then perform. Their word choices?

The girls chose “T H I N K” and did a cute gesture of pointing to their head and changing their expression when it came time to move. The boys lined up and did a fabulous up and down motion, each at a different time. It looked great. And the word? P O O P

Well, there you have it. The boys and girls literally at opposite ends of the spectrum. But hey, we need to do both and aesthetically, the results were about equal.

Have I mentioned that I love my job?