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Learning Standards Standards

What does a student learn in ?

This is the year dance shifts from following steps to shaping a piece with intention. Students build short dances around an idea, then refine the movement so an audience can read the meaning. They also start watching dance more carefully, talking about what works and how a piece connects to its time and place. By spring, students can perform a short dance they helped create and explain the choices behind it.

  • Choreography basics
  • Movement skills
  • Performing for an audience
  • Watching and discussing dance
  • Dance and culture
Source: Maryland Maryland College and Career-Ready Standards
Year at a glance
How the year usually goes. Every school and district set their own curriculum, so treat this as a guide, not official pacing.
  1. 1

    Finding ideas for movement

    Students start the year exploring where dance ideas come from. They turn memories, stories, and things they notice into short movement pieces, and learn to talk about what their dances are about.

  2. 2

    Building strong technique

    Students work on the basics of how the body moves. They practice balance, control, and using space, energy, and timing so their movement looks clear instead of rushed or floppy.

  3. 3

    Shaping and refining dances

    Students take rough ideas and turn them into finished short dances. They try different orderings, choose what to keep, and revise sections so the piece holds together from start to end.

  4. 4

    Performing with meaning

    Students prepare a dance to share with an audience. They focus on telling a clear idea or feeling through their movement, and on staying focused while others are watching.

  5. 5

    Watching and reviewing dance

    Students close the year by watching dances from different cultures and time periods. They describe what they see, talk about what the dance might mean, and use simple criteria to give helpful feedback.

Mastery Learning Standards
The required skills a student should display by the end of Grade 5.
Connecting

  • Synthesize and relate knowledge and personal experiences to make art

    DA:Cn10.5

    Students connect what they know from other subjects and from their own lives to shape the choices they make in a dance.

  • Relate artistic ideas and works with societal, cultural

    DA:Cn11.5

    Students look at a dance and connect it to the time, place, or culture it came from. That context helps them understand why the movement looks and feels the way it does.

Creating

  • Generate and conceptualize artistic ideas and work

    DA:Cr1.5

    Students brainstorm movement ideas and start shaping them into a dance. They experiment with different ways to move before settling on what they want to create.

  • Organize and develop artistic ideas and work

    DA:Cr2.5

    Students take a dance idea and shape it into a full piece, choosing movements that fit together and making decisions about what to keep, cut, or change before the work is done.

  • Refine and complete artistic work

    DA:Cr3.5

    Students revisit a dance they've been building, make specific changes to improve it, and prepare a finished version ready to share or perform.

Performing/Presenting/Producing

  • Analyze, interpret, and select artistic work for presentation

    DA:Pr4.5

    Students choose a dance piece to perform and explain why it fits the moment, the audience, or the idea they want to express.

  • Develop and refine artistic techniques and work for presentation

    DA:Pr5.5

    Students practice and improve their dance movements to get ready to perform in front of others. They refine what isn't working and build the physical control their piece needs.

  • Convey meaning through the presentation of artistic work

    DA:Pr6.5

    Students perform a dance in front of others with a clear purpose, using movement choices to express a specific idea or feeling to the audience.

Responding

  • Perceive and analyze artistic work

    DA:Re7.5

    Students watch a dance and explain what they notice, describing how the movement, timing, and space work together to create an effect.

  • Interpret intent and meaning in artistic work

    DA:Re8.5

    Students explain what a dance is trying to say and what choices the choreographer made to say it, such as how the speed, shape, or energy of the movement creates a feeling or idea.

  • Apply criteria to evaluate artistic work

    DA:Re9.5

    Students watch or perform a dance and then explain, using specific reasons, what makes it work or fall short. They back up their opinion with what they actually saw.