Curriculum Review·Montague Township School District
/Grade 3/Dance

Montague Township School District

Dance Curriculum Guide

Grade 3

2025-2026

Melissa Neamand

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01Elements of Dance and Kinesthetic Movement
02History of the Arts and Culture

Description

This 3-5 Dance curriculum integrates kinesthetic learning with other subject areas to help students understand and deepen their knowledge through experiential opportunities. Students experience music and art from different cultures, periods, and techniques. Dance serves as a tool to teach curriculum while stimulating creativity, promoting critical thinking, and building student confidence. The year is organized into two 12-week units: Elements of Dance and Kinesthetic Movement, which establishes foundational skills in body control, spatial awareness, and choreographic structures; and History of the Arts and Culture, which connects dance to historical contexts, cultural origins, and social significance across the world.

Big Ideas

  • Basic choreographed structures employ the elements of dance.
  • Movement is developed and generated through improvisation. Form and structure are important when interpreting original choreography.
  • Musical and non-musical forms of sound can affect meaning in choreography and improvisation.
  • Formalism in dance, music, theatre, and visual art varies according to personal, cultural, and historical contexts.
  • Criteria for determining the aesthetic merits of artwork vary according to context. Understanding the relationship between compositional design and genre provides the foundation for making value judgments about the arts.

Essential Questions

  • Why did we make these movement and spatial choices?
  • How do dancers make movement and spatial choices?
  • What are the impacts of movement quality and speed?
  • How can the elements of dance be used to express content, emotions, and personal expression?
  • How has the role of dancing been an outlet for expressing feelings of joy in spite of harsh circumstances, and for giving a shared form of sadness?
  • What are the origins and meanings of different dances throughout history?

Dance - Connecting

Dance - Creating

Dance - Performing

Dance - Responding

ELA
Units 1, 2

Students determine central ideas and themes in texts, integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media formats, participate in collaborative discussions with peers, and produce clear writing to explain concepts and ideas related to dance history and culture.

Social Studies
Units 1, 2

Students explore how culture is expressed through and influenced by the behavior of people, examine individuality and cultural diversity through dramatic play and movement, and investigate how nations have their own customs and practices reflected in dance forms.

Career & Life Skills
English Language Arts

Students are assessed throughout the year using formative and summative methods. Formative assessments include self-assessment, peer critique using rubrics and protocols, reflection on performances, KWL charts, hand signals to check understanding, and documentation of choreographic process through sketches or drawings. Summative assessments evaluate informal in-class performances and video evidence using observation, discussions, and student-created rubrics. Alternative assessments include written or drawn work, primary source document analysis, and short research projects. Performance rubrics and resources from Arts Achieve and Arts Assessment for Learning guide evaluation of student work according to observable, objective criteria.

UnitFormativeSummativeBenchmarkAlternative
01Elements of Dance and Kinesthetic Movement✓✓✓✓
02History of the Arts and Culture✓✓✓✓
Coverage2/22/22/22/2
UnitIEP504MLLAt-RiskGifted
01Elements of Dance and Kinesthetic Movement✓✓✓✓✓
02History of the Arts and Culture✓✓✓✓✓
Coverage2/22/22/22/22/2