Montague Township School District
Dance Curriculum Guide
Grade 5
2025-2026
Melissa Neamand
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Description
This 3-5 dance curriculum uses kinesthetic learning to deepen student understanding across multiple subject areas. Students learn to analyze and perform dances from various cultures, periods, and techniques. Through movement, improvisation, and choreography, students develop critical thinking, build independence, and strengthen self-confidence. The year spans two units of approximately 12 weeks each, beginning with fundamental dance elements and kinesthetic awareness, then advancing to historical and cultural contexts of dance.
Big Ideas
- Basic choreographed structures employ the elements of dance.
- Movement is developed and generated through improvisation, with form and structure essential to interpreting original choreography.
- Musical and non-musical forms of sound affect meaning in choreography and improvisation.
- Works of art are organized according to their functions and artistic purposes, genres, mediums, messages, and themes.
- Formalism in dance varies according to personal, cultural, and historical contexts.
Essential Questions
- How do dancers make movement and spatial choices?
- How can the elements of dance be used to express content, emotions, and personal expression?
- What are the origins and meanings of different dances throughout history?
- How are aspects of culture expressed through dance?
- How can improvisation of movement communicate content, emotions, and personal expression?
Dance - Connecting
Dance - Creating
Dance - Performing
Dance - Responding
Students determine central ideas and themes in texts, integrate and evaluate content presented in diverse media and formats, participate in conversations and collaborations with diverse partners, and produce clear and coherent writing to examine topics and convey ideas about dance, culture, and artistic expression.
Students express individuality and cultural diversity, learn about and respect other cultures, describe how culture is expressed through and influenced by people's behavior, and examine how nations have different governments, languages, customs, and laws in relation to dance traditions and cultural practices.
Students are assessed through a variety of formative and summative methods throughout both units. Formative assessments include self-assessment, peer critique using rubrics and protocols, informal performance observations, KWL charts, hand signals for understanding checks, and reflective journals. Summative assessments include performance rubrics, choreographic projects, research presentations, and written reflections. Alternative assessments use drawings, video evidence, and simple student-created rubrics to evaluate performances and learning.
| Unit | Formative | Summative | Benchmark | Alternative |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01Elements of Dance and Kinesthetic Movement | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 02History of the Arts and Culture | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Coverage | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 |
| Unit | IEP | 504 | MLL | At-Risk | Gifted |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01Elements of Dance and Kinesthetic Movement | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| 02History of the Arts and Culture | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ | ✓ |
| Coverage | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 | 2/2 |