Grade 3 Movement Composition Unit: Great Integration

Well here we go! In my last blog post about strong integration being a 2-way street, I promised to fully document everything we have done in our grade 3 movement composition unit. So let's get started.

This has to be one of the strongest integrations that I have been a part of. I must thank the grade 3 teaching team of Marina Gijzen, Georgia Perry, and John Rinker for their great work in making this integration happen so well. 

The grade 3 students are currently doing a 'How we express ourselves' unit in the classroom. We have all met, several times, over the last few weeks to plan, discuss, and to share the vision that we all have for this unit. From day one of this unit, the foundation has been based on the 'Creative Cycle', so I am using this cycle in movement composition as it is a perfect match. 


The 'Creative Cycle' has 5 stages; Inspiration, Planning, Creating, Polishing, and Presenting. Using this same cycle not only enhances the integration but really does fit perfectly when it comes to the creation of routines. In order to prepare my students for their summative assessment task in this unit, they have been encouraged to be as creative as possible when deciding on different routines that they would like to do in PE. I call these mini-routines as they are quite short in nature, but they still require that the students work together and to use the 'Creative Cycle' when putting together their performance. John Rinker, was creative himself in making up an excellent reflective writing activity for all the students in grade 3 to use when thinking about how the creative cycle can be applied to movement composition. Please see below.

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As you can see from the 'Creative Cycle' above, feedback and reflection are critical components throughout and must be emphasized whenever possible. We will be using the above graphic organizer throughout the movement composition unit for all formative assessment tasks and for their summative assessment task. The grade 3 classroom teachers are also giving time to the students to complete their reflections from movement composition during class time.