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Body Shapes

Second graders learn to make shapes with their body — wide, narrow, curved, twisted — and hold them still, building body awareness and control that all dance is built on.

Grade 2Body30 minutes1 class periodArtistic ProcessExplicit teaching4 StandardsNCAS
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Lesson at a Glance

Everything you need before the bell rings

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to…

  • ✓Make body shapes.
  • ✓Try wide & narrow.
  • ✓Hold a shape still.
  • ✓Use shapes in dance.
Essential Question

Your body can make so many shapes — wide, narrow, curvy, twisted! What shapes can you make and hold?

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Lesson Phases
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Vocabulary Terms
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Standards Aligned
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Interactive Task
Explore · Interactive

The Body Shapes Explorer

Project this and tap each shape. Have children make shapes with their body.

💃 Explore body shapes — tap eachTry it

The Lesson · Artistic Process (Warm-Up · Explore · Create · Perform · Reflect)

30 minutes, five moves

Tap any phase to open the teacher moves and student actions.

1

Warm-Up — So Many Shapes

4 min

Your body can make wide, narrow, and twisted shapes — how?

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Make a shape.
  • Ask what shape it is.
  • Warm up.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Watch.
  • Guess.
  • Warm up.
2

Explore — Body Shapes

8 min

Children explore.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Send children to the Body Shapes Explorer.
  • Try each shape.
  • Hold it still.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Tap each.
  • Try them.
  • Hold.
3

Create — Create

8 min

Children create.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Make a wide shape.
  • Make a narrow shape.
  • Make a twisted shape.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Wide!
  • Narrow!
  • Twist!
4

Perform — Perform

6 min

Children perform.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Hold a shape like a statue.
  • Change to a new shape.
  • Be kind.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Hold it.
  • Change it.
  • Be kind.
5

Reflect — Reflect

4 min

Children respond.

👩‍🏫 Teacher Moves

  • Name a body shape.
  • Make it.
  • Complete the exit ticket.

🎒 Student Actions

  • Name one.
  • Make it.
  • Complete the exit ticket.
Standards Alignment

Built to the standards you report on

Aligned to the National Core Arts Standards (Dance).

NCAS
DA:Cr1.1.2

Explore body shapes.

NCAS
DA:Pr4.1.2

Make and hold shapes.

NCAS
DA:Pr5.1.2

Practice body control.

NCAS
DA:Re7.1.2

Notice shapes in dance.

Differentiation

One lesson, every learner

Multilingual Learners

ELL / EMERGING READERS
  • Shape picture cards.
  • Sentence frame: “I make a ___ shape.”
  • Make shapes together.

Support & Access

IEP / 504
  • Start with wide vs. narrow.
  • Copy the leader.
  • Hold one shape.

Stretch & Extend

GIFTED / EARLY FINISHERS
  • Make a shape sequence.
  • Freeze in a shape.
  • Copy a partner’s shape.
Materials

What to gather

  • 📽️Screen / board
  • 🎵Music
  • 💻The Body Shapes Explorer
  • 👟Open space
  • 🖍️Crayons
  • 🎫Exit-ticket slips
Vocabulary

Key terms — hover for a quick definition

shapea form your body makeswidebig and spread outnarrowthin and tallcurvedrounded like a curvetwistedturned aroundfreezeto hold stillholdto keep in placebodyall of you
Evaluate

Exit Ticket

Preview the three formative checks. Tap “Sample answer” to see what mastery looks like — hide them before you print for students.

QUESTION 1
How do you make a wide shape?
Stretch out big and wide, taking up lots of space.
QUESTION 2
How do you make a narrow shape?
Make yourself thin and tall, like a pencil.
QUESTION 3
What does it mean to freeze a shape?
To hold it very still, like a statue.

Reflect: make a shape.

Have children make a wide shape and a twisted shape at home and hold each still. A printable shapes sheet is in the Arts library.

Study · Flashcards

Study the key terms

Tap a card to flip it, then rate whether you knew it. Built from this lesson’s vocabulary.

🃏 Body ShapesFlip
Card 1
Term
Tap to flip →
Meaning
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Nice work!

Practice · Quiz

Check your understanding

A quick self-check with instant feedback, drawn from this lesson’s key terms.

📝 Body ShapesQuiz
Score: 0
1 / 6
Question 1
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Nice work!

Practice · Worksheet

Printable worksheet

A print-and-go review sheet with a built-in answer key. Tap “Show answer key” to reveal answers, or print the clean version for students.

🖨️ Body ShapesPrint
Name: ________________________
Date: ____________

Part A · Write the word that matches each meaning

Word bank: body, curved, freeze, hold, narrow, shape, twisted, wide
  1. big and spread out
  2. rounded like a curve
  3. thin and tall
  4. a form your body makes
  5. all of you
  6. to keep in place
  7. to hold still
  8. turned around

Part B · Show what you learned

  1. How do you make a wide shape?
  2. How do you make a narrow shape?
  3. What does it mean to freeze a shape?
Answer key — Part A: 1) wide · 2) curved · 3) narrow · 4) shape · 5) body · 6) hold · 7) freeze · 8) twisted
Part B: 1) Stretch out big and wide, taking up lots of space. 2) Make yourself thin and tall, like a pencil. 3) To hold it very still, like a statue.