Chicago Public Schools
Dancing as a Coping Skill
22 Mar 2020
Throughout the history of humankind, we can find evidence and examples of how people use dancing for celebration, story-telling, problem-solving, physical self-protection, and self-expression. In addition to all of these benefits, dance can also be a natural coping skill. Coping skills are [...]
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Black History Month Spotlight: Dancer Katherine Dunham
26 Feb 2020
In honor of black history month, Dancing with Class honors African American dancer, Katherine Dunham. She raised awareness to African Dispora cultures (cultures of African decent that were displaced to different countries due to slave trade like Jamaica) by merging Caribbean cultures’ [...]
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2 Children’s Dance Books with Social Emotional Learning Themes
20 Jan 2020
Being a child can be hard… No seriously! Children can be easily influenced by others and are vulnerable to making comparisons to others. This is because they are in the beginning process of building their own identity and self-security. In this blog post, I will be reviewing two [...]
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A Dancer’s Guide to Gratitude
12 Nov 2019
As we seek to build community through dance, an attitude of gratitude is key to our success. In this post, we explore why gratitude matters so much and 7 things we are grateful for as dancers. What is Gratitude and Why is it Helpful? Gratitude has several definitions including: the act [...]
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Beyond Halloween – Using Holidays to Teach Social Awareness
28 Oct 2019
Fall is in the air and many children are carving their pumpkins, preparing for Halloween parties and trick or treating, but this is just one cultural group’s upcoming holiday. In the Mexican culture, children and families are preparing for Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead). In this [...]
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Connection: A Dance Poem Compiled from Student Reflections
8 Apr 2019
Learning to dance with peers at school is an incredible journey in social development all by itself. When the goal is to eventually perform to live music played by your peers in the school orchestra, the experience rises to a whole other level. Students at Catalyst Circle Rock Charter School [...]
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SEL Movement Game: Super Dance Powers
3 Mar 2019
In addition to offering programs that help students build Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills through dance, Dancing with Class has developed a series of movement games that any educator can use to reinforce SEL skills in a fun and active way. “Super Dance Powers” is a [...]
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SEL Movement Game: Don’t You Budge!
25 Feb 2019
In addition to offering programs that help students build Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills through dance, Dancing with Class has developed a series of movement games that any educator can use to reinforce SEL skills in a fun and active way. “Don’t You Budge!” is a [...]
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SEL Movement Game: May I Have This Dance?
28 Jan 2019
In addition to offering programs that help students build Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills through dance, Dancing with Class has developed a series of movement games that any educator can use to reinforce SEL skills in a fun and active way. “May I Have This Dance?” is a [...]
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SEL Movement Game: Mirrors
28 Jan 2019
In addition to offering programs that help students build Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) skills through dance, Dancing with Class has developed a series of movement games that any educator can use to reinforce SEL skills in a fun and active way. “Mirrors” is a social-awareness [...]
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