Year 3 Dance: my word links to language worksheet

“Letter shapes with my body” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 3 PE unit “Dance: my word links to language”, for children aged 7 to 8, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 7 to 12 of the year, 12 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Letter shapes with my body

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 3 · PE · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can make letter shapes with my body and change a motif in more than one way.

A Look back3 min

Clear a space away from windows. A grown-up watches while you move.

1.
Make a balance and hold it still. Write one thing that helps you keep it steady.
2.
Ruby moves into a shape and holds it still. Sam wobbles and keeps moving. Whose shape is clearer?
RubySam
3.
A dance has three steps: Warm up, a missing step, then Show. Which step fits in the empty box?
PractiseStopSit down

B Watch me, then you4 min

Ali makes the letter O with his whole body. Then he makes an O again using only his arms. He repeats the O each time.

Watch me

The same letter O appears three times.

The first and last O use the whole body. The middle O uses only the arms.

Repeating one shape like this makes a motif.

Now you

1.
Make the letter T with a partner. Write one way you could change it.
2.
Which word means a pose you hold still for a moment? Circle it.
shapemotifcollaborate

C Your turn8 min

Clear a space away from windows, with a grown-up watching. Try each shape, then answer.

1.
A still shape should feel steady. Which coaching point helps you hold it? Circle one.
Breathe slowlyHold your breathLook at your feet
2.
Number these steps for making an H with a partner, 1 to 3, in the order you do them.
1. Hold your inside hands
2. Lift your joined hands to shoulder height
3. Stand side by side, a step apart
3.
Join each skill to its coaching point. Draw a line from each skill to one point.
Snap into the shapeHold the shapeMake the shape with arms only
Keep the rest of your body stillMove fast, then stop sharpBreathe slowly and stay steady
4.
Do your name as a movement sequence, three times. After each try, colour one bar for how many shapes you held clearly.

Say it out loud: Which shape felt steadiest? Show your grown-up two different ways to make it.

D Spot the mistake3 min

Kit says: “There is only one way to make a capital X, so I must stretch wide every time.”

1.
Write one different way to make an X with your body.

E Think deeper4 min

1.
Pick a letter from your name. Make it as a capital, then as a small letter. Write the letter and two ways to change your motif.

How did it feel?

Think about which shape felt steadiest and which one needed the most care. Tell your grown-up why.

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Letter shapes with my body · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. Look for: One sensible tip, such as tight muscles, a wide base, or eyes on one spot. If your child is stuck, ask them to hold a balance and say what their body is doing to stay still.

2. Ruby If they pick Sam, ask what a still shape looks like. A clear shape is held without wobbling.

3. Practise If they pick a step that ends the dance, say that a sequence goes Warm up, then practise, then show.

B

1. Look for: One change to the T, such as speed, level, sitting or lying, or using just the arms. If they write only 'do it again', ask them what would make the second T feel different.

2. shape If they pick motif, remind them a motif is a repeated action, and a shape is a pose held still.

C

1. Breathe slowly If they pick 'Hold your breath', explain that holding breath makes the body tense. Ask them to breathe out slowly and try again.

2. 1 Stand side by side, a step apart · 2 Hold your inside hands · 3 Lift your joined hands to shoulder height If your child lifts the hands before holding them, ask how the bar of the H can join. Your two bodies make the tall lines of the H.

3. Snap into the shape → Move fast, then stop sharp; Hold the shape → Breathe slowly and stay steady; Make the shape with arms only → Keep the rest of your body still If the arms-only shape is joined to 'Breathe slowly', ask which body part is doing the work and what the rest should do.

4. Look for: Three tries recorded on the bar chart, each a count of clear shapes no more than the letters in the child's name. If they leave bars blank, ask them to count the shapes they held clearly after each try.

D

1. Look for: A different body shape for X, such as lying down, sitting, balancing on one leg, or using just the arms. If they only repeat the wide stretch, ask them to try the letter lying down. Kit is wrong because there are many ways to make an X.

E

1. Look for: A letter from the child's name made as a capital and a small letter, plus two different changes to the motif such as speed, level, or a partner.

Words to use

Say“Show me your steadiest shape. What did you do with your breath to hold it?”

Instead of“That's not right, do it properly this time and stop wobbling.”

After the sheet

In a clear space away from windows, make the letter T with your child. Hold it for three slow breaths, then find a new way to make the same T.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

11 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Pauses and stillness(with a plan)
Linking Moves Into a Dance(with a plan)
Letter pathways on the floor(with a plan)
Sideways and up and down(with a plan)
Where and how high(with a plan)
Strong and slow moves(with a plan)
Dynamics with manner words(with a plan)
Command words and dynamics(with a plan)
Where I Stand(with a plan)
Question and answer dancing(with a plan)
Question and answer shapes(with a plan)

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