Ms. Branch's Biography
Chelsea Branch is from Fort Wayne, Indiana. She attended Hope College in Holland, MI and graduated with a BA in Dance Education K-12 and a minor in English Education. Chelsea worked at Hamilton Elementary School as the dance and yoga teacher. During her years at Hamilton, she designed and implemented a PK-8 dance curriculum centered around National Arts Standards that created opportunities for student creativity and voices. Chelsea worked closely with classroom teachers to build arts integrated units in literacy, math, and science. Additionally, she assisted in leading SEL initiatives that greatly improved the climate and culture for students. Mindfulness is a core value in Chelsea‘s work with students and she was trained by Mindful Schools. Chelsea is passionate about sharing yoga and is certified in Yoga Calm, Rainbow Kids Yoga, and became a RYT 200 yoga teacher through Marianne Wells Yoga School in Costa Rica.
In her free time, Chelsea loves to read fiction and memoirs, cook (although she’s not very skilled yet), and is a professional dancer and choreographer. Chelsea co-owns The Rooted Space, a dance studio in North Center and serves as the Kids' Business Coach for Guppy Tank, a grant and mentorship program for young entrepreneurs.
Posts
Flamingo Dances
The Human Alphabet
Second grade just started our first ballet unit and we have had fun learning French -> English translations of our favorite ballet vocabulary. This week, we started using flashcards to work on recognition.
5th Grade is also learning to break dance alongside our tutting practice. One of the hallmarks of breaking is the "freeze" at the end of a battle dance. Check out Diesel's freeze. Just another reason for you to come see the Winter Show in January!
Our First Tutting Experience
Mr. Roper's class had their first ever STUFFIE day which worked out perfectly for our Mindful Kids Card of the Day: Tummy Ride! Our stuffies had the chance to introduce themselves and share why they are so special to their student. Then, they had a chance to go on a tummy ride to "breathe in waves of peace." Send me an email if you would like for me to share with you how to do Tummy Ride at home with your stuffies!
My Magic Breath in K-2 Dance
Dance Technique students (6-8th graders) worked to create SMART goals for themselves this semester in one of three categories: strength, length, or dance skills. This week, we benchmarked so that we can visualize our progress in December.
2nd Graders were so thankful this week to have gotten their shoes sized! We can't wait to start our Ballet unit in them. While we were sizing them, we had the opportunity to watch clips of The Sleeping Beauty by The Imperial Classical Ballet.
Join Ms. Branch in a September plank challenge building our core strength to support the dance skills we are working towards! Students have the opportunity to record their times each week outside of Ms. Branch's door (either named or anonymously!).
Report Card Pickup Announcement
Visit each of the Essentials teachers during Report Card Pickup by dropping in to our spaces listed below.
PE (Cherry) - Gymnasium | [email protected]
Dance (Branch) - Dance Studio 101 | [email protected]
Music (Schmittle) - Music Room 114 | [email protected]
Art (Koreman) - Art Room 111
Makerspace (Petropoulos) - Please reach out if a conference is needed | [email protected]
Latin (Loris) - Room 111
The Latin room will be occupied with voting, so you can find the Ms. Loris in the Art room, 111. Ms. Branch and Ms. Schmittle will be working with students until 2:30pm. Ms. Petropoulos is conferencing with her homeroom so you can email for a conference for a different time. If you'd like to make an appointment for any of the Essentials teachers outside of the conference day, please send them an email. We look forward to connecting with you!
- Name
- Chelsea Branch
- Position
- Dance & Yoga Teacher, Restorative Practitioner
- clbranch@cps.edu
- Other
- [email protected]
