Folk Dance Unit Ideas for January in Elementary Music

Amanda Noullett
3 days ago
2 min read

by Amanda Noullett, Generalist Representative

January can be a tough month for teachers, as well as students and families. Post-holiday blues are in full swing, the days are short, and the nights are long and cold. Elementary kids are cooped up inside for days on end with the dreaded indoor recess.

For these reasons, I like to do a Folk Dance Unit in elementary music for this time of year. Give the kids some extra physical activity; it’s fairly low planning for me and gets me moving too. Here is a list of the dances I used for each class... and don’t forget, if the kids loved it in Grade 1, they’ll love it the next year too! Lots of these dances I’ll bump a grade above or below depending on the specific class abilities. Again, revisit some of these dance favorites each year, so by the end of Grade 6 they’ll know all of them.

For the new teachers, as with any unit, these things are always a work in progress. Some things will work for your style of teaching; some will not. The things you can do with Grade 6 students you’ve never taught can be very different than with students you’ve taught since Kindergarten or Grade 1.

For the seasoned teacher, many of these may be familiar to you; perhaps there will be a dance that is new to you or this article will inspire you to add something new to your collection this year. I, myself, hope to branch out into more diverse dances from around the world to add to my unit.

My Recommendations

Grade 1

Hey There Neighbor – random partners
Action Leader – circle dance
BINGO (no weave) – circular dance
LIMBO – conga style
Locomotion – conga style
Chicken Dance – circular dance

Grade 2

Rig A Jig Jig – circular dance
As I Was Walking Down the Street – random partners
Frère rere Jacques – circular dance
This a Way, That Away – contra dance
Mon’ti Bonhomme – contra dance

Grade 3

BINGO (with weave) – circular dance
Heel Toe Polka – partner dance

Grade 4

Wallflowers – circle dance
Virginia Reel (no weave) – contra dance
Cadillac Ranch – line dance
Sur Le Pont D’Avignon (recorder option) – partner dance

Grade 5/6

Frog in the Middle – groups of 4
Virginia Reel (with weave) – contra dance
Tipi Creeping – square dance
Electric Slide – line dance
Pizza-Pizza-Daddy-Oh – circle dance

Freeze Dance

An ever-popular game where you can play all the latest popular tracks for students to freestyle groove to, then when the music stops, they freeze. I no longer play this as an elimination game, as it defeats the purpose of them dancing. Now the person who is “out” gets to watch the dancers and pick who moved when the music stops the next time. This game, I find, is universal for all elementary grades.