Elizabeth Marotti

ED 461

Professor Harpham

December 5, 2015

Final Lesson Plan

Scattered Square Dance

Grade Level: K-3 (Special Education Class)

Activity Length: 20 minutes

Materials Needed: Instrumental square dance music and a music player.

NASPE Standards Addressed:

Standard 1: The physically literate individual demonstrates competency in a variety of

motor skills and movement patterns.

Standard 4: The physically literate individual exhibits responsible personal and social

behavior that respects self and others.

Standard 5: The physically literate individual recognizes the value of physical activity for

health, enjoyment, challenge, self-expression, and/or social interaction.

Purpose/Focus:

To provide students with a fun way to exercise thus teaching them that staying active and

health can be fun.

To promote healthy social interaction skills and behaviors.
To help students increase competency in motor movements/skills.
Objectives:
Students will demonstrate the ability to perform dance moves to the beat of the music.
Students will show the ability to work individually as well as collaboratively with a

partner to perform dance moves.

Students will demonstrate ability to perform locomotor and nonlocomotor movements.
Dance steps and Calls:
 This is intended to be an ongoing activity. Approximately three to five "dance steps" will

be taught and practiced each session.

Individual dance steps:
Hit the lonesome trail: The students will perform a locomotor movement (walk,

skip, gallop, etc.) of the teacher's choosing around the designated dance area.
Twister: Students turn around in place.
Corral: Students stop, stomp one foot, and clap their hands.
Lasso: Students stop and swing a pretend lasso over their heads.
Tumbleweed: Students sit down, hold knees to chest (if able), and spin on the

floor.
Giddy-up: Students gallop in place.
Hit the hay: Students drop safely to the ground and lie down.
Cactus: Students stop and balance on one leg (if able) with arms up to mimic the

shape of a cactus.
Partner and group "dance steps":
Circle-up all: Students join hands in a circle and walk to the right.
2 person star: When partnered in groups of 2, students face each other, put right

hands up in the center and circle to the right.

Honor your partner: When students are paired up, they will face each other and

bow.
Circle-up 2: Students join both hands with partner and skip or slide in a circle.
Horse and Jockey: Students partner up and one student stands behind and puts

his hands on his partner's shoulders. Together they gallop around the dance area.
Change Jockeys: While doing horse and jockey, the student in the back switches

to the front.
Do-si-Do: Students face their partner with their arms crossed. Students walk

forward, passing partner on the right and then backward, passing partner to the

left.
Shoot the Star: When students are with a partner or in a group and this move is

called, the students will all shout "yee-haw" and separate from the group/partner.
Activity Description:
 Prior to the beginning of the activity, the instructor will have all of the student's

names written on slips of paper in a hat or bag.

First 5 minutes:
When the students are all together, the instructor will draw two names at a time

and call them out to the students. Each pair of names will indicate each pair of

partners for the entire activity. If there are an uneven number of students, one

partnership will be a group of three.

After partners have been assigned, the students will be asked to spread out around

the room. Once they are spread out, the students will be instructed to hold out

their arms and turn in a circle to ensure that they are a safe distance from one

another.
When the students are in place, the instructor will discuss safety and respect.
Next 5 minutes:
When the safety discussion is complete, the instructor will then begin teaching the

students the dance moves. Depending on the developmental level of the class,

anywhere from three to five dance moves could be taught at this time.
The instructor explains that when the "call" for the dance move is called out, the

students switch to that dance move. Sometimes more than one move will be called

out at a time.
Next 10 minutes:
The instructor will turn on the music and act as the caller, shouting out one or

more calls.
The instructor will continue to shout out calls for the duration of the activity.
It is a good idea to use the call "hit the hay" at the end of the activity and allow

the students to lay there for a few seconds to cool down.

Variations:
Once the students have mastered all of the dance moves, they can come up with new

moves together.
If the students are developmentally ready, cues like to the left, to the right, and clockwise

can be added to the cues.

 Dance moves can be modified to accommodate students who are not physically able to

perform them as designed.

Rationale:
This activity is designed to be developmentally appropriate with a special education class

in mind. Considering each special education class is very different from the next, there is plenty

of flexibility within this lesson plan to accommodate any students that may not be able to

perform certain physical movements. Any number of dance moves can be added, removed,

and/or modified from the above list to accommodate the specific class being taught.
Throughout this activity, students have many opportunities to improve upon their motor

skills. Each dance move is designed to improve balance and coordination as well as

cardiovascular fitness. Locomotor and nonlocomotor movements are carried out through the

entire activity. Some manipulative movements are also incorporated into this activity although

there are no physical objects handled. For example, for the "lasso" dance move, students mime

swinging a lasso over their heads. In addition to basic movements, this activity incorporates

creative/rhythmic, body management, and cooperative movements.

Active learning time is maximized during this activity as the students are all constantly

moving and there is no waiting time to be active or have a turn as is the case in some team sports.

Although this activity is not one with teams, the students do have opportunities to improve their

cooperative skills. Many of the dance moves in this activity require the students to work

collaboratively with a partner or a group. When with their partner, students need to work together

to figure out how they are supposed to stand and move as well as stay in rhythm.
As you can see, many of the characteristics for a quality physical education program from

chapter 6 (Kovar, 2011, p. 166-172) are incorporated into this activity. Additionally, with this

activity comes quite a bit of flexibility so that the instructor can ensure that all of the needs of the

students are being met and each child is being challenged appropriately. Because of the
flexibility of this activity, it is ideal not only for a special education class but would be great for a

class with a combination of students from special education and general classes.

Resources:

http://www.pecentral.org/lessonideas/ViewLesson.asp?ID=9694#.VlYYob86JT0

http://www.sparkpe.org/wp-content/uploads/CTAHPERD.pdf

Kovar, S. (2011). Elementary classroom teachers as movement educators (4th ed.). New

York: McGraw-Hill.