Lesson Plan for “Heel And Toe Polka”

Grade: K​ indergarten
Duration: ​8 minutes
Core Music Standards: ​Perform
Repertoire: ​“Heel And Toe Polka” song
Other Teaching Materials: r​ ecording of “Heel And Toe Polka”
Vocabulary: ​steady beat, right and left, polka
Focus/Concept: ​this activity will help develop beat competency by having the students move to
the rhythm of the song. Students will also work on gross motor skills by crossing the midline
Lesson Outcomes: ​students will:
● Perform dance steps accurately (​perform)
● Keep a steady beat while dancing (​perform​)

Teaching Procedure
Prepare
1. Ask students to sit in a circle
2. Hello kindergartners! Today we’re going to be learning a dance called the “Heel and Toe
Polka”
3. Demonstrate the dance with a partner (one of the other Elementary Methods students).
Say the names of the steps as you do them.

Present
1. Ask everybody to stand in a circle
2. Go around the circle and assign partners (kids who are standing next to each other)
3. Go through the first part of the dance (heel, toe, heel, toe, slide, slide slide). Demonstrate
with your own partner first and then ask the kids to do the first part. Do it one or two
more times to make sure everyone has it.
4. Review the second part of the dance (right, right, right, left left left, both, both, both, legs,
legs, legs). Demonstrate with your own partner first and then ask the kids to do it. Repeat
one or two more times to make sure everyone has it.
5. Explain that after the second part of the dance you go around your partner and then hold
hands with your new partner

Practice and Extend

1. Put the dance together. Sing the directions to the tune of “This Old Man” and dance in the
circle yourself to demonstrate.
2. Repeat until the students are comfortable with the dance
Assess and Close
1. ​Do the dance to recording of “This Old Man”
Reflection
● While watching my video, I thought my demeanor with the Kindergartners
was pretty good. I seemed enthusiastic and pretty confident, even though I had a
couple of slip-ups while teaching my lesson. I liked that the kids were so
responsive to the rhyme. One thing that I would have liked to do better was the
passing game portion of the lesson. Some of the kids wouldn’t pass the bean bag
to the steady beat, and I wasn’t sure if it was because they weren’t grasping the
steady-beat or weren’t engaged in the lesson. Katie said that making the passing
thing more like a game would get the kids more excited about the lesson, and I
intend on doing that in the future.