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The Highland Dances The Scottish dances are always a thrill to learn as well. No student should go without a dance, or at least a jig, this month. Many students feel self-conscious when they are trying something new in regards to a physical activity. The best way to get them past that is to let yourself become involved also. Take the shy child's hand and let them feel special by dancing with the teacher. If that doesn't seem to do the trick, then let them observe for a while and when they see that everyone is having fun, many times, they will want to join in. This site has some wonderful pictures for giving you ideas for costumes if you should have a program scheduled for this month. One unfortunate thing that I found with this site, is that some of the colored font is very difficult to read. This page offers information on a sword dance. I have allowed my students to make a sabre prop for dancing "sword" dances in the past and they absolutely love it. What I do is make some patterns for them to trace, plus a few varying examples of the way one might want to decorate their sabre. The children work in groups, tracing around the the patterns on their tag board. Each child traces two sides from the same pattern. Doubling the tagboard makes the sabres stronger. After their sword has two sides, they are decorated, then cut out. Then it is time to place a strip of cardboard (pre-cut) on the back of one of the sides with some glue. After the strip is glued to the first side, they put glue on the second side and squeeze them together. We let them dry for 24 hours and the next day, they are ready for use. Sabres are much shorter than swords and much less likely to bend like a sword has a tendency to do. Other helpful links at this site are:
Even though all of the dances are not from Ireland, there are a few that you can teach to your students for Saint Patrick's Day, this month.
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