Boots of Shining Leather: modern movement

I love using the song "Boots of Shining Leather" to introduce ti with my 4th graders. Last year my 4th graders were very challenging to engage, so I was determined to make the song, and the circle dance I've always had students do with it, feel a little more modern to get better buy in. And it worked! After teaching the same movement with the song again this year, I thought it was time to share for anyone else looking to update their lessons to make it more relevant.

I like using the song "Boots of Shining Leather" to teach ti for a lot of reasons, especially because it is perfect to use to review canon singing, which leads into learning partner singing, and I use it to also introduce accelerando and ritardando, which the song lends itself well to. But the different movement / folk dances I had seen used with the song felt very outdated and boring. I also found that the movements were often to similar in the different parts of the song, which makes it a bit counterproductive, because adding a movement component is really helpful for helping each group keep track of where they are when they sing in canon. And some of the movements don't really move with the beat, which doesn't work well when I'm using the song to practice tempo. 

So for those reasons I knew I wanted to update the movements, and last year this is what I came up with. It has been very successful 2 years in a row- in fact, my 4th graders told me last week that they had been singing and doing the dance outside at recess after we did it in class! That's always the ultimate sign of a win in my book, especially with the upper grades!

I hope you'll consider trying out this version, or even get inspired to add your own spin on movement for upper elementary students. It has not only been engaging and fun for my students but it has significantly improved their learning because of the more obvious beat, differentiated movements for each phrase, and motions that match the lyrics.

If you want to learn more about my lessons using the song, and how I introduce and practice the solfege, here is my post on that. And of course all of the details and materials for the lessons are in my 4th grade curriculum!