Year 4 Dance: traditional dances of the British Isles worksheet

“Skipping in Every Direction” is free to print, with no account. It is the first sheet in the Year 4 PE unit “Dance: traditional dances of the British Isles”, for children aged 8 to 9, and takes about 20 minutes.

Print it on A4. The child's pages come first; the answers, and what each wrong answer tells you, are on the grown-up page that follows. Weeks 7 to 12 of the year, 12 sheets in the unit.

Free sample · answers on the last page

Skipping in Every Direction

Name: ____________ · Date: ____________
Year 4 · PE · about 20 minutes
Answers are on the grown-up page

Today I can skip forwards, backwards and in circles in time with a beat.

A Look back3 min

1.
Before a lively dance, which part comes first? Circle it.
a warm upa sit downa sprint
2.
Which helps you keep your balance while you skip? Circle it.
bent kneeslocked knees
3.
Where is the safest place to move and skip? Circle it.
a clear space away from windowsa space by a glass door

B Watch me, then you4 min

Kit practises three directions in a clear space. Each direction lasts 8 beats, and a grown-up claps the beat.

Watch me

Kit skips forwards for 8 beats.

Then Kit skips in a circle for 8 beats.

Then Kit skips backwards for 8 beats.

Now you

1.
Sam skips backwards for 8 beats. Before that, he skips round and round a cone for 8 beats. Circle his first direction.
forwardsin a circlebackwards

C Your turn6 min

Clear the space around the cones first. Keep the cones well away from windows and doors, and have a grown-up watching.

Four upright orange cones in a straight line on a plain green background.

1.
Put these four steps for one forward skip in order. Write 1 to 4 in the boxes.
1. Step onto the other foot
2. Hop on that foot
3. Take a step onto one foot
4. Hop on that same foot
2.
Ola starts next to a cone and skips away from it, still facing the cone. Circle the way she moves.
forwardsbackwardsin a circle
3.
In every skip, you keep facing the cone. Draw a line from each skip to the direction it moves in.
Skip towards the coneSkip round the coneSkip away from the cone
backwardsforwardsin a circle
4.
A grown-up claps a steady beat. Skip backwards for 8 beats, three times. Count the skips that land on the beat, then colour one bar for each try.

Say it out loud: When you faced the cone, which way did you move in each skip?

D Spot the mistake3 min

A clear rug on a wooden floor in a living room, with the furniture pushed back

Ola says: “Skipping always goes forwards, so backwards skips are not real skipping.”

1.
Why is Ola wrong? Write one sentence.

E Think deeper3 min

Make up your own three-part skip plan with a direction and a number of beats for each part.

Coloured ribbons hanging from the top of a tall wooden pole on a village green

1.
Write your three-part plan. Skip it while a grown-up claps, then say which change of direction was hardest and why.

How did it feel?1 min

Think about your skips. Which direction felt easiest, and what helped you keep time with the beat?

I can do it Nearly Not yet

For the grown-up

Skipping in Every Direction · 2 minutes to read

Answers, and what a wrong one tells you

A

1. a warm up your child may have picked a sprint because it looks like moving. Ask what the body needs before hard moving, so it does not get hurt.

2. bent knees your child may have picked locked knees because they look strong. Ask them to bend the knees a little and hop, then lock them and hop, and feel which one wobbles more.

3. a clear space away from windows

B

1. in a circle your child may have picked backwards because Sam's backwards skip is told first. Ask what Sam does before the backwards skip, and point to the first box.

C

1. 1 Take a step onto one foot · 2 Hop on that same foot · 3 Step onto the other foot · 4 Hop on that foot your child may have started with the hop. Either hop card can go second or fourth, so accept both. Ask them to step first, then hop, and say the steps out loud.

2. backwards your child may have said forwards because the skip starts close to the cone. Ask which way her feet travel while her face stays on the cone.

3. Skip towards the cone → forwards; Skip round the cone → in a circle; Skip away from the cone → backwards

4. Look for: Three bars coloured in, each from 0 to 8, one for each try.

D

1. Look for: Skipping can go forwards, backwards or in circles, so Ola is wrong and a backwards skip counts. your child may repeat that skipping only goes forwards. Ask them to do one slow backwards skip holding a wall, then ask whether it counted.

E

1. Look for: A plan with three directions and beats, plus a reason why one change of direction felt hardest.

Words to use

Say“Which way are you facing, and which way are you moving? Show me with your hands.”

Instead of“That was perfect, let's move on.”

After the sheet

Clear a small space away from windows, with a soft ball and a grown-up watching. Clap a steady beat and skip 8 beats forwards, then 8 backwards, then 8 in a circle, stopping to rest between goes.

Tick what your child got right in StudyDen. Anything missed comes back in a later Look back box, so there's no need to redo the sheet.

The rest of this unit

11 more sheets come with a StudyDen plan, in teaching order:

Clog rhythm patterns(with a plan)
Barn dance: three actions(with a plan)
Sword dance steps(with a plan)
Keeping your gap in the circle(with a plan)
Strathspey setting step(with a plan)
Jig posture and hops(with a plan)
Pulse and rhythm together(with a plan)
Making moves stand out(with a plan)
Changing formations together(with a plan)
Using a prop in dance(with a plan)
Contrast in Welsh dance(with a plan)

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