My Home’s in Montana

My home’s in Montana is a great western folk song in three that I used with rising Kindergarten to Second grade this week at camp.

Photo Credit

I found this song on This website originally and used the visual cues to create my own visual cards.  

This song is great to learn new western vocabulary!  I’ll go over what a bandana, spurs, ranges, horseshoe, stirrup and gallop means.  Then once the kids have a general idea of the words I’ll give the cards to students to hold up in the front on the room.  I make them get themselves in order.  After they’re in order we use this Video to sing the song.  When we sing the lyrics on the card a student is holding they’ll hold it up.  After one try we do it again and I encourage the students to sing what their card says by themselves.  Then students pick someone else to do their card.  

Once students have learned the works to the first verse we learn a square dance.  We go over the steps and I draw the directions on the board for where they will step.  They are step - together - rest for each step.

My Home's in Montana Square Dance

Forward together

Right together

Back together

Left together

Sway right

Sway left

Sway right 

Sway left

Forward together

Right together

Back together

Left together

Sway right 

Sway left

Sway right

Spin around

I teach the dance to them individually at first and we try it while singing (2nd Grade and up).  Then I'll have them get with a partner and do the dance.  I had taped square corners on the floor for the younger kids to use.  The one child stands in the top right corner and the other in the bottom left so they are diagonal from each other.  I call this their "happy spot" or the spot they should be at when they finish making the square.  The kindergardeners had difficulty keeping their shoulders square to the front but otherwise they were all excited to learn that they rotated around each other!  

Once they got the dance I added a "merry-go-round" part.  Students would touch their right hands together in the middle and go around one circle stopping on their "happy spot" during the music interludes in between the verses.  

This song turned out to be a lot of fun for the kids while demonstrating phrases, beat, singing melody, and partner dancing.

Thanks for reading!