Learning through Movement

We all know how hard it is to get kids to sit still for too long so it is great to get fresh ideas for teaching through movement. That's why it is so exciting to be part of the Move to Learn Linky Party at Minds in Bloom!
I am always careful to structure my sessions so we go from the floor to the desks and back again at least a few times so that we can regather and refocus as we need to.
A while ago I made this simple game to reinforce the difference between proper nouns and common nouns with my students.
It is basically a PowerPoint presentation that you play on the IWB or projector and the students bend low for a common noun, and stretch high for a proper noun (as in low for little letter and high for capital letter). Download it for free here.
It is simple to play and is a good brain-break at the same time as reviewing a key concept.

Other games I play with my kids to get them moving while I introduce or consolidate concepts are:
Columns, Rows and Cells: I use this for spreadsheets or tables. Stand tall with arms up high for columns, spread arms out wide for rows, squat (into a little box) for cells.
Head, body, tail spelling: To highlight letter shapes, I spell out a spelling word (usually the children can see the word on the board at the same time) and they stretch up for a "head" letter (such as b, d, k, l, h, f etc), stand normally for a "body" letter (such as a, c, e, o, u, m, n etc) and squat for a "tail" letter (such as g, y, j, p etc).
Obtuse, acute, right: To practise angle words, students make the shapes with their arms as I call out the words.
All of these games can be played quickly as a warm-up, review or brain-break, or as an elimination game, and best of all, they require no special equipment or preparation so you can use them any time.

Check out the other great ideas at the Move to Learn Linky Party

Diary of a Wombat

This year I am going to have Munch & Crunch sessions with my class. Each morning just before morning tea, I will read a book (or a chapter of a book) to my students while they "munch and crunch" on fresh fruit or vegetables from their lunch boxes.

I plan to create activities based on many of the books I read so that I can use th

em to reinforce language ideas in the short space between when the story is finished and when the bell goes for morning tea.

One of the books I will use is "Diary of a Wombat" by Jackie French. You can see the book online here or read about the background to the story on Jackie's website.

This is another really cute book. It is written in diary form. They are not always complete sentences. I will use this book to illustrate the different styles of writing for different purposes. (Australian Curriculum link to English, Year 2: Understand that spoken, visual and written forms of language are different modes of communication with different features and their use varies according to the audience, purpose, context and cultural background)

I have made an Easiteach file for the activities. They are very simple activities. The first one is reinforcing the days of the week and the use of capital letters for proper nouns - also Australian Curriculum, English, Year 2. The second one is matching different forms of verbs - past and present tense.

I hope you enjoy this book!