Are you overwhelmed by behaviours?
Struggling with what to do in between lessons?
Need a solution to get your students active?
Here are some things to try:
A couple years ago I learned the importance of movement with my very active Kindergarten to grade 4 students!
My students had a lot of energy and needed frequent breaks throughout the day!
(There were only so many opportunities for us to go to the gym and ride bicycles or play tag. And with the overwhelming amount of clothes in the winter we needed a solution.)
“Movement is the starting point for wiring the brain for learning.”
Gill Connell, A Moving Child is a Learning Child
Some Simple, Easy Solutions:
- Just Dance YouTube videos
- GoNoodle
- Free Time out of seats
- Pushing delivery cart in the school
More Complex BUT Effective Solutions:
Why not combine learning with movement??
Coding Movement
In our Math curriculum we work on computer coding. In the younger grades it has a lot to do with directions!
Options include
– Putting pictures on the wall and having them walk, hop, skip, crawl to them
– Use directional language (2 steps north, 1 step east)
– Get out those STEM toys like coding robots and have them create a path and follow it
Sensory Pathway
Students can complete the whole course or you can use it during learning!
Here are some pictures of our old Sensory Pathway – maybe a new one in the future!
Note: This was feasible with the support of my principal and both of my support staff!
We used the numbers to practice counting or to line up!
The bugs were great for lots of gross motor – stomping!
The letters were great for identification (as well as listening/following instructions – Student 1 find E, Student 2 find M) and beginning sounds! Notice how they are also in shapes/different colours – we would use those during math and for some finding games!
The jumping was also great gross motor jumping with a hand at the end signalling them to stop and also can give a high five!
I encourage you to add in movement throughout your day! Sometimes recess isn’t enough for some learners and movement breaks are a must!
Kate ♡
