Bright Ideas for Kinesthetic Learning

Here we are again - another month of AMAZING bloggers getting together to share some Bright Ideas.    This time I'd like to share some ideas for those wiggly, bouncy, chatty, energetic, wonderful, kinesthetic learners.  

We all know 'em.  We all have 'em.

  

I think kinesthetic learners would pretty much describe almost every child in my class in 1st grade.  Maybe it's the age, or maybe it's just my group of lovelies this year - but either way, I think all primary teachers can agree that it pays to have some strategies in your back pocket to break out when you see the wiggles start kicking in.  Not to mention that most children learn best by doing.  

All of the ideas I'm going to share are ones I use in my classroom.  I'm not claiming to have created these ideas, and I'm sure many teachers use the same ones, but I just wanted to share what I do. 

I hope you will see something that inspires you and you can try out in your own classroom.  I named these ideas just to help explain, but if there is another name for them that maybe I don't know about or if there is an original creator, please feel free to let me know.  I will always give credit where credit is due.

So let's start with some ELA ideas:

 Whole Body Spelling is using your whole body to form letters to spell a word.  You could do this with sight words or other spelling words.  You can do it in the classroom, but my students love going outside to do this.  We even go out in the winter and do this in the snow.  

Write in the air is just a quick way to practice spelling.  We use our fingers in the air as if we are writing and spell words out loud together.  This is a hard one to capture in a picture, but here is my attempt.  Maybe you can tell that they are spelling the word again.  :)

Listen and Jump is something we do when reviewing sight words, rhyming words, or vocabulary words.  In this picture all the kids have sight words and when I say a word that they have, they jump up in the air.  They LOVE this one!  

Sometimes I will give them other words and say if your word rhymes with "cat" then jump up or if your word starts with a "b" sound jump up.  This is also fun because a couple kids might jump up at the same time.  Again - simple, but gets 'em moving.

Lifesize Making Words  - We use letter cards to spell words.  As we stretch out the sounds the kids will either stand up or hold up their letter.  Sometimes we have vowel teams and those kids link up their arms and say their sound together or we put a Super E at the end of the word and have him/her flip the vowel sound.  The person holding the vowel turns around in a circle and says the long vowel sound instead.  Acting out phonics is something that really helps my lower readers.  They seem to remember things like flipping the vowel and linking arms and so on.  Great visual for the whole class.

Finally, and probably our MOST favorite, is a variation of the game Hullabaloo.  This is such a cute game and my 3 and 5 year old girls really love playing this at home.  

In the actual game there are rubber mats that have pictures and words with things like animals, food, instruments, etc.  You spread these out on the floor randomly.  Then you turn on the "announcer".  The announcer says things like "Slither over to a yellow mat" or "Hop over to a food".  The kids move around and find the mats he's talking about.  Then he will say something like, "If you are standing on the elephant you win - take a bow."  It's super cute!  

So I decided to make this into a classroom game to practice word families and as we learn new spelling patterns.  I use these pack of foam shapes that I got from the Dollar Tree.  

Then I write words on them using a sharpie.  Right now we are working on long vowels so the pack of words I'm using has CVCe words, vowel teams, and also includes blends and digraphs.  But in the beginning of the year I just use CVC words and slowly add in blends.  

We spread out the words on the floor and I will give directions like, "Tiptoe over to a word that rhymes with feet" or "Crawl over to a word that has a long e sound."  We just stand next to the word instead of on them and then I have them read the words they chose.  I play this with small groups of children so it is more manageable and because I don't have a ton of room, but it could be played as a class too.  In the actual game kids can share mats, so sometimes we do that too.  

I also use these same cards at our reading table with fun fly swatter to swat the words if we don't have time to spread them all out on the floor.  This is also a class favorite and super quick to set up when I don't have the time for the full thing.

Now for some kinesthetic ideas to use in math: 

First up is skip counting.  We use numeral cards that I quickly printed on the computer and laminated and each child has a number.  We sit in a line or a circle.  If we are counting by 2s for example, we will count around the circle and whisper the odd numbers and then shout (not too loud) the even numbers while those children stand up.  Then we switch it up and count by other numbers.  If we're counting by 3s, we would whisper 1,2 and shout 3, whisper 4,5, and shout 6, and so on.  

For Greater than/Less than we use the same numeral cards.  We make numbers between 0 and 120 (first grade common core standards).  Then I have a student stand in the middle and hold their arms like the sign.  We practice reading it together.  For example: 57 is greater than 46.   We will also make numbers and put them in order from least to greatest or vice versa.  Sometimes we turn the numeral cards into necklaces using sheet protectors and string and they don't have to hold up the numbers.  

This next one is something I am planning on getting when I have the money, but wanted to share it with you.  In my classroom I have made a Lifesize Tens Frame out of a dollar store plastic tablecloth and washi tape for the lines (sorry no picture).  We have kids stand in the tens frame to practice counting, adding, and subtracting using our bodies.  But I also just found online this giant 120 chart and blow up dice that I think I will HAVE to get.  I also saw another one that was even bigger where the kids move around on it.  How fun!  

Finally is my version of Math Hullabaloo.  This is the same idea as the reading version, only using numbers.  Again, I write a bunch of numbers between 0 and 120 on the foam shapes using sharpie.  Then we spread them all out.  I give clues such as, "Dance over to a number with 6 tens" or "Slide over to a number greater than 30."  Super fun!

Thanks so much for stopping by and checking out my Bright Ideas for Kinesthetic Learners.  If you enjoyed these ideas, please consider following my blog on Bloglovin' over on the side or following me on Facebook or Instagram.  

Math Facts and Computation

Dang it is coooooooooollllldddddd!  

This polar vortex is turning me into an agoraphobic (that's when you don't go outside, right?).  It almost seems like there's just no reason to even change out of my pajamas - ever.  But of course, for my family's sake, I do.  Plus, one of these days I will have to go back to work and not have snow cold days.  

So while I'm snuggled up on the couch with a blanket, a cup of coffee, and wearing my PJ's, I thought I'd share what we are doing in math lately.  

I love teaching math!  

But I also stress out about teaching math to my little firsties.  

Having taught 3rd and 4th grade for 10 years, I KNOW where these little kiddos will be going in the next couple years.  I had some students who struggled so much with math by the time they got to 3rd grade and it broke my heart to see how difficult it was for them.  I feel like it's now my job, as a first grade teacher, to be sure NONE of my students will struggle with math in 3rd grade or ever.  Obviously this is setting the bar pretty high, and is probably not possible.  I just think that the foundation of mathematical understanding and number sense is so so SO important and I need to be sure I am preparing my students for what is to come with common core and testing and life.  

So here we are, half way through the school year and I start to freak out a little bit.  I am assessing like crazy to be sure that the kids are where I feel that they need to be in order to reach the standards by the end of the year.  

We've been reviewing addition through 20 with two and three addends.  This is just one example of one of my Common Core Math Centers (Set 2).  

I have Super Sums centers all like this to go through sums of 20.  I expect this to be review for the kids at this point in the year, so if I see kiddos still struggling with these then that is a huge red flag for me.  

Rewind, reteach, and provide intervention!

Then we took a good amount of time talking about subtraction and how it is the same and different from addition. We made this anchor chart together and they cam up with just about everything on this chart on their own.  That was a good sign for me.  

*sigh of relief* 

It seemed like the class had a decent grasp of subtraction, which of course can be a more difficult concept.  We've practicing our subtraction with centers like Dazzling Differences.  I also have these through 20 and we use and reuse these different center all the time.  

I've been doing a guided math approach this year so these centers have been part of our rotation while I work with small groups of students.  I don't think I will ever teach math a different way.  It is so helpful for me to keep track of my students' progress and so great to have students really focus on what we're learning.  We are now moving into more difficult concepts like missing addends and true/false equations.  

Here is a quick example of what we were doing in my small group to help practice missing addends.  We draw the model to represent the parts and the whole.  Then I have students count how many they have and count up to find the missing addend.  Nothing fancy, but it does the trick.

Here is another extremely basic (not very pretty) way we practiced true and false equations in small groups.  This is just a white board and post-its.  I tried to throw in all different types of equations here.  Some of the equations I used in this example (since the picture isn't the best) are:

7 = 5 + 2  (answer first)

2 + 3 + 1 = 6 (3 addends)

10 = 10 (not sure what this is called, but it always tricks them)

2 + 3 = 4 + 1  (balanced equations)

and there is one with a visual representation and two equal signs 

7 = ******* = 5 + 2

This is just one center that can be used to practice one part of this.   

I am in the process of making another set of Common Core Math Centers that would include true/false equations.  If you are interested in these centers (there are tons more in this pack including a bunch that review place value), click on the cover below.  

I've also been on the hunt for a good system for achieving math fact fluency and I think I've found it!!!  

Click on the picture below to go to a post by Julie at First Grade Critter Cafe.  She wrote a great post explaining Bubble Gum Math (a product by Fluttering through First Grade).  It is suuuuuper cute and I think kids would love this!  That's right - I said it - they would love taking timed tests and learning their math facts.  Genius!

I can't wait to try this out in my room.  

Finally, just a few shout outs . . .

A Burst of First is having an awesome giveaway.  

You can win my Valentine's Day pack among many other awesome prizes.  Check it out!!

Also, did you hear that the Winter Olympics are this year???  

Well, my friend Molly at Lucky to be in First has made this ridiculously awesome pack of math and literacy games to tie into it.  You have GOT TO check this one out.  

And last but not least ----- a bunch of blogging buddies and I have started a new collaborative Facebook page called Firstie Friends.  We would love if you would follow us.  There are over 80 different first grade teachers working together on this one so you are sure to get tons of great ideas, freebies, and more!