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Tuesday, March 27, 2018

Reinforcing Early Reading Skills with a Multi-Layered Dance Activity

Hello!


This movement lesson explores
 letter knowledge, including recognizing letter shapes, making the shapes with the body, and learning the sound the letter represents.  It also explores sequencing, word meanings, and making words and sentences.  In addition, encouraging children to make letters in space, whether standing, sitting, lying down, or jumping, helps to develop a child's spatial sense.




Before we begin, it is important to note that the kinesthetic exploration of letters is what is important in this activity.  Whether or not he accomplishes the exact letter shape, it is the child's recognition of the letter, his attempts to make the shapes with his body, and exploring new ways to move that are the valuable learning experiences.







Dancing About Letters!

Time of Activity:  20-40 minutes

Materials:  2, 3, 4, or 5 letters written on paper, or letter flash            cards; and a large, open space, if available

Music: 1 or 2 upbeat musical selections (suggestions below*), and a drum or tambourine, if available




  • Choose two to five letters that make a word, and write each of them on separate sheets of paper (or use flash cards). As an example, let's use the letters D-A-N-C-E.


  • Hold up one of the letters, say the name of the letter, and have the children repeat the name and the sound of the letter.  Now ask the children to make this letter using their whole body (not just hands and fingers).  Do the same for each letter.  Practice this until the children can make each letter in their bodies without needing the visual cue of the letters you are holding. 


Continue with these playful activities that will help to reinforce the learning: 

  • Play a lively piece of music.  Allow the children to dance while the music is playing.  Stop the music and call out one of the letters, and ask the children to make that shape in their bodies.  Continue this until you have named each letter several times, in random order.


  • Using a drum, tambourine, or just clapping your hands, now call the letters out one after the other on each beat or clap.  Ask the children to make the shape as you name each letter.  Start out slowly, and increase the speed as the children become more efficient at responding.  When you have done it as fast as they can respond, ask them to freeze in the shape of the last letter you called out.  Then ask them to melt to the floor holding the shape as long as they can, and then make the letter shape on the floor with their body.


  • Bring five children up to the front, or to a place where everyone can see them.  Have them make the letters for the word "D-A-N-C-E" in order, and see if the class can figure out the word.


  • Move the children around so that the letters are out of order, and see if the class can remember the correct order of the letters in the word.


  • Once the letters are in the correct order again, ask each child to hold an imaginary pencil and trace the letters of the word one by one in the air.


  • Finish with a free dance about the letters or the word the letters make, such as an alphabet song or a song about dancing.  Two examples are Dance in Your Pants by David Jack, and Funky Bluesy ABC's, by Taj Mahal.*








Expand the activity:

  • Choose a different word each time you do this activity


  • Repeat the activity using another corresponding word, or several words, such as D-A-N-C-E  I-S  F-U-N.  This is a good exercise for practicing sequencing and making sentences.


  • Build this lesson around a specific piece of music that includes the word you are using, or tells a story using the word (for example, if you are spelling the word F-I-S-H,  play Goldfish*  by Laurie Berkner).


  • Try doing the word or words using all uppercase letters first, and then do the same using lowercase letters. 


  • Ask the children to walk the path of each letter on the floor, imagining they have paint or chalk on the bottoms of their shoes.



Keep on Dancin',
MOVING IS LEARNING!

Connie

















Reinforcing Early Literacy Skills with a Multi-Layered Dance Activity

Hello!


This movement lesson explores letter knowledge, including recognizing letter shapes, making the shapes with the body, and learning the sound the letter represents.  It also explores sequencing, word meanings, and making words and sentences.  In addition, encouraging children to make letters in space, whether standing, sitting, lying down, or jumping, helps to develop a child's spatial sense.


 Before we begin, it is important to note that the kinesthetic exploration of letters is what is important in this activity.  Whether or not he accomplishes the exact letter shape, it is the child's recognition of the letter, his attempts to make the 
shapes with his body, and exploring new ways to move
that are the valuable learning experiences.






Dancing About Letters!

Time of Activity:  15-30 minutes


Materials:  2, 3, 4, or 5 letters written on paper, or letter flash            cards; and a large, open space, if available

  • Choose two to five letters that make a word, and write each of them on separate sheets of paper (or use flash cards). As an example, let's use the letters D-A-N-C-E.



  • Hold up one of the letters, say the name of the letter, and have the children repeat the name and the sound of the letter.  Now ask the children to make this letter using their whole body (not just hands and fingers).  Do the same for each letter.  Practice this until the children can make each letter in their bodies without needing the visual cue of the letters you are holding.


Continue with these playful activities that will help to reinforce the learning:


  • Play a lively piece of music.  Allow the children to dance while the music is playing.  Stop the music and call out one of the letters, and ask the children to make that shape in their bodies.  Continue this until you have named each letter several times, in random order.



  • Using a drum, tambourine, or just clapping your hands, now call the letters out one after the other on each beat or clap.  Ask the children to make the shape as you name each letter.  Start out slowly, and increase the speed as the children become more efficient at responding.  When you have done it as fast as they can respond, ask them to freeze in the shape of the last letter you called out.  Then ask them to melt to the floor holding the shape as long as they can, and then make the letter shape on the floor with their body.



  • Bring five children up to the front, or to a place where everyone can see them.  Have them make the letters for the word "D-A-N-C-E" in order, and see if the class can figure out the word.



  • Move the children around so that the letters are out of order, and see if the class can remember the correct order of the letters in the word.



  • Once the letters are in the correct order again, ask each child to hold an imaginary pencil and trace the letters of the word one by one in the air.



  • Finish with a free dance about the letters or the word the letters make, such as an alphabet song or a song about dancing.  Two examples are Dance in Your Pants by David Jack, and Funky Bluesy ABC's by Taj Mahal.




Expand the activity:


  • Choose a different word each time you do this activity



  • Repeat the activity using another corresponding word, or several words, such as D-A-N-C-E  I-S F-U-N.  This is a good exercise for practicing sequencing and making sentences.



  • Build this lesson around a specific piece of music that includes the word you are using, or tells a story using the word (for example, if you are spelling the word F-I-S-H,  play Goldfish by Laurie Berkner).



  • Try doing the word or words using all uppercase letters first, and then do the same using lowercase letters. 



  • Ask the children to walk the path of each letter on the floor, imagining they have paint or chalk on the bottoms of their shoes.



Keep on Dancin',
MOVING IS LEARNING!

Connie


https://www.scbwi.org/members-public/connie-dow

Thursday, March 22, 2018

Reinforcing Number Sense and Counting with a Multi-Layered Dance Activity



In my last blog post, I created a basic movement lesson about letter knowledge (letter shapes and sounds), making words and sentences, and exploring sequencing and word meanings. Dance helps to make the learning of these concepts a fun and lively experience.

So for this post I decided to create a similar multi-layered activity exploring number sense and counting, filled with lots of large motor-skill practice.




A few things to keep in mind about this movement activity:

  • Before we begin, it is important to note that the kinesthetic exploration of numbers is what is important in this activity.  Whether or not he accomplishes the exact number shape, it is the child's recognition of the number, his attempts to make the shapes with his body, and exploring new ways to move that are the valuable learning experiences. 

  • Because most numbers are asymmetrical, don't worry if the number the child makes in his body is backward or forward or upside down!  The child is still learning the shape of the number kinesthetically.  

  • Also, encourage the child to make whole body shapes, and not shapes with just the hands and fingers.





Dancing About Numbers!


Time of Activity:  20-30 Minutes

Materials:  The numbers 0-9 written on separately on paper, or number flash cards; and a large, open space, if available

Music:  A lively instrumental selection; and a tambourine or drum, if available


Up and Down: 

To warm up and start the counting fun, ask the children to go from standing to sitting in 10 counts.  Have the children count along with you.  Now come up to standing in 9 counts.  Repeat this until the children are coming up from the floor in one count, and repeat the "1" count several times as the children go up and down, finishing on the floor.

Counting as we go up and down!


Rocket Ship:  

Now to practice counting backward, ask them to crouch low and imagine they are a rocket ship.  Count backwards from 10 slowly, and give the children a chance to "fly through space" after they have blasted off.  Repeat several times, to reinforce the backward counting.
Getting ready to blast off!

Make Number Shapes with Your Body: 

Hold up the flash card of the number "0."  Say the name of the number, and ask the children to repeat it.  Then ask the children to make that number using their whole body.  Remind them that they can try the number standing, sitting, lying down, or even jumping in the air.

Do the same with each number.  Practice these in order until the children can make each number without needing the visual cue of the numbers you are holding.  Then try calling out the numbers in random order.

Make Number Shapes in Sequence:

Using a drum, tambourine, or just clapping your hands, now call the numbers out one after the other from 0-9, in order, on each beat or clap.  Ask the children to make the shape as you name each number.  Start out slowly, and increase the speed as the children become more efficient at responding.  When you have done it as fast as they can respond, ask them to freeze in the shape of the number "9."  Then ask them to melt to the floor holding the shape as long as they can, and then make the shape of the number 9 on the floor.

Numbers in the Air:

Hold up the numbers one by one.  Ask the children to imagine they are holding an imaginary crayon and to write each number in the air.

Number Paths:

Hold up the numbers one by one again.  Ask the children to walk the path of each number on the floor, imagining they have paint on the bottoms of their shoes.

Number Code Dance

This activity will help children remember the value of the numbers 1-5. 

Here is the Number Code:

1 = 1 Hop
2  = Go down to the floor, and back up
3 = 3 Turns
4 = 4 Jumps
5 = 5 Marches

Prompt the children to try out the movements associated with each number above, first in order, then mixing up the order.

Tell them that they are going to put some of the numbers together to make a number dance. 

Let's do a 1 - 3 - 5 dance.  What would that look like?  Can you try it on your own?  (The dance should be 1 hop, 3 turns, and 5 marches).  Once they have tried to figure it out on their own, ask everyone to do it together. 

How about a 1 - 2 - 5 - 1 dance (1 hop, down to the floor and up, 5 marches, 1 hop).

Let's do a 4 - 3 - 2 dance!  (4 jumps, 3 turns, down to the floor and back up).

Now we will finish with a 5 - 4 - 3 - 2 - 1 dance!
Free dance and number shapes!


Dance and Freeze:

To reinforce all of the number shapes they have practiced, play the instrumental musical selection.  Ask the children to dance freely while the music is playing.  Stop the music randomly, call out a number, and ask them to freeze in that shape.








Keep on dancin' (and having fun with numbers!),

Connie
MOVING IS LEARNING!


Thursday, March 15, 2018

Montessori-Inspired Duckling Activities Using Free Printables

By Deb Chitwood from Living Montessori Now 

If you're looking for a fun spring theme, I have one today that's very popular with young children! I've put together a number of Montessori-inspired duckling activities that can be used in the classroom or at home. 

At Living Montessori Now, I have a list of free duckling printables. The free printables include my latest subscriber freebie (a Montessori-inspired duckling pack). Here, I'm sharing ideas for using free duckling printables to create Montessori-inspired activities for preschoolers through first graders. 

You'll find many activities for preschoolers through first graders throughout the year along with presentation ideas in my previous posts at PreK + K Sharing. You'll also find ideas for using free printables to create activity trays here: How to Use Printables to Create Montessori-Inspired Activities

At Living Montessori Now, I have a post with resource links of Free Printables for Montessori Homeschools and Preschools

Disclosure: This post contains some affiliate links (at no cost to you).

Montessori Shelves with Duckling-Themed Activities 

Montessori Shelves with Duckling-Themed Activities

My shelves with duckling-themed activities include a free duckling culture card designed by The Montessori Company. You’ll also find Montessori-inspired duckling numbers, letters, and and more (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber)

I always have related books available throughout a unit. On my top shelf, I have Ducks and Their Ducklings, Duckling Duckling, Just Ducks! and Duckling Days. These books are all Montessori friendly. Most of these don't have a lot of words and are perfect for young preschoolers and beginning readers. Just Ducks! is Montessori-friendly fiction with facts about ducks interspersed with the story. 

I have some more duckling books in my book baskets, including the classic Caldecott Medal book Make Way for Ducklings (not a Montessori-style book, but it's an awesome book!). 

I also have a fabulous yellow duck nesting doll set! My 4-year-old granddaughter, Zoey, was so excited to see the baby duck (which is super small, since there are 10 nesting ducks in this set. Zoey could do it easily, but she's in love with the tiny duckling. Of course, this set isn't designed for toddlers. 

You could mix your duckling-themed activities among your shelves according to curriculum area. Or you could have a special duckling-themed area something like the one pictured. My shelves this month have a mixture of skill levels. Many of the activities can be adapted for a variety of levels. If you’re a homeschooler, just choose the activities that work for your child’s interests and ability levels. If you don’t have room for all the activities you’d like to do, simply rotate them.

Duckling Culture Card and Ducks and Their Ducklings Book

Duckling Culture Card with Ducks and Their Ducklings Book  

I'm happy to share with you this sweet hand-painted duckling culture card from The Montessori Company. You can use it on your shelves to introduce a duckling or bird unit. I’m hosting the free printable as an instant download at Living Montessori Now. You can always access the free duckling culture card here. 

The description says: “Ducklings are baby ducks and can often be seen following the mother duck in a line. They live in and around fresh water.” 

Matching Montessori Color Box 3 Shades of Color to a Duckling Photo Matching Montessori Color Box 3 Shades of Color to a Duckling Photo 

Free Printable: mallard duckling from Pixabay 

For this activity, I added some color tablets from the Montessori Color Box 3 that were some of the shades of colors found in the photo. You could just give Color Box 3 (or color box 3 printables) to the child for color matching, although adding specific color tablets is an easier activity. It still requires the child to find the exact match in the photo. 

For younger children, just give the colors from Color Box 2 that are found in the photo. Even if they don't match exactly, they'll still be the same basic color. You can use printables instead of actual color tablets. 

Duckling Shapes and Metal Inset Matching

Tray with Duckling Shapes and Metal Inset Matching  

Free Printable: Duckling Matching Printables from Spark and Pook 

I used a Multicraft tray to hold the printables along with metal insets that match the cards. The printable includes 6 of the 10 metal inset shapes. I actually have plastic insets instead of metal insets. I like them for home use because they can be stored in one basket.  

Duckling Shapes and Metal Inset Matching Layout

You could have one set of duckling cards printed on white and one on yellow. I printed mine on the same color of cardstock and used a 1/4" label dot on the back. I used one color of dots for one set and another color of dots for the other set. 

You could just have your child match the printable cards without metal insets, or you could make your own geometric shapes in place of the metal insets. 

Letter D Object Basket with Mystery Bag and Blindfold Letter D Object Basket with Mystery Bag and Blindfold  

Free Printables: Duckling Letters for Letter D Object Basket (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) 

As you can see on my shelves, I used a Montessori mystery bag and blindfold for the letter d basket. I got the basket, mystery bag, and blindfold from Montessori Services, and I used a variety of small objects that beginning with the /d/ sound. 

If you’d like ideas for teaching phonics, check out my DIY Beginning Montessori Phonics post.

Duckling Salt Writing Tray with Fonts for Letter D

Duckling Salt Writing Tray with Fonts for Letter D

Free Printables: Duckling Letters for duckling writing tray (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) 

 For the salt writing tray, I used the wooden tray from the Melissa & Doug Lace and Trace Shapes. You can use whatever tray or container work best for you, though. 

I simply colored salt by putting some Wilton gel food coloring in a plastic bag with the salt and shaking it until it was mixed thoroughly. It's actually the salt from my bee-themed writing tray. (I reuse many of my materials for other units.) 

Duckling Movable Alphabet to Go with the Book Make Way for Ducklings Duckling Movable Alphabet  

Free Printables: Duckling Movable Alphabet (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber). 


Movable Alphabet Spelling and Reading Words "Pond" and "Duck" to Go with Make Way for Ducklings

Notice that there are 8 mallard ducklings ... just same type and number of ducklings as in Make Way for Ducklings! I have a traditional small wooden movable alphabet, so I used that box to lay the letters out in alphabetical order. I had printed out 2 copies of the duckling movable alphabet. Then Zoey and I matched the movable alphabet letters with all the duckling movable alphabet letters. 

If you don't have a traditional wooden alphabet, you can have a stack of my printable cards already in alphabetical order. Lay them out in order and then have your child match them. First I read Make Way for Ducklings to Zoey, and then we worked together to spell "pond" and "duck." Later, we turned "duck" into "duckling." This is a great literature-based activity for kids working on spelling and reading. 

Five Little Ducks Finger Puppets and Book

Five Little Ducks Finger Puppets and Book

Free Printable: Five Little Ducks Printable Puppets from Picklebums 

The Raffi Songs to Read are lots of fun! The Five Little Ducks book goes perfectly with the printable puppets. I just taped regular-size craft sticks to them. Like I often do, I placed everything on a Multicraft tray. 

This activity works especially well at home. I sang the book while Zoey did the actions. I held the mother duck and raised it up whenever the song talked about the mother duck. Zoey took the 5 little duck puppets to another part of the room when the ducklings went away each time. At the end of each verse, Zoey put one duckling on a table. Then I said the subtraction equation - for example, 5-1=4. At the end, Zoey brought all the ducklings back. She really loved the activity! 

Duckling Greater Than, Less Than Math Activity Tray with Duckling Greater Than, Less Than Activity  

Free Printable: Duckling Numbers and Greater Than, Less Than Symbols (part of my subscriber freebie pack, so just sign up for my email to get the link and password … or check the bottom of your latest newsletter if you’re already a subscriber) 

This activity uses a piece of felt for a table mat (I used the Montessori Services felt table mat) and bead bars from the decanomial box in a Multicraft tray and Bambu condiment cups (what I used here) or other small containers. (My bead bars, which I love, are from Alison’s Montessori. You can get bead bars on Amazon, although I haven’t personally used materials from those companies.) In addition to the bead bars, I used popcorn kernels to give the ducklings something to eat.

Duckling Greater Than, Less Than Activity 

I used the concepts from greater than, less than alligator math to place the greater than and less than symbols. This is a fun way to reinforce both bead bar work and greater than, less than. 

Duckling Dice Game for Counting or Addition

Free Printable: Duckling Dice Game from Fun-a-Day Zoey was so excited to find the Safari Ltd. good luck mini ducks on the shelf! I used 12 ducks for addition along with see-through gem stones as markers for the duck game board. I like to play the game cooperatively where the children (or adult and child) take turns adding to the same game board until it's full. 

Use one dice and 6 ducklings for children who are working on counting rather than addition. 

More Free Duckling Printables 

Go to my post at Living Montessori Now for links to free duckling printables from around the blogosphere: Free Duckling Printables and Montessori-Inspired Duckling Activities. And be sure to subscribe to my email list if you'd like to get an exclusive free printable each month (plus two more awesome freebies right away): Free Printables

More Bird Activities and Resources
Helpful Animal Classification Posts

Montessori at Home or School - How to Teach Grace and Courtesy eBook

If you'd like to focus on manners with children, please check out my eBook Montessori at Home or School: How to Teach Grace and Courtesy! It's written for anyone who'd like to feel comfortable teaching manners to children ages 2-12. I'm also one of the coauthors of the book Learn with Play – 150+ Activities for Year-round Fun & Learning!

Have a happy spring!

Deb - Siganture
Deb Chitwood
Deb Chitwood is a certified Montessori teacher with a master’s degree in Early Childhood Studies from Sheffield Hallam University in Sheffield, England. Deb taught in Montessori schools in Iowa and Arizona before becoming owner/director/teacher of her own Montessori school in South Dakota. Later, she homeschooled her two children through high school. Deb is now a Montessori writer who lives in San Diego with her husband of 42 years (and lives in the city where her kids, kids-in-law, and 3-year-old granddaughter live). She blogs at Living Montessori Now.

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