Van Poperin- Noticing Blog

This week in my classroom, I've noticed my mentor and I both attempting to invite the students with opportunities for movement.  We have been trying to make dancing in the morning a regular thing.  We've also been putting on music for them and having the students "get their wiggles out," when they start to get restless.  In my opinion, it's been really helpful in redirecting their focus and mood back to the task at hand and it really doesn't take very much time at all- only five minutes or so.  On top of "get your wiggles out" breaks, we've also been trying to invite movement into our phonics and math lessons as much as we can.  For example, instead of having the students sit and listen at the carpet about our lesson on height comparison, we had them stand up and walk around to find things that were shorter or taller than them.  This week, I'm taking them on a scavenger hunt/obstacle course outside to learn about and practice our spatial relations/prepositions like above, below, around, on top of, etc.  An eight hour school day is perceived by the teachers and students alike as a very long time, but for five-year olds, time and patience is every harder. Most of that time is spent being told what to do and sitting still, which takes a great amount of energy.