Movement Activity Assignment

Adam Clements MUS 463

Movement Activity for Body Awareness Second Grade: Language Arts GLCE: R.WS.02.03 Understand the alphabetic principal, that sounds in words are expressed by the letters of the alphabet. For this activity, students will have been working on understanding the different sounds found in many different words. To begin this activity, students will have a large open space to move around safely in. The teacher will explain and model the activity before students participate. The teacher will first say one of the new vocabulary words that the class has been using during the week. He/She will then ask what different sounds the students hear in that word. The class will answer, and the teachers will then explain that those sounds are made up of letters in our alphabet. He/She will then explain that in pairs, students will use their bodies, to create the letter that makes that sound. Discussion of appropriate touch and partner cooperation will also take place. The teacher can vary the lesson by having students try to make the letters by themselves or make multiple letters in a larger group. A few examples: pull Make the letter that makes the /p/ sound with a partner. wash Make the letters that make the /sh/ sound using a group of four. sing Make the letter that makes the /s/ sound by yourself. This activity helps students understand space and become aware of their own body in relation to others. When a student creates a letter all alone, it helps the students understand self-space, or moving without touching anybody or anything. When they make a letter with someone else, it helps them to understand shared-space, or moving while touching another person or another thing.

Movement Activity for Continuous Fluid Movement Second Grade: Social Studies GLCE: 2 - G2.0.1 Compare the physical characteristics of the local community with those of another community. For this activity, students will have been learning about different types of environments and climates in the United States and comparing it to the environment and climate where they live. To begin this activity, students will have a large open space to move around safely in. The teacher will explain: Here in East Lansing, we all live in the humid continental zone. This means that we have nice warm summers. So lets all pretend to go outside and swim in a pool. They may use the chant: Can you swim, in your back yard pool where the water is nice and cool? The teacher will then explain: In the southern parts of Florida, those residents live in the topical wet climate zone. They have swamps that are full of plant life and mud. This makes it very hard to move around in. They may use the chant: Can you swim, in a Florida swamp, Where the mud is thick and alligators go chomp? This activity helps students understand flow, which helps them find rhythm without a beat. When students are pretending to swim in a pool they are using free flow or continuous flow, where they are moving their hands in a smooth curvy path all around their space. When the students are pretending to swim in the muddy swamp, they are using bound flow. Flow is a very important type of movement for students to develop.

Movement Activity for Weight Third grade: Math GLCE: M.UN.05.01 Recognize the equivalence of 1 liter, 1,000 ml and 1,000 cm3 and include conversions among liters, milliliters, and cubic centimeters. For this activity, students will have been studying different measurements and conversions. They will have seen and felt how heavy 1 liter of water is as a reference for this activity. To begin this activity, students will have a large open space to move around safely in. The teacher will instruct the students: I am passing out imaginary buckets to each of you. I will ask you to fill your buckets with a certain amount of water, and then I want you to pretend to pick up your bucket based on how heavy it is. Have the students pretend to pick up their bucket with nothing in it. Then have them set it back down. Tell the students that you are going to put 10 liters of water in their big buckets, which is really heavy. Have them pretend to pick up the bucket now and set it back down. After each bucket lift, have them pretend to empty their bucket. If the teacher tells the students a number in liters, they teacher can tell the students that their buckets are marked in milliliters and she wants to know how many milliliters are in their bucket. This will help them to practice their conversions. A few examples: Put 1 liter of water in your bucket. (light) Put 1000 ml of water in your bucket (light, same as the 1 L) Put 10 ml of water in your bucket (very light) Put 100,000 ml of water in your bucket (heavy/cant pick it up = 100L) This activity helps students understand weight. When the bucket is light, they are using gentle weight, light airy movements. When they are picking up a heavy bucket, they are using strong weight, moving in a heavy harsh, forced type of movement.

Movement Activity for Time Sixth Grade: Science GLCE: P.CM.06.11 Describe and illustrate changes in state, in terms of the arrangement and relative motion of the atoms or molecules. For this activity, students will have been studying changes in state, and the relative motion of the molecules in those states. To begin this activity, students will have a large open space to move around safely in. The teacher will explain that the class is going to pretend to shrink down to a microscopic size and turn into water molecules. Lets start as an ice-cube. The state of matter is a solid. The molecules have a vibration motion and are arranged tightly packed moving at a slow speed. Now the sun is coming out and you are changing into a liquid which has a slip-side motion and are loosely close together moving at a medium speed. And now I am putting you on a stove and heating you up into a gas where your motion is bouncing and your arrangement is far apart and you are moving at a quick speed. Students will replicate these motions. This activity helps students understand time. When the students are pretending to be ice, they are moving slow or using sustained movement. When the students are pretending to be a gas, they are moving fast or using quick movement.