Nearly all students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education.
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I have been researching the connection between learning and physical activity. In recent years, many connections have been made between various body movements and how the brain processes learning. For example, body balance also helps train the brain to read properly - i.e. tracking words from side to side and lines from top to bottom. Physical activity helps keep the brain active and children ready to learn.
Active lessons create engaged students who want to be in school and who have better memories and higher order thinking skills. I will use the balance beams and stilts to help my students practice balance while we reinforce reading and math skills. For example, instead of doing a math fact practice sheet, they will have team races where they recite the facts while walking the balance beam. I can have the students walk on the stilts to spots in the room to identify certain parts of speech. There is a never ending list running through my head of ways to use these items to practice targeted skills while working on their physical balance.
The launcher will be used for different kinds of physical movement. First, they will have to accurately launch the balloon/beanbag at their target. This helps with strength and motor skills as well as hand eye coordination. Secondly, I can make adjustments to how they have to launch in order to target specific movements - like cross-body movements, which help with memory.
As an example of a lesson, I have in a mind a sorting game where I attach book titles to beanbags and have my students launch them into circles with author's purpose labels. They would have to land the title in the correct purpose (persuade, entertain, inform, etc.) in order to get a point for their team.
About my class
I have been researching the connection between learning and physical activity. In recent years, many connections have been made between various body movements and how the brain processes learning. For example, body balance also helps train the brain to read properly - i.e. tracking words from side to side and lines from top to bottom. Physical activity helps keep the brain active and children ready to learn.
Active lessons create engaged students who want to be in school and who have better memories and higher order thinking skills. I will use the balance beams and stilts to help my students practice balance while we reinforce reading and math skills. For example, instead of doing a math fact practice sheet, they will have team races where they recite the facts while walking the balance beam. I can have the students walk on the stilts to spots in the room to identify certain parts of speech. There is a never ending list running through my head of ways to use these items to practice targeted skills while working on their physical balance.
The launcher will be used for different kinds of physical movement. First, they will have to accurately launch the balloon/beanbag at their target. This helps with strength and motor skills as well as hand eye coordination. Secondly, I can make adjustments to how they have to launch in order to target specific movements - like cross-body movements, which help with memory.
As an example of a lesson, I have in a mind a sorting game where I attach book titles to beanbags and have my students launch them into circles with author's purpose labels. They would have to land the title in the correct purpose (persuade, entertain, inform, etc.) in order to get a point for their team.