Goal:
To utilize kinesthetic learning tools to teach students vocabulary prior to reading a story to improve recall and comprehension.
Specific Learning Objectives:
- Students will learn how to use kinesthetic movements to learn new vocabulary meanings.
- Students will learn how to remember word meanings by acting them out.
- Students will be able to recall and verbalize new vocabulary word meanings and use them to increase reading comprehension.
Introduction/ Hook:
Today the read aloud I did with the class was called Rainbow Fish. Prior to reading the story I took important vocabulary from the book and we discussed the meanings of some of the more challenging words. Also we came up with body movements that went with each word. An example of this would be the word “shimmering“, we used jazz hands and waved them while saying the word. Then we took the word glide and used our hands to mimic what a fish would do in the water gliding. The vocabulary activated prior knowledge and we then had a turn and talk regarding what a fish would look like if it shimmered and glided under the water. When we came back to the whole group on Zoom we shared our ideas.
Day 1
After reading the story we did another turn and talk Zoom breakout about the questions, ” What’s more important, looking beautiful or having good friends?” As usual my students had great answers about the importance of giving and kindness in the world. After reading and discussing we wrote down ways in which we thought we can spread kindness and make friends using the Zoom dry erase board. Individually students colored a rainbow fish coloring one scale their favorite color and the rest in different colors or material. Parents took pictures and posted them on Bloomz.
Day 2
We shared and had students guess what other people’s favorite color or material was from looking at the scales of the Rainbow Fish they colored the day before. This required paying attention to details as well as good visual recognition. Then students each wrote how they would be kind to a friend utilizing the list we had brainstormed the day before and we posted them with their colored fish on a picture collage on Bloomz. We reviewed the vocabulary words again using body movements to demonstrate the word meaning.
Assessment
Student’s body of work from the written portion of the scale project. I also tested vocabulary knowledge during 1-1 Zoom meetings.
Appropriateness of Activities
The lesson presented was appropriate for this age group. It translated effectively online and gave good visual learning points to help students utilize body kinesthetic learning to remember vocabulary meaning.
Correlation of Activities to the Seminar
This is a lesson translated well with additional 1-1 Zoom work. Using kinesthetic tools to teach vocabulary is a great tool for remote learning because it is both visual as well as body centered.
Self Evaluation
I was really happy with the connections made with the vocabulary to the body movements. This is always an effective way of teaching new words. It also gets the students up and moving which is more fun. Next time I do this activity I would model the scale activity a little more effectively.
