Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Living, Moving Stories

There's a lot of literature and research that points to a correlation between an engaged mind and an active body.  On this last day of the year, I've condensed some of the best articles and books I've read on this topic into a pep talk & brainstorm post.  Please think about including movement, --whether it is yoga or imaginative play or something you create and name yourself -- into your time with kids in the coming year.

Need ideas?  Read on.

Breathing:  breathing in and out mindfully is a great way to start teaching body awareness and relaxation.  Think up a meaningful way to express the idea of breath awareness.  Belly Out/Belly Flat?  Balloon In/Balloon Up?  In voice lessons, I was taught that my lungs extended deep into my body, and that to fill them you are actually filling your torso.  Help a kid with this concept by having him lie down and put an object on his stomach.  Have him try to make the object rise and fall with his breath.  Yoginis may want to teach breath through the nose (feel the warm air coming out your nose, the cooler air coming in) but that's a pretty specialized skill for a toddler.

Sitting:  People are amazed that my 5-year-old meditates with me.  "How can he sit still?" is their primary question.  Honestly, meditation with my child does not last all morning, but I have gotten him to meditate by lots of practice and repetition.  If sitting still doesn't appeal to your little one, try doing cat/cow pose in a sitting position or incorporating arm movements into breath (anyone who's been to ballet class remembers the five positions: try using them, or windmilling your arms, in tune with your breath.)  My old voice teacher talked about the "invisible string" that pulled the sternum up in the air to increase lung capacity.  Meditation books ask you to position your spine straight, with head held high and shoulders down.  Create a version of this concept that works for you and your kid.  (My personal favorite is imagining to sit tall like a proud, strong deer- what animal might your little one respond to?)

Simple Movements from a Sitting Position:  Rock back and forth.  Or side to side.  Circles?  Sitting cross-legged, you can still maximize movement by moving or placing hands in one spot as your body is largely stationary.  Try moving hands behind your body to a semblance of "camel" pose or forward towards child's pose.

More Movement:  If you are a yogini, or have access to a book or website with yoga poses, there are many poses you can incorporate into stories or transition times.  Or, get crazy and have your children imagine how a ____ (fill in the blank with story character) moves his body when he's ____ (fill in emotions or actions from the story.  Now you're getting deep into comprehension strategies!)

Ladybug Crawls Past: In "Thread The Needle" pose, imagine ladybugs crawling past under your body, by your feet.  Allowing your fingers to "crawl" through the needle is the ultimate ladybug imagination game.

Frog Pose:  Froggy jumps up and down in place whenever something happy occurs.  Extend the imagination play beyond the simple yoga pose -- ask your child to make Froggy FLY or STAND in her jumps.  (PS: This is really great cardio for Mama or Papa, too!)  What does Froggy look like standing?  Do you add "ribbit" noises?  Have fun.

Tree Pose:  be a tree, or use your imagination!  Tree pose is obviously also a flamingo.  Or a sign post.  Or the beginning of a whole host of shape-induced yoga poses.  (Square- camel.  Circle?  Star?  Straight line?  Now squiggle and have some fun!)

Other Poses for Kids: Star, Warrior I and II, Bow even Pilates moves like the 100s or swimming on your belly are fun and do not take a lot of carpet space.  Even if you story time is FULL, you can incorporate moves into your story times!

Sweet Endings: If you've ever done this type of movement in a lesson, you know kids can get quite excited in the process.  So when story time is over, be sure to include a few cool-down poses.  Cobbler, Butterfly, Happy Baby and seated twist are usually safe and great for calming.  I've had a lot of luck with dead-man's pose (laying flat on the ground, breathing deeply with eyes closed) as a reconnect to the rest of the day.  Hey, it works for adults, so why wouldn't kids enjoy a brief rest to refresh?


Many of the ideas for this post are from an old Australian DVD called "Kinda-Yoga." It's a great series.  If you are interested in ingraining yoga stories into your library, you should buy them!











Friday, December 5, 2014

Imagination Games

Imagination has come up in serendipitous ways this week.  Part of our story time was about imaging hot and cold weather and our physical reaction to it (though that did not require much imagination with the peculiar Dallas weather we have this time of year.) Then, it came up in an article and on a television show my son was watching.

Imagination games are great ways to fill a couple minutes in story time.  You can use one as pre-reading to prepare kids and remind them of previous schema/knowledge, or after a story when you want to check for understanding.  Keeping the body busy enhances kinesthetic memory and engagement. Here are a couple ways I've been using imagination games this week:


The Imagination Dance Game (great for transition time)
Dance like a salt and pepper shaker.
Dance like a ball.
Dance like a flower.
Dance like a book!

Winter "Move your body" like...
You're in the snow with no coat!
You're sipping hot cocoa.
You're making snowballs with no gloves on!
You're warming your hands by the fire.

Imagination games relating to story
Take scenes from a book that have strong imagery and act them out, even if they're just a quick gesture.  In "Something Beautiful" by Sharon Wyeth, I had the children imagine how it felt for the heroine to erase the hateful messages on her apartment door and sweep the courtyard- acting out healing her home helps the kids focus on the message of creating beauty in things they can control.

Yoga poses, one of my favorite imagination games, don't require much space but allow good stretching opportunities.  Once children get into a pose, they can be encouraged to move and make sounds appropriate to the animal, object or person.  Inventing poses is a favorite activity of several of my students.

One of my son's favorite imagination games is "Playing Puppies."  I pretend to go to a pet store and "buy" him, but I have to guess what kind of animal he is by the way he moves and the answers he gives to my questions.  Then, he "comes home" with me and we interact, using the criteria he gave to identify himself.  It's silly and fun, and I have a hard time saying no when he wants to play.  One day. play like this will lead to theater impromptu games, and those are some of the most fun!

There are so many more ways to incorporate movement and imagination play.  Traditional toys and play items, like a jump rope, sheets and boxes are natural for at-home imagination play.  The big boxes in my living room are castles, garages, stores and cabins on various days.

What are some other great imagination games?



Thursday, November 20, 2014

Winter!

This is my lesson for the week of December 8, 2014, but I finished it early so I thought I'd share for my colleagues who are already experiencing cold weather.  Stay warm!

Intent
Kindergarten studies the season of winter with this investigative lesson featuring science, research fundamentals, and books.

Introduction
Bring students to carpet, get them settled.

Welcome Song (To London Bridge is Falling Down)

        Welcome to the library, library, library. Welcome to the library,
        Please come inside and read. 

        We’re glad to have you here today, here today, here today. 
        We’re glad to have you here today, today’s a special day.


Finger play:  NOW WINTER BEGINS
Into their hives the busy bees crawl.                       (Flap fingers for wings)
Into the ant hills, go ants one and all.                      (Wiggle fingers running up hill)
Caterpillars too, have hidden their heads,               (Spin around )
Safely spun in their snug little beds.                        (Rest head on hands)
The squirrels have all climbed to their holes in the trees.   (Climbing motion)
The bird nests are empty, no birds can we see.  (Flap wings again)
The leaves have all blown away on the wind       (Flap around like falling leaves)
Announcing to all – Now winter begins!               (Hold hands like megaphone
Fires are built in the hearths of homes.                  (Rub hands together )
Hats are knitted and coats are sewn.                     (Pretend to knit or sew)
Harsh winds blow all through the night.                 (Blow)
Lights all flicker, what a sight!                                (Hold up arm and wave hand)
Everyone waits for the first sight of snow,            (Cup eyes, like looking out window)
Then down it comes, soft and slow.                       (Fall gently, twirling to the ground)
The world is quiet, the world is white,                   (Cup ear)
Winter is here, a beautiful sight!    (Fall back and pretend to make snow angles on floor)


Library Expectations- “4 finger rules” of the library: (source M. Lynn)
quiet (finger to mouth)
watch teachers (fingers to eyes)
listen to stories and directions (cup ears)
and always walk (walking fingers.)


Mystery Bag:  What’s inside the mystery box today?  The object inside the bag will give us a clue what our story time is going to be about.  (Mittens, a scarf or a hat would be appropriate.)

We are passing the mystery bag around today.  What does this object feel like?  What words can we use to describe it? (lightweight, soft, mushy.)  What is it?  What do we use it for?  What time of the year do we need this?


Word of the Week: say it, syllabicate it TEACHER draws it in the air, invites students to “air write” with her. 

English:  winter
Spanish:  invierno (in-vee-AIR-no)
ASL signSign language is a real language where people use their hands to communicate.  The sign for winter is also the sign for cold.  Hold your hands in fists by your shoulders and act like you are pulling a coat over your shoulders twice.  This is the sign!  I bet it means you want to stay warm.


Introductory Activity
Have a bowl of hot and a bowl of cold water at the ready, along with a couple old towels or rags.  Have the students take turns dipping their fingers into the bowls.  We compare cold by its opposite, heat. 

A discussion of cold can include beginning research habits.  Have students brainstorm, and you write down, things that are the hottest and coldest.  (If you’ve done this multiple years, you can also get some pictures laminated and ready to post instead of writing.  Hot items have included the Sun, pizza, hot drinks, a stove or oven, a fire, a blanket.  Cold items include the inside of a freezer, snow, air conditioner, popsicles or ice cream.  Students can help with the pictoral research in this way.)

Resource
When Winter Comes by Nancy Van Laan.  Atheneum, 2000.

a.    Pre-Reading: The title makes a good beginning question.  What does happen when winter comes?  How do we know winter is coming? 
b.   During Reading:  Have students predict the answer (on each following page) to each question the author posits.
c.   Reflection:  What did you learn about how animals and plants spend winter?

Action Rhyme
How we move in winter.  How would you look if you were…

Outside in the freezing cold.
Soaking in a hot bathtub.
Woutdoors in the winter without mittens.
Warming your hands by the fireplace.
Drinking ice water.
Drinking hot cocoa.
Rubbing your face with snow!
Rubbing your face with a warm washcloth.
Making angels in the snow.
Snuggling in a nice, warm bed.
  


Resource

Before Reading: Have students picture in their mind things they like and don’t like about winter.  See if the poet mentions these things.

While reading: Make connection between Florian’s paintings and words.  Listen for rhyme.  Have students softly tap rhythm as you read.

After Reading:  Did the poet mention something you like and dislike, too?

Resource
JOKES:                                  

Knock Knock.           What does a snowman eat for breakfast?
Who’s There?           Snowflakes!
Snow.
Snow Who?              How does a snowman get to school?
Snowbody!                Icicle!


Resource






Winter Days in the Big Woods, Winter on the Farm or Sugar Snow, all part of the My First Little House Books, adapted from Laura Ingalls Wilder’s Little House series.  Harper-Collins, 1993, 1995, 1997. 

Any of these books would make a great counterpoint to the animal/plant winter book presented earlier.  Talk about life a long time ago in America and how we enjoy ourselves and stay warm now versus long ago, similarities and differences.
Check Out
Today we continue to check out, using shelf markers, in the kindergarten section.

Wrap-up
Review: word of week and intent. 

Goodbye Song:
Open, shut them.
Open, shut them.
Raise your hands up high.
Open, shut them.
Open, shut them.
Wave and say goodbye.


This Week’s TEKS:  1 (A) words represented by print
                                    1 (C) 1:1 correspondence word/print
                                    1 (F) Conventions of Print
                                    1 (G) Parts of A Book
                                    2 (B) Identify Syllables in spoken words
                                    3 (A) Identify common sounds letters represent
                                    4 (A) Identify what happens next based on cover, illustration
                                    4 (B) Ask & respond to questions about text
5 (c) sort pictures into conceptual categories by attribute
                                    6 (A) Identify elements of a story: setting character, key events
                                    6 (C) Recognize sensory details
                                    7      Poetry has regular beat, similar word sounds (rhyme, alliteration)
                                    8 (a) retell a main event from a story told aloud
8 (B) describe characters in a story and reasons for their actions
                                    10 (D) use titles/illustrations to make predictions about text
                                    10 (B) retell important facts in an expository text
18 (A)  use phonological knowledge to match sounds to letters
19 (A) ask questions of class-wide interest (with adult assistance)
20 (A) gather evidence from provided text sources (with adult assistance)
                                    21 (A) listen attentively by facing speakers and asking questions
                                    21 (B) Follow oral directions that involve a short, related sequence of events
                                    RC(fig 19) (D)  make inferences based on cover, title, illustrations and plot
                                    RC(fig 19) (A) discuss purpose for reading & listening to various texts
RC(fig 19) (A) discuss purpose for reading or listening to various texts
                                    RC(fig 19) (B)  ask and respond to questions about texts

Shelf Marker Song

This is a little ditty for librarians everywhere...

If you use a shelf marker system in your library, we may share the same frustrations!  (Especially when explaining how and why we use them to the smallest kids, who don't think twice about organization!)

Here's a song I found that has helped students understand what a shelf marker is for.  Hope it helps you, too!

(Sung to the tune of Hokey Pokey)

You put your shelf marker in, you pull the book out.
You leave the marker in -- now, will you check it out?
You read a couple pages to see what it's about:
Put it back if you're in doubt!

Of course, a demonstration of what you're singing is the best part of the song.  I've caught a couple kindergarten students singing it to themselves now, so it must be working!

Monday, November 10, 2014

Dinosaurs!




Dinosaurs are fascinating to little kids!  Well, big kids like them, too!  Let’s spend the afternoon in a romping, stomping, roaring celebration of our extinct reptilian friends- the dinos.

Introduction
Bring students to carpet, get them settled.

Welcome Song (To London Bridge is Falling Down)

        Welcome to the library, library, library. Welcome to the library,
        Please come inside and read. 

        We’re glad to have you here today, here today, here today. 
        We’re glad to have you here today, today’s a special day.


Finger play:  I had a little red balloon

I had a little red balloon
Pretend to hold a balloon in between your two hands.
And I blew, and I blew, and I blew.
Pretend to blow up the balloon.
And it grew, and it grew, and it grew.
Spread your two hands further and further apart.
I tossed it up in the air,
Pretend to toss the balloon up with your two hands.
And didn’t let it drop.
I bounced it on the ground,
Pretend to bounce the balloon on the ground with your two hands.
And it went “Pop!”
Clap your two hands together as you shout the word “Pop!”

Variation: Repeat only change the balloon (and your voice) to a great big or a teeny tiny balloon


Library Expectations- “4 finger rules” of the library: (source M. Lynn)

quiet (finger to mouth)
watch teachers (fingers to eyes)
listen to stories and directions (cup ears)
and always walk (walking fingers.)


Mystery Bag:  What’s inside the mystery box today?  The object inside the box will give us a clue what our story time is going to be about.  A plastic toy dinosaur.)

We are passing the mystery bag around today.  What does this object feel like?  What words can we use to describe it? (hard, spiny, small.) 


Word of the Week: say it, syllabicate it TEACHER draws it in the air, invites students to “air write” with her. 

English:  Dinosaur
Spanish: dinosaurio (DEE-noh-SOAR-oreo) (yeah, I know.  My phonetics can be funny!)
ASL signWe’re going to make a letter D with our hand (like Dog last week) and he’s our dinosaur.  Now he’s going to take three heavy, big dino steps across our body… ready, DINOSAUR!)

TODAY we are doing RHYMING WORDS, too.  What words rhyme with dinosaur?  (Roar, soar, more, explore, oar, door, shore…)

Resource
 Dinosaurs, Dinosaurs by Byron Barton (Harper Collins, 1989.)

a.    Pre-Reading:  What do you know about dinos?  This is a very simple picture book.  It might be fun to have kids use their hands and arms to make themselves look like the dinosaurs on the page?
b.   During and After Reading:  Note similarities to animals and people today, even though they’ve been gone a long time.
Action Rhyme
Dinosaurs Lived Long Ago (courtesy Perry Public Library)

Dinosaurs lived long ago
Some walked (stomp feet)
Some swam (pretend to swim)
Some flew, you know (fly)
Some were big (hands high)
And Some were small (hands held low)
Some were Gigantic (hold hands wide)
And VERY tall! (Stretch both arms high)

Resource

If you can get a copy of this book, it’s full of great dino poems, many only a few lines long and all with pretty great pictures by the late Arnold Lobel.

Before Reading: Poem today is about T Rex: what do we know about him?

While reading: Listen for rhyming words.

After Reading:  Is this poem true?  What were the rhyming words?  Does the picture “go” with the poem?

Jokes
                 
·         What do you call a sleeping dinosaur?  A Dino-SNORE!
·         What do you call it when a dinosaur makes a goal in soccer?  A Dino-SCORE!
·         Where do dinosaurs buy their groceries?  At the Dino-STORE!


Resource






Prehistoric Actual Size by Steve Jenkins.  Houghton-Mifflin, 2005. 
Pre-Reading:  The first book we read had some basic facts about dinosaurs.  This is a non-fiction book, and it’s called non-fiction because everything in it is true.
During Reading:  Compare animals to things in the child’s world.
After Reading:  Show students the other Steve Jenkins Actual Size books in the library – they can check them out during checkout time!
Action Rhymes
Action Rhyme: “Dinosaurs” by Nancy Klein.

Spread your arms way out wide, fly like a Pteronodon, soar and glide.
Bend to the floor, head down low, Move like Stegosaurus long ago.
Reach up tall, try to be as tall as Apatosaurus eating on a tree.
Use your claws, grumble and growl, just like Tyrannosaurs on the prowl.

Activity:
Dinosaur Hunter’s License (downloaded and adapted from http://www.visitdinosaurland.com/School-Reports

For learning their facts, kids earn their DINO HUNTING LICENSE and can take it home!

Activity
While they do art projects this week, there are a lot of great ebooks on Tumblebooks and PebbleGo about Dinosaurs.  I kept them engaged with art and video while we checked out books in small groups.

Wrap-up
Review: words of the week. 

Goodbye Song:
Open, shut them.
Open, shut them.
Raise your hands up high.
Open, shut them.
Open, shut them.
Wave and say goodbye.




This Week’s TEKS:  1 (A) words represented by print
                                    1 (C) 1:1 correspondence word/print
                                    1 (F) Conventions of Print
                                    1 (G) Parts of A Book
                                    2 (B) Identify Syllables in spoken words
                                    3 (A) Identify common sounds letters represent
                                    4 (A) Identify what happens next based on cover, illustration
                                    4 (B) Ask & respond to questions about text
5 (c) sort pictures into conceptual categories by attribute
                                    6 (A) Identify elements of a story: setting character, key events
6 (b) themes of well-known folk tales and fables
                                    6 (C) Recognize sensory details
6 (d) recurring characters and phrases in folk tales
                                    7      Poetry has regular beat, similar word sounds (rhyme, alliteration)
                                    8 (a) retell a main event from a story told aloud
8 (B) describe characters in a story and reasons for their actions
                                    10 (D) use titles/illustrations to make predictions about text
                                    10 (B) retell important facts in an expository text
18 (A)  use phonological knowledge to match sounds to letters
19 (A) ask questions of class-wide interest (with adult assistance)
20 (A) gather evidence from provided text sources (with adult assistance)
                                    21 (A) listen attentively by facing speakers and asking questions
                                    21 (B) Follow oral directions that involve a short, related sequence of events
                                    RC(fig 19) (D)  make inferences based on cover, title, illustrations and plot
                                    RC(fig 19) (A) discuss purpose for reading & listening to various texts
RC(fig 19) (A) discuss purpose for reading or listening to various texts
                                    RC(fig 19) (B)  ask and respond to questions about texts