20.8.12

JUMPING IN AND OUT OF SHAPES

I'll tell you a secret: I wrote on the floor of my classroom with a piece of chalk during some of my English classes (!!!!!).

I was teaching opposites using an illustrated book when suddenly I had an epiphany: join two topics to a kinesthetic experience!

So, I started to draw shapes like circles, triangles and rectangles on the floor -avoiding squares, because they are too difficult to define without a ruler and to distinguish from a rectangle by a 4 to 5 year old child.

Later you can add hearts, stars and diamonds.

The funniest thing was my student's first reaction to my unusual behavior:
one immediately erased every single line I had drawn and another warned me she would report me to their head teacher…ahahahah

They weren't expecting an adult to draw on the floor at all!!!

I had to reassure them explaining we were going to clean it after the activity so they finally decided to give me a hand filling the floor with a huge quantity of shapes… 
At the end it was difficult to stop them!

And here we are, with our set ready to be used.
Be sure to leave some space between your shapes and tell them to jump in and out of them.

Do it slowly at the beginning and increase the speed once they've got the different shapes' names.

You'll notice after a while that one or more of your students will feel a strong desire to lead the game, which is exactly what you want!!!

Give it a try and jump!!!

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