Get up and Get Moving!

Winter greetings to everyone!  My post today is inspired by the very cold weather we have been having in Ohio and how that has impacted my teaching this week!  I know some may say that the weather in Ohio is not really that cold but this week we have had temperatures in the single digits with wind chills below zero everyday!  A friend posted on facebook the temperature in Anchorage, Alaska - 36 degrees, the temperature in Canal Winchester, Ohio - 3 degrees!  Crazy!!

So with the very cold temperatures that means 2 hour delays for school, inside recess and no playing outside!  I find the students to be very antsy and needing to get their bodies moving!  I’m sharing 3 activities that I have used with my students this week for the sole purpose of getting them up and moving.

One the students favorites is to do Jim Along Josie.  I actually started using this in kindergarten with them because I needed a very short movement activity and they LOVED it!  I play Jill Trinka’s recording off her cd titled ‘My Little Rooster’, Jim Along Josie is track 1.  

The first time I play it, the students must listen and tell me all the different motions are that she sings about (walking, skipping, flying like an eagle, jumping like a kangaroo and spinning).  After listing them all, we get up and move the way she says.  This recording is less than a minute long so it is short and sweet but serves the purpose very well!  The first motion is to ‘jim along’, I tell the kids that I don’t know what it means to ‘jim along’ and that we have to come up with our own motion during that time of the song. 

Inspired by Sue and her video’s, I’m posting a short clip of my first graders doing ‘Jim Along Josie’!

Another activity my students really enjoy and gets them up and moving is called ‘The Freeze’.  I must admit that I have had this recording for a very long time and I think it was originally on a cassette tape that I transferred to a cd.  I honestly don’t remember when I got it AND who it is!!!  If someone knows, please please please tell me!!!

The way I do the games is the music is playing and the students can move freely around the room.  When the music stops, everyone must freeze in the position that is held up by a student.  Since my students know this very well, I choose a student to hold up the cards.  I have used many different ‘picture cards’ over the years but my favorite are ones I found on line!  Get the movement cards FREE at Artie Almeida's Website  http://www.artiealmeida.com/resources/Statues.pdf 

Shout out to Katie Wynkoop for spending a good chunk of time on a Saturday afternoon locating the download on the web for me - thanks friend!

Here are my first graders playing 'The Freeze'

Finally, I'm sharing one of the students favorite games of all time -  I call it ‘Statues’.  Very simple - when the music is playing the students can move freely about the room, when the music stops they must freeze like a statue.  Now, statues don’t talk or giggle but they can blink and breathe.  If you move when you are to be frozen you are called out.  This is their favorite part, I give 2 students ‘jobs’ to do; one to start and stop the music (using the pause button on the remote controll for the cd player) and another to call people out (sitting at the front of the class watching - I can also call folks out too).  These are the most sought after jobs of all!  They are much harder than I am when calling each other out!

The music used in this video is from Les Gustafson-Zook’s Skip to My Lou Songs of the Pioneers.  Les has been to my school several times as an artist in residence and he is GREAT with the kids!  He is an award winning autoharp player but plays all kinds of folk instruments.  He does a great job teaching the kids song and how music was used in the past and sings all folks songs performed on traditional instruments in his sessions.  I use his cd for many different things in class. You can find it at 

http://gustafsonzook.com

Lastly - check out my own blog at CMajorLearning.com.  It is brand new and I would love to hear from all of you!

Have a great week everyone - get up and get moving and - STAY WARM!!!!