Using Movement to Teach Vocabulary

>>Fiona Medley: Our first word is "grow." Beautiful. >>Fiona: Because I use movement to help teach vocabulary, I find that my students are a lot more engaged, I find that their writing is a lot more descriptive. It's a more joyful experience for them. >>Fiona: Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle. And... >>Fiona: I always liked the idea of learning through play. And there's different types of play. The play that I like to use in my teachi

ng is directed play. So, I am scaffolding lessons for students that they can be playful in and allows them a lot of exploration and creativity within those activities. >>Fiona: Here we go. There's "fluttering." >>Fiona: My objective was to introduce some new vocabulary to the students. >>Fiona: Some of the snow words that we had. >>Fiona: We were talking about the actions of snow. I read them a poem using words like "fluttering," "billowing," and "shimmering." Explored what they might mean. When

snowflakes are fluttering, fluttering, fluttering, fluttering. >>Fiona: I said, "Well, what does fluttering look like to you?" Then they get to experiment and move their body, and it gets their brain cells activated. When they just do a simple movement like that, then it allows them to tap into some more creativity and more imagination. >>Fiona: Like a snowflake. And freeze in your fluttering. >>Fiona: I allow for a lot of playful exploration, give time for the students to really explore the wo

rds. >>Fiona: Swaying, you're swaying in that winter wind. >>Amielya: When you act out the words, it helps you really understand what they mean. >>Fiona: It helps them focus their energy when they go to do the writing part. >>Fiona: We are now going to go into our writing task. >>Fiona: So, the writing activity was basically noticing structures and features, you know, in a poem. I also wanted them to use the vocabulary that they had just learned, so feeling free to get up, find the word that was

on the board, use it in their writing. It's short and concise. And the students feel very successful. >>Fiona: What we're going to do is we are going to share our brilliant ideas so that we might get some more inspiration. >>Student: When snowflakes are fluttering, fluttering, fluttering, it looks like-- >>Fiona: When we did a sharing opportunity the partner then can listen to the sentence, and say, "Oh, okay. That's a great sentence. Even better if you put in a color word." And you know, just

those extra little descriptive words from the partner allows that other person to extend their writing. >>Fiona: Good, now let's add onto that. Victoria, how do you think she could add onto that sentence. >>Fiona: And were they able to use the new vocabulary? Were they able to write with a repeated pattern? Were they able to use a descriptive language? >>Fiona: I'm so impressed. Okay, go ahead. >>Victoria: When snowflakes are fluttering, fluttering, fluttering, I touch it softly as it melts in m

y palm. When snowflakes are falling, falling, falling, us children are making snow angels. When snowflakes are billowing, billowing, billowing, covering cars and the ground like a thick blanket. >>Fiona: Wow! Can you give her some snow? Some snaps? [laughs] >>Fiona: I find that when we do explore vocabulary through movement, the smiles come out a lot more, and we have a lot more fun, and when learning is fun, writing is not such an onerous task anymore.