A few years ago, after a few amazing PD sessions at my school, I became obsessed with increasing engagement in my classroom. One of the best ways that I have found to do this is by adding activities that encouraged my students to MOVE! To get up and out of their seats as often as possible. Sometimes they play games, sometimes they discuss, sometimes they just walk and talk, but they are always activity learning – pun intended. Here are some of my favorite ways to incorporate movement in the ELA classroom.
Argument Games
Perspective is Key
For this kinesthetic game, ask students to find a partner to work with. Ask each partner to freeze in a different position, for example, students can pose in a kneeling position, superman stance, sitting, etc. Pose a debatable question/topic to the class and allow students one minute to justify their position/opinions. After a few minutes, ask students to switch positions- figuratively and literally! Ask students to state additional ideas, reasons, or supports for their partner’s claim (from this new perspective). Students may need more time to create arguments, as it can be a challenge for students to create reasoning for an alternative perspective. Then, allow students to move again, this time to find a new partner. Pose a new question and continue the gameplay!
I have four more fun argument games to play in your classroom- click here for more information!
Grammar Games
Conjunctive Adverb Ball Toss Game
After this initial practice with Conjunctive Adverbs, students are ready for the Conjunctive Adverb Ball Toss game. This game will get them working in collaboration with three peers, and incorporate movement into your lesson.
To prepare for this game, you will need to purchase enough beach balls for each group of four in your classroom. I simply went to party city and bought two packs of 8 mini-beach balls for a minimal investment. Then, I used a Sharpie to write common conjunctive adverbs into each section of the beach ball.
To play the game, one student (in this group of four) will toss this conjunctive adverb ball to one other student in the group. The person who catches this ball will create a compound sentence using the conjunctive adverb closest to their thumb. The person who tossed the ball will write down the sentence using the appropriate punctuation. The game continues until one group has created and written twenty sentences on their worksheet. This group will rush to sit down, as the first group to sit down and have twenty correctly written sentences will WIN! Groups can help each other with the punctuation and ideas as needed. This allows for that collaboration and opportunity to learn from one another. I was surprised at how competitive students were with this game; it became a game they would ask to play if we have a few extra minutes of class!
For more fun grammar games, check out this grammar games blog post. Also, check out these two fun grammar game freebies from my freebie library!
4 Corners – a Quick Engaging Test Prep Activity
This is a fun and easy way to implement movement into your test prep sessions! Standardized test. As teachers, we hate them, but, since it is the world in which we live, we must prepare our students for those tests. Test-taking strategies and the practice with them can be so boring! So, I work to get kids moving and discussing those very questions we use in our test prep. To get started, label each of the four walls or corners of your classroom with large posters labeled with the letters A, B, C, and D. I then display the test prep question on my projector along with the four response options. Allow students time to formulate their responses and then ask them to move to that location of the room. If students are at multiple locations, allow them time to work together and create a justification for their response. Then, ask them to share out that justification to foster a classroom discussion on the answer.
Talk and Walk
It really is as simple as it sounds. I ask students a guiding question and allow them time to pair with a partner. They walk around the room while they discuss the issue you presented. Sometimes I will move my class to the cafeteria, library, gym, or outside field (if they are open) for a larger walking space. You can pre-select or randomize the pairs if you wish as well.
Some fun pairing options:
- Elbow partners. These are partners that sit next to one another in class.
- Eyeball partners. If desks are in groups, these are partners that sit across from one another in class.
- Book cover cards. As students enter the class at the start of a class period, they draw a book cover card. When the activity starts, they find their matching book partner. You can grab these free cards here!
- Literary terms cards. Like the book cover cards, students will draw a literary term or literary definition as they enter the class. Then, when the activity starts terms and their definitions will match for the discussion. You can grab these free cards here!
- Paint chip cards. Students draw a paint chip card. Later they pair or group with someone that has the same general collar. Those with green colors on their paint chip will pair together, for example.
Discussion Rodeo
This discussion trick is perfect for getting students up and moving while they chat about a topic.
- Ask students to find a partner and form an inner and outer circle with the rest of the class. One partner will stand on the outer circle, while the other partner stands in the inner circle facing each other.
- Students will walk in a counterclockwise circle- staying next to each other while they chat.
- This inside partner will begin talking about the topic or question you have assigned.
- The outside person will respond when that person is done speaking.
- Ring a bell after a few minutes. Ask students to stop and switch places. The partner now on the outside will move forward in the circle one step. This will give students a new partner to rodeo with as they discuss. Continue with the rodeo until you feel students have discussed the issue, adding in new questions as you see fit.
Gallery Walks
A gallery walk sets up a learning experience for students that allows them to move through the material much like they would in an art gallery. The material is displayed on the walls for students to look at, interact with, and collaborate on the material presented in the gallery. There are so many uses for a gallery walk in an educational setting. This can be used within a variety of lessons or applications, but I love it especially for introducing a new text because it gives students a chance to interact with the text before actually reading the story. They will be able to build background, and maybe more importantly, interest in the story they will read. I set my students off on this gallery walk with a stack of post-it notes and some peers to collaborate with as they work to make meaning from passages I select from a given text.
To set up the gallery walk, I will pull important passages from the text for a sneak peek into the plot, characterization, conflict, or even theme. I only give enough away to pique interest, however. Try to avoid the spoiler alerts! Then I create a guiding question that students can answer on their post-its as they move between the passages. A few basic questions I ask within many of my gallery walks are:
- Predict what is happening in this particular section of the text, or predict what might happen next in the text.
- State their opinion of the protagonist based on a revealing passage of text.
- Predict the author’s message based on a relevant section of text.
- Find connections between a previous text.
- Describe what a particular passage reveals about the time period within which the story was set.
Then I will try to find passages and questions that are more specific to the text itself (I don’t want to find myself in that same ‘rut’ situation!) For example, when I introduce To Kill a Mockingbird to my students, I select the passage below to ask the question: “Given what you know about the time period, what do you think the ‘ugly things’ are?”
To read more about how I incorporate gallery walks in my classroom check out this blog post!
To grab the gallery walk introduction for To Kill a Mockingbird- click here!
To grab the gallery walk introduction for “The Necklace”- click here!
Stations
My favorite ways to included stations:
Mentor Text Stations
Grammar Stations
Vocabulary Stations
Peer Editing Stations
Carousel Brainstorming Stations
Gallery Walk Stations
Learn more about each station in my recent blog post, click here!
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