Last month's Reader's Theater exercise helped you incorporate character education themes into a valuable fluency-building activity. This month's free activity focuses on the important link between learning and physical movement, with a fun mini ball routine for practicing alongside a rhyme in Reader's Theater format. The rhyme was designed to accompany our new story announced above, How Sandy Got Her Spin.

A teaching method known as "brain gym" has taken off in some schools, and is designed to integrate the left and right side of the brain to maximize learning in many areas of academic study, including language acquisition. The concept is that physical movements help build neural pathways that improve cognitive performance.

At Donald E. Cline Elementary school, students prepare to learn in conjunction with a physical routine. They cross their arms and slap their thighs while marching around two hula hoops lying on the ground. Next, they trace the same figure eight pattern around their eyes. Children also use a technique called "finger spelling": drawing invisible letters in the air as they say the letters aloud, then holding their fists to their chests. One Cline student says, "It helps us hook our brains together. It helps us think." Cline Principal Shelli Wilson states, "It's like learning to ride a bike. When the entire body is involved, children remember the skill better." Reading teachers at Cline explain that incorporating physical movement not only boosts brain power; it also helps students to relax, which is very important for struggling readers who may be nervous about practicing their skills.

These teaching strategies are making a difference in reading fluency for students at Cline. Students starting both below grade level and at grade level for reading made significant improvements when studying with the brain gym method! The value of physical movement in academics in backed up not only by success, but by scientific knowledge of the brain. Movement increases blood flow, bringing more oxygen and nutrients to the brain, and optimizing the capacity for effective learning.

Click here to get this month's free Reader's Theater exercise for maximizing learning with
physical movement: a fun mini ball routine with a rhyme in Reader's Theater format!