Join the Movement!!!

Ever wish those students of yours could master those math facts?  Looking for some fluency activities to fulfill required components of the Common Core?  Wishing your children were more active?  Well, now is your chance to help your students shine!  Get them moving with Math and Movement!!  I have had the opportunity to attend workshops for Math and Movement.  Along with those workships, I had the pleasure of meeting the mastermind behind the Math and Movement program, Ms. Suzy Koontz!  Below is just a brief summary taken from Suzy's Math and Movement website.  To learn more, watch video clips or to download some of Suzy's free materials, please go to her website...Math and Movement.

Math & Movement™ is a kinesthetic, multi-sensory approach to teaching math that incorporates physical exercise, stretching, cross-body movements, yoga, and visually-pleasing floor mats designed to encourage students to practice math concepts. The Math & Movement™ program allows students to physically hop, walk, crawl, dance or touch the mats and banners as they learn thus using more learning modalities (visual, auditory, motor and kinesthetic) when practicing.

Math & Movement begins at pre-K and harnesses children's natural love of movement and creative imagination to master basic math concepts. The floor mats and banners cover the concepts of addition, subtraction, telling time, skip-counting, multiplication, division, fractions, factoring, positive/negative numbers, Cartesian coordinates, money, unit circle, place value, decimals, percents, rounding and probability.

The movements in the Math & Movement program help the student master math while simultaneously offering teachers and students an overall sense of well-being. Incorporating these exercises during the day, before testing or during transitions, allows teachers and students to feel energized, focused, calm, and prepared to learn.

Some examples of the Math & Movement movements are the Nine's Twist, Criss Cross for 7's, Sailboat Sway, Jaguar Tummy Rub, Gorilla Leg Lifts, Bunny Hop, The Letter "L" Laughs and Skyscraper.

The movements are divided into six categories:

• Active Math:Whisper/Loud Movements - Designed to give your students physical exercise while simultaneously enhancing math and reading ability.
• Active Math:Skip Counting Movements - Designed to provide additional physical exercise while learning the multiples.
• Sit-Down Math Activities - Designed for quiet time and involve stretching.
• Tapping at the Table Activities - Designed to be used in between other activities, while students sit at their desks.
• Hallway Math Activities - Designed to be used walking in the hallway to and from lunch, PE, art, music, computer or library.
• Math 'n Yoga Activities - Incorporate math practice into popular yoga moves.

The next couple posts will be emails I received from Suzy TODAY, outlining some wonderful opportunities for you!

Enjoy the day...and get MOVING!!

Kate