Student Contributor: G. Robinett
After morning procedures, the teacher will conduct a daily “Morning Movement”, where students will follow along with a youtube dance video such as the Just Dance video game. This allows for students to have an opportunity to be active in the morning, helping them get ready for the day.
Each morning, the teacher will select a “Morning Movement” video to play on the projector, and for students to follow along. The teacher should be sure to watch the entire video previous to class, to make sure it is appropriate for their students. There are plenty of videos on youtube for all age groups. I took part in this tool when I was in elementary school, where all grades K-5 would do this a few times a week. I remember really enjoying this activity, as it was very fun to do a silly dance to sort of getting “warmed-up” for the day! This is a fun way to get students active first thing in the morning.
This tool best fits in the preventative phase of classroom management but could be argued to be supportive. Because this is designed to be done at the beginning of the school day, when used effectively, it can prevent antisocial behaviors and get students feeling prepared for the day. This allows for students to have time to prepare for the day by starting off with a silly/fun exercise. If this was done as a “break break” throughout the day, this could fit in the supportive or corrective phases. In terms of theories of influence, this best falls towards collaborative, as it does take time out of the morning to focus solely on students and their needs. Because this time could be used instead for a lesson of some sort, I would say that it is not the best fit for the teacher-directed end of the spectrum. However, students are not always going to choose the video that will be played (for safety reasons), so I would argue that it is best in the collaborative theory.
More Information –
Tool Source: This is a tool that my elementary school used (in the Evergreen School District, in Vancouver, Wa) while I was a student. However, videos for this activity are found all over youtube.
I tried this tool with about 20 1st grade students in a suburban school. It worked great! They really enjoyed getting to move a little bit in the morning, and they loved the videos that I picked for them. They all participated in this activity, which was good to see because I did not make it mandatory, but they all chose to participate. It’s a great preventative tool because allowing them to get their extra energy out first thing, will prevent incidents where students are trying to get their energy out in the future. This tool was really easy to use because there are so many options for videos online; it also was easy because I have access to a projector. The students were so excited to do the videos, and I think it really benefited them. The students understood exactly what they were supposed to do when watching the videos, and knew that they had to stay in their own space to avoid running into other students.
I did this was my Kindergarten group (19 students) and they really enjoyed it. It was an easy tool to prepare, teach and use. I did use this a few times throughout the day when the students would get squirmy. The students enjoyed being able to get up and move around, dance and sing even for a short period of time. The students understood their role with the tool, also based off of the movement video I would share with the students. I think that there are many different movements you could incorporate inside of the classroom, this being one of them! It is a great tool to have as a future teacher.
This tool was done in a second-grade classroom with 20 students in a suburban area. For this tool, I picked a fun movement video and had my student pause mid-way through the morning to dance along to the video for a brain break. This tool was extremely easy to prepare and use, and kept all students engaged and involved. The main thing I noticed from this video is that after the brain break, the students were less chatty and more focused. Before the brain break, several students were struggling to stay on task and keep quiet, but the brain break immediately calmed their bodies and helped them refocus. The students understood that their role was to dance along to the video and take a break from their work, and with the exception of a few students, every single one fully participated. To make it even better, I think that I could have brought everyone to stand at the front of the room to do the brain break so that every single student participated and didn’t try to sit back down at their seats.
I work with second graders in an urban school. Adding morning movement into our morning routine was extremely easy and simple. I chose a positive, upbeat song (Oh What A Beautiful Morning) and this starts our morning meeting so it doubles as a transition song. When students hear the music, they stop what they are doing and dance their way over to the carpet. Then they continue to wiggle and dance until the song is over. This helps them wake up and get started for the day, allows them to be a little silly, and they get to start their day positively interacting with their classmates. Students love this addition to our morning routine and have had no issue implementing this. I love seeing them smile when they hear the music start and begin our day on a happy note. This has helped our class start off in a better mood and seems to help students work in a calm manner after having a movement break first thing in the morning.
This fun and interactive tool is what I use with my 13 students in my first-grade classroom placement. When I use movement videos, it’s usually because students need an energizer. All of my students enjoy these types of videos, especially racing and running ones. This tool is easy to teach, easy to use, and easy to prepare as well. What I do is display the video on the projector and play the video when students are ready. My students understand their roles when participating in this activity. One for example would be, respecting everybody’s space. The only adjustment that would be needed is the amount of space you’re allowing students to use when doing this activity; they need room. The success that I noticed with this was the great amount of productivity being made by students in the lessons being taught afterwards, the students were ready to engage again.