MOTORING THROUGH THE ALPHABET

MOTORING THROUGH THE ALPHABET The basics of any pre-school curriculum include movement or motor time and letter recognition. The following activities emphasize letters from A Z. Randy Foederer Adapted Physical Education Consultant Vicki Mason- Foederer Adapted Physical Education Consultant Cell 214-478-0185 Cell 214-729-1768 Email: rfoederer@sbcglobal.net Email: Vicki22ape@sbcglobal.net

THE ALPHABET GAME Place letters lots of them face down in the middle of the room/gym. You can divide students into small groups or allow them to play individually. The game begins by having the students move in a circle around the outside of the letters. Using some type of signal (whistle, music stops, etc.), everyone will pick up a letter and bring it back to their home space. Begin moving around the outside of the letters again using a different locomotor skill. Using the same stop signal, students will go to the middle to retrieve another letter. This can continue until all cards are gone from the middle. Once the cards are gone, teams or individuals will look over all letters they collect to see if. 1.) they can spell a word 2.) have any letters from their name

A Crocodile Rock Animals and Apples All students can participate at the same time. Using laminated pictures of apples laid out on one side of the room or gym, choose an animal, have a student choose an animal or draw the name/picture of the animal out of a container. Once the animal is identified, have the student perform the stated animal walk across the room/gym, pick up an apple and carry it back to the start. This can continue until you run out of animals. Possible animals include, but are not limited to, bears, lions, frogs, rabbits, horses, cows, dogs, snakes, crabs, elephants, seals, etc. B - Centerfield Beanbags, Balls and Balloons Use this as a great opportunity to work on eye-hand coordination activities. Give students a choice of whether they want to play with a beanbag, a balloon or a ball. Use simple toss and catch activities such as (1.) hand object from one hand to the other (2.) toss object in the air and catch it with both hands (3.) toss object with one hand and catch it with the other (4.) toss object, clap and catch object (5.) toss object, turn 180 and catch object (6.) toss object, turn 360 and catch object Bean Bag Dance is another option C Caterpillars and Colors The Very Hungry Caterpillar (tune I m a Little Teapot) I m a little caterpillar See me crawl Watch me curl up in a ball Then out of my chrysalis, I will fly I m a beautiful butterfly Color My World Using a dice that has colors instead of numbers, find as many safe objects (beanbags, balls, toys) of the six colors that are on your dice. Have the first student roll the dice. The student will pick up an object of the color that the dice falls on and return to their spot. If they are playing individually, the student can drop their object in their designated space (hoop, container) and return to the dice. If groups are playing together, the next student in line will take their turn. The game can continue until all objects are retrieved or until one team retrieves a pre-determined number of the same color objects (example: first team to get 6 red objects.)

D Down Around the Corner Donut Shop This activity uses the following rhyme with the total number of students inserted and the name of a student in each verse. Have a dime available for each student and some type of colored donuts (pictures, deck rings, swim rings). Place donuts somewhere in the room and start with the group of students as far away from the donuts as possible. Using different locomotor skills, begin the following rhyme as the group moves toward the donuts. Down around the corner in the donut shop There were (# based of students) donuts with sugar on top Along came (name of student) with a dime to pay, (name of student) took the (color) one and danced away. Have a piggy bank or container for students to drop their dimes in. Dance away from the donut shop and start process over until all students have picked a donut. E Everyday People Erase the Ee Words Print and laminate small index cards with the E words AND words starting with other letters. Place Velcro tabs on the back of the laminated card. Place the opposite Velcro tabs on large cones or other surface that will hold the laminated cards (one cone or surface per group). Place students in small groups or relays and place the group at the other end of the room. Students will run (or other locomotor skills) down to the surface/cone where the index cards are and should pull off any of the words beginning with E and then return to the group. The next person or pair of students will then go. And this process will continue until all the E words are removed (erased!) and brought back to the group... F Frogs and Fruit Frogs (# of students) little freckled frogs jumping off their fancy feet Eating the most delicious flies, oh neat! (name of the student) was lucky enough to jump in the pool. Now there are (# of students left) freckled frogs trying to stay cool. Continue until all frogs are in the pool. Frogs can continue to jump in the pool while others are jumping outside the pool. Fruit (tune of Hi Ho the Derry-O) I ll pick a (say color) fruit I ll pick a (same color) fruit Hi Ho the Derry-O I ll pick a (same color) fruit Example: the banana was picked: The banana picks something (say color) The banana picks something (say color) Hi Ho the Derry-O The banana picks something (say color) Place a fruit sign around each student and begin going around in a large circle using various locomotor skills. The fruits picked will come to the middle of the circle and will perform the same locomotor skill inside the circle. Game continues until all fruits are in the middle of the circle.

G Galloping Country Style Germs Do we share? Activity begins with all students moving about the room in any way they choose. Teacher will begin to announce things to share (example: Do we share the toys?). The students will continue moving as they say yes we do, yes we do. If the teacher announces something the students should not share (example: Do we share our drinking cup when we are drinking?), the students freeze and chant no, we don t, no we don t). Continue moving and continue the game until the students tire or the teacher runs out of things to share. H At the Hop Helping have a Healthy Heart with Hula Hoops Lay out enough hula hoops on the floor for each student. Below are some examples of movement activities using the hula hoops. Staying with the H theme, encourage students to: 1.) hop around their respective hoop (alternating hopping on right, then left foot, then both feet) 2.) hop around the outside of the hoop using a hopscotch pattern (one foot, one foot, two feet, one foot, one foot, two feet) 3.) encourage students to hop in and out of the hoops with one foot and with two feet 4.) encourage students to jump sideways back and forth in and out of the hoop as they move around the hoop (agility jumps) 5.) encourage students to straddle the hoop and criss cross feet in and out of the hoop as they move all the way around the hoops. Finally, don t forget to give each student a Hug after completing the motor activities! I Rock and Roll Rhythm Band Instruments Ice Skating - Rhythm Band (song) Using paper plates under each foot, students can slide the paper plates along the floor and skate. J Jump for Your Love A Joyful Joey Can Jump over a Jump Rope! Can you? Provide various jump rope opportunities that meet the needs of all of your students. These opportunities may include but are not limited to the following: 1.) lay ropes on the floor and allow students to jump over them either facing the rope or standing sideways to the rope 2.) with a rope holder on each end of the rope, gently sway the rope back and forth (not over the head of the jumper) giving students a chance to recover and jump again as the rope nears the floor 3.) folding the rope in half, hold both handles, squat down and turn the rope in a circle on the floor (you will have to switch hands as the rope goes around your back). Allow students to stand in one place and time jumping over the rope as it nears their feet. 4.) Using a longer rope, have to adults turn rope in the traditional fashion and allow students to see how many consecutive jumps they can achieve 5.) Allow students to self-turn their own rope to jump in the more traditional style

K The Happening or the Bowling Song Kick Bowling Provide as many balls for kicking as possible (one per student would be great). Find pictures of objects starting with K such as king, ketchup, kool-aid, kangaroo, koala bear, kite, kayak, kitten, key, Kleenex, kiwi, etc.. Cut out pictures and laminate and place Velcro dot on the back. Using bowling pins or empty 2-liter bottles place the opposite Velcro dot on the bottles/pins and attach the laminated K pictures to them. Scatter targets on one side of the gym and allow students to kick balls and try to knock down the K targets. L Love Come Down Love to Move Teach begins by sharing with the students what movement he/she loves to do. For example, I love to run, and everyone begins running. Students will then take turns sharing how they love to move and demonstrate what the movement looks like. Everyone else then follows that movement. Allow students creativity but make sure their movements are appropriate for everyone else to do. M Mousercize alternate activity Mouse Hickory Dickory Dock Hickory Dockery Dock The mouse ran up the clock The clock struck one The mouse galloped down Hickory Dickory Dock The nursery rhyme continues until the clock reaches 12 o clock. Have the students perform some type of movement counting the clock strikes and then changing locomotor skills as the mice leave the clock each time. N In the NAVY A Nutty Night in the Navy Being in the Navy, you never know when you might be involved in a nasty shipwreck. Below are commands associated with a shipwreck. Each command has an associated movement. Call out commands at random and enjoy the exercise. At Liberty move about ship Steer the Ship arm circles Signals in the Tower jump up and down, yell for help Man the Life Boats sit on the floor and pretend to row Man the Pumps sit-ups Swab the Deck get on hands and knees and pretend to scrub Walk the Plank walk heel to toe on lanes lines are available Hit the Deck knee push-ups Anchors Away get on your back, lift legs and peddle Pirates on Board Run around and scream Iceberg - Freeze

O Opposites Attract Opposites Set up room/gym with opportunities for students to experience the following motor opposites: Fast/slow, Up/down, Over/under, In/out, In front of/behind, Above/below, Noisy/quiet, Hard/soft, stop/go P Shake Your Groove Thing Parachute Play Using a large parachute, allow students to experience a wide range of movements with the parachute. Use pink and purple paper balls to pop on the parachute or use white paper balls to pop popcorn. In addition, smaller balloons with stickers of P words such as pizza, pineapple, potatoes and puppies can be used to bounce on the parachute. Q - Jeopardy Questions, Questions Who Has Answers? Identify a list of questions (personal and/or general) that students should know. Examples include Phone number? What color is this picture? What is a word that starts with A? What animal goes moo? Use either structured or unstructured movement patterns and have student s perform movements until the music stops. Ask a question of an individual student or to the group as a whole. After answer is given, start the music and encourage new movement. Continue until students tire and you run out of questions. R New Attitude Exercising with the Letter R Using the following stations, split students among these stations and allow them to participate 2-3 minutes before rotating to the next station. Ride a Bike Ride a Horse Row a Boat Roll like a log Rock Side to Side Run a Race Roller Skate Relax and Stretch Reverse and Walk Backward

S - Shoes Late Last Night Have students lie down on the floor and pretend to sleep. Upon the sound of an alarm (bell, whistle or music), the teacher announces that Late last night, the shoe fairy came by and placed (different shoes) on all of us! Then, everyone begins to perform the movement associated with the following footwear. Hiking Boots stomp or big steps Baseball Shoes pretend to pitch, strike and run the bases Horseshoes gallop Ballerina Shoes move on tiptoes Basketball Shoes pretend to dribble with right hand, dribble with left hand, and shoot Fins Swim backstroke, breaststroke, dog paddle Magic Slippers pretend to fly Running Shoes run Dancing Shoes Dance any way you want After each movement have the students lie back on the floor and return to sleep until the alarm goes off again. Songs for Each Pair of Shoes Hiking Boots Ease on Down the Road Baseball Cleats Take Me Out to the Ballgame Horseshoes Galloping Country Style Ballerina Shoes March of the Toy Soldier Basketball Shoes Globetrotter Circle Fins Swimming Hole Magic Slippers Come Fly with Me Running Shoes Born to Run Dancing Shoes Dance to the Music T Turtle Rock Turtles Pin the Tail on the Turtle Using posters with pictures of turtles on it and tails that are laminated with Velcro dot, students will move down to the poster using various locomotor movements and Velcro the tail on one of the turtles. This game can be done in pairs with one the students blindfolded. Trudy the Turtle Alternate Activity

U Celebrate Rap Underhand Tossing at the U s Using various tossing stations, the students can individually or in small groups rotate from station to station tossing beanbags or lightweight balls into various targets. Targets include Umbrellas, Universities, the state of Utah, and Unicorn targets. V Crave Your Fave Vegetable Soup Using toy vegetables or pictures of vegetables encourage students to retrieve these vegetables in various ways. Students could be asked to go find a particular vegetable, a particular color vegetable, or any vegetable. Each student will place the vegetable in their personal container and at the end of the game they will stir or shake the container to make vegetable soup. W Little Red Riding Hood Wolf and Wash (late Spring, water) What Time Is It Mr. Wolf? The wolf stands on one end of the room/gym with his/her back to the students on the other side of the space. All the students ask What time is it Mr. Wolf? The Wolf answers with the time and the students proceed to move forward the number of steps corresponding to the time (example, 5 steps for 5 o clock). The game continues until the students get close and the Wolf answers Lunch Time and chases the students back to the start line. Wash - Washing Hands Use the following verse to the tune of Row Row RowYour Boat and act out as you see fit. Wash, wash, wash your hands After work and play Scrub and rinse, shake and dry Washing germs away Water activities can apply if outside weather is warm. X - YMCA exercise with Xertubes Using Xertubes with very little resistance, students will have fun developing arm shoulder strength by performing various simple exercises with Xertubes.

Y Yoga Song Yoga Introduce children s yoga poses as another form of exercising and for relaxation. These may include The Pidgeon Triangle Goddess Warrior! Spider Bridges Mountain Forward Bend Downward Dog Cow Meditation Stork Tree Shark Relaxation Butterfly Arch Plow Lion Cobra Prayer Z At the Zoo Zebra and Zoo Where is the Zany Zebra at the Zoo? Using actual animal toys or cards with animal pictures, place these objects on one end of the room/gym. Place cards face down or hide actual animals under cones. Students will run down and pick up an animal and return acting like that animal. The student who eventually finds the Zebra should be rewarded in some way. The cards can be put back in place and start again.