LEARN NC

K–12 teaching and learning · from the UNC School of Education

Movement ABC's

Note cards with upper and lower case letters are placed under cones. Students hop, skip, or jump to a designated cone, find a letter, then continue using the locomotor movement to find the student with a match to their letters.

A lesson plan for grade K English Language Arts

By Lisa Watlington

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Learning outcomes

Students will:

  • demonstrate various movement forms in an activity
  • increase their letter recognition skills

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

20 minutes

Materials/resources

  • note cards, cones, or poly spots
  • activity area
  • music is optional (boom box)

Pre-activities

Students will have:

  • practiced various forms of locomotor movements through games, relay, and activities appropriate for their grade level
  • studied upper/lower case letters in their classrooms

Activities

  1. The teacher will have placed the cones or poly spots with note cards under them ahead of time.
  2. There will be enough spots for each student. Under each spot or cone will be five to eight cards (or whatever the teacher deems necessary.) Some of the cards will have an upper case letter on them, while others will have a lower case letter.
  3. Each student is asked to go to a cone and wait for directions.
  4. The teacher will call out a specific locomotor movement (skip, hop, gallop, etc).
  5. Once the signal is given (I prefer music), the students look under their cone and pick up a note card.
  6. Using the locomotor movement specified, they hold their letter in front of them and find the other person who is holding the correlating letter, matching the lower case with the upper case.
  7. The two students pair up to see if they are correct. Then they return their letters, and move to another cone where they repeat the activity.

Assessment

  • Students demonstrate locomotor movements in beginning and advanced stages.
  • Students recognize and correctly pair upper and lower case letters.

Supplemental information

The Physical Education teacher will participate in grade level planning with classroom teachers.

Comments

My students enjoy this lesson. I have also incorporated the use of scooters with 1st and 2nd grade students. Also, once students find letters, call out a vocabulary word and have them get with others to spell that word. The possibilities are endless.

North Carolina Curriculum Alignment

English Language Arts (2004)

Kindergarten

  • Goal 1: The learner will develop and apply enabling strategies to read and write.
    • Objective 1.03: Demonstrate decoding and word recognition strategies and skills:
      • recognize and name upper and lower case letters of the alphabet.
      • recognize some words by sight including a few common words, own name, and environmental print such as signs, labels, and trademarks.
      • recognize most beginning consonant letter-sound associations in one-syllable words.

Healthful Living Education (2006)

Kindergarten

  • Goal 6: The learner will demonstrate competency in a variety of movement forms and proficiency in a few to gain competence towards lifetime physical activities (NASPE Standard 1).
    • Objective 6.02: Demonstrate a variety of beginner locomotor and combination skills in a movement pattern.