Much of learning is taught with children sitting down. But what if we could teach our students THROUGH MOVEMENT?
MOVING LETTERS does just that! And MORE! I wrote this song for my kindergarteners at Seisen International School in Tokyo, Japan. I focused on phonemic awareness. Students made letter shapes with their bodies. Then, they moved around a circle using locomotor movements. This song builds phonemic awareness as students listen for the beginning sound of the word they’re moving to. Sit back and let this song guide your students.
LETTER SHAPES: Practice making letter shapes using fingers, arms, or whole-body movement. Your students might even make letters with a partner!
Write a letter on the board.
Make sure that students have enough space.
Students can pretend to write the letter in the air. Start with a easy letter to make– L or l. Encourage students to try making letters in many ways.
How can you make the letter L with your fingers? With your arms? With your whole body? Can you make it really big or really small?
In this song, the letters practiced are:
Ww, Gg, Mm, Jj, Ss, Tt, Hh, Ll
It’s also fun for students to make the letter that begins their name.
LOCOMOTOR MOVEMENTS: These movements go from one place to another.
In this song, students
-walk
-gallop
-march
-jump
-skip
-tiptoe
-hop
-leap
Here’s the first verse. You’ll find the lyrics in the video. Here’s the Spotify link.
We’re walking all around. We’re walking all around.
Walking, walking. We’re walking all around.
We’re walking all around. We’re walking all around.
Get ready. Get ready. Make the letter Ww. /w/ /w/ /w/
My students LOVED making letters. They asked me to take a photo of each letter shape.
If you like this song, this album has more happy songs for children that have grown in my young learner classroom. Dance like falling leaves, bloom like a spring flower, move through the butterfly life cycle with “Tiny Egg” . . . .
You’ll find LOTS of fun and magic on this album, too.
Find more of my music on streaming sites like Spotify.
My first album, Kathy Kampa’s Special Days and Holidays, is filled with songs and chants that celebrate the special days in a child’s life–birthdays, a loose tooth, and general holidays. They prompt movement and create joy!
I love teaching young learners! I create music and movement activities that connect to experiences in a child’s life. I compose songs that link with classroom subjects and build language skills. I want students to have valuable, active periods in their day. My songs teach many different types of movement, including locomotor movements, body parts, directional movements, and more!
My husband, Charles Vilina, and I write materials for Oxford University Press. We have written Magic Time, Everybody Up, Oxford Discover (ELTon winner), Beehive, Buzz, World Class, and Blue Dot. We have conducted hundreds of teacher training sessions around the globe. We are passionate about making learning engaging through inquiry and interesting activities.
As a music teacher, I have been trained in music methodologies, such Orff, Kodaly, and Gordon. As a dance teacher, I’ve studied creative movement methodologies with Anne Green Gilbert and attended numerous conferences for Dance and the Child International. I have my TESOL degree from SCSU in Minnesota.
To find me or more of my materials, follow the links below.
You can email me for further info.
