While we are on the subject of exercise (read the previous post), I want to share with you a great resource that I received a week or so ago in the mail. Upside Right: A Children's Guide to Movement is a new picture book that encourages children to be active. I was so happy to receive a digital copy of this story, which is written in verse by Gaetano Amato, a movement specialist who has developed movement programs for children.
The book is filled with colorful illustrations depicting children enjoying various types of activity. As they turn the pages, your children/students will learn about - and be encouraged to explore - spacial awareness, changes of direction, locomotor movements, changes of speed, traveling on different body parts, body shapes, and balancing.
Parents and teachers can also purchase a Teacher Edition, which includes lesson plans to accompany the text, and helps you to create effective physical education lessons.
I might just mention that the book also contains 75 words from the Dolch Sight Word list for children through third grade. It is so great to find a book that serves a double purpose: reading practice and movement lessons!
Upside Right has also led to the formation of Get Kids Moving Now, a private organization whose goal is to get kids involved in physical activities through reading. To learn more about the book, or to place an order, visit their website: www.GetKidsMovingNow.com. You can also follow them on Facebook.
Con mucho cariño...