First Blog by: Sheila Godfrey. September 18, 2022.

The focus of this article is that adding exercise movements to reading lessons can help with learning, and it can help fidgety children with their concentration. This all began in a classroom with a group of active children who struggled to not mentally check out during lessons. The teacher was resourceful, and had encouraged the students to exercise while they learn. For example, while working on phonemic awareness, students were were encouraged to do push-ups while working on the word “ship.” For this word, the push-up is done in three movements. The student pushes part of the way up and says, “|sh|,” then the student pushes up a little more and says, “|i|,” and on the last part of the push-up the student says, “|p|.” This is a fantastic idea, because exercise can help children to use up some of their energy, which will enable them to concentrate, and this is a great tool to help with learning and memory. This is a positive and fun learning experience that children will always remember.

Exercise makes learning fun!!