Kids Learn the Days of the Week with Moving Through All Seven Days

Many preschool children find it difficult to sit and learn, so give them opportunities for movement! It's commonly believed that when you hear something, 10% of the information is retained. If you see it, hear it and say it, 40% is retained. But, if you also DO it, you retain 70%-100% of the information. Using a multi-sensory approach to teach children enhances their retention and capitalizes on their natural tendency to move. In other words, incorporate movement into learning, and your child will have more fun and learn faster.



Kathy Stemke’s book, Moving Through All Seven Days, uses movement activities to teach the days of the week. The lyrical rhymes also teach them how to spell each day! The 14 pages of activities at the end of the book are designed to reinforce the concepts as well as give impetus to movement exploration.

Find it on lulu by clicking on this link: http://www.lulu.com/content/e-book/moving-through-all-seven-days/7386965#

Here are some other fun activities that you can do with your children.

DINNER BELL
String seven bells on a string with the each day of the week spelled out. Add a picture of the foods mentioned in the rhyme below. Great for jump rope chants:

Monday, meatball, start the week,
Tuesday, tunafish, what a treat.
Wednesday, watermelon, red and cool,
Thursday, turkey, that’s the rule,
Friday, French fries, eat them hot,
Saturday, slurpees, thanks a lot,
Sunday, spaghetti, sun or rain,
Then start the week all over again!

PIN THE DAY ON THE CALENDAR
Make a poster of seven empty boxes.
Using tacky the kids put the days of the week in order from Sunday to Saturday.
For fun you can blindfold each child, spin them three times, and see how close to the right spot they can place their day on the boxes.

SUITCASE RELAY RACE
In each suitcase there is a piece of clothing for each day of the week.
On Monday we wear mittens.
On Tuesday we wear a tee shirt.
On Wednesday we wear a wig.
On Thursday we wear a tank top.
On Friday we wear a feather boa.
On Saturday we wear socks.
On Sunday we wear sneakers.

On command, one child runs to the suitcase says, “Monday” as they put on the mittens. He runs back and sits down. They next child says, “Tuesday” as he puts on the T-shirt. Etc. The first team to be finished and seated wins!

SYLLABLE SPELLING THE DAYS OF THE WEEK
Make a poster with all seven days of the week printed out.
Cut each day into their syllables.

Sun/day
Mon/day
Tues/day
Wed/nes/day
Thurs/day
Fri/day
Sa/tur/day

Give the cards to the children. Call three children at a time to make words until all the days are spelled out and in order.

13 comments:

Vivian Zabel said...

Good job of hosting yourself today.

Margaret Fieland said...

Kathy, love the "Dinner Bell" rhyme -- it makes me want to run right down to the gym and go jump rope. Really terrific. Also love your book, which I highly recommend.

Peggy

Janet Ann Collins said...

As a former preschool and Kindergarten teacher I love your ideas. Wish I'd had your book while I was teaching.

J. Aday Kennedy said...

Kathy,
You've got great ideas. Wish I was a teacher. I would've loved using your ideas.
Blessings,
J. Aday Kennedy
The Differently-Abled Writer
Children's picture Book Klutzy Kantor
Coming Soon Marta Gargantuan Wings

Karen Cioffi said...

Kathy, you always have such great suggestions for getting young children to read, learn, and move.

Sorry, about the mix-up.

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

What great ideas. I'm passing along this info to my daughter.

Unknown said...

Thanks for commenting everyone.

Katie Hines said...

Wow, Kathy. You've done so much with this book I am very impressed. Good luck with your sales.

VS Grenier said...

Wow, another movement book for younger readers. I think I'm just going to have to spend more money on books this week.

Accountant, Author & Freelance Writer said...

Wonderful book for children! Great concept :)

Unknown said...

Thanks for the kind comments.

Dallas said...

What fun activities! Kathy, you amaze me with your imagination, energy and knack for teaching important concepts in new and interesting ways.

Gail said...

Great ideas for learning. When I was teaching (retired 4 yrs. ago after 30 yr. career), I always had my 4th graders learn the Preamble of the Constitution in our government/civics unit. Thanks to Schoolhouse Rock, even my English as Second Language students could sing it to me (Kids were allowed to say or sing it for their grade!) I've had former students, now in college, come back and still be able to sing it. Music rocks the world:-)

And Stephen, thanks for following my blog. I'm a follower here too!
Gail

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