This book offers a creative and practical guide for K-6 teachers on how to effectively integrate movement into the curriculum to increase student engagement, deepen learning, improve retention, and get kids moving during the school day. Chapters offer concrete ideas for integrating creative movement and theater into subjects such as math, science, literacy, and social studies. Drawing on two decades of experience, Dr. Becker outlines key skills, offers rich examples, and provides adaptable and flexible classroom tested lesson plans that align with Common Core Standards, the NGSS, C3 Social Studies Standards, and the National Core Arts Standards. Activities are grounded in arts integration, which is steadily gaining interest in school reform as an effective teaching strategy that increases student outcomes academically and socially—particularly effective for students who have traditionally been marginalized. This book will benefit practicing educators who want to invigorate their practice, preservice teachers who want to expand their toolkit, and school leaders looking to employ policies that support movement and arts during the school day. Jump in and get your kids Learning Through Movement and see how active and engaging learning can be!

In this much-needed book, you’ll learn how incorporating physical activity into the classroom can improve students’ engagement, achievement, and overall wellness. Students typically spend most of the day sitting at their desks, and many don’t have recess or PE, yet research shows that regular exercise helps stimulate brain function and improve skills such as reading, critical thinking, organization, and focus. Authors Brad Johnson and Melody Jones, who have consulted with schools across the globe on fitness issues, offer a variety of games and activities you can use to integrate exercise into any class or subject area. You’ll learn how to: Create an "active classroom" with active workstations and fitness areas to keep students alert and engaged throughout the day; Gradually introduce physical activities into your everyday classroom routine; Use interactive technology to teach your students about health and fitness; Try out a variety of activities and exercises to reduce stress, help students focus, promote teamwork, build core strength and balance, and more; Make STEM classes more exciting with hands-on activities, projects, and real-world problems, all while getting your students up and moving. These activities are easy to implement and are designed to improve one’s physical and mental capabilities, as well as increase enjoyment of learning for happier, healthier, higher-achieving students.

Drawing on cutting-edge research, this inspiring book shows how to integrate movement with classroom instruction, providing hundreds of activities that improve attention spans and student learning.

Educate students in mind and body—and optimize their success. There is no issue today that gets more attention and incites more debate than children’s use of technology. Technology offers exciting new opportunities and challenges to you and your students. Meanwhile, movement is essential to learning—it increases mental energy and helps brain cells develop. But screen time often comes at the expense of physical activity. How do you choose? You don’t! This blended instructional approach combines kinesthetic teaching methodologies with technological resources to meet content standards, increase achievement and test scores, and enrich the learning process. Here you’ll find A neuroscientific overview of the powerful brain-body connection Step-by-step instructions for balancing movement and the use of technology in the classroom Practical tools, templates, and vignettes to ensure successful implementation Classroom management tactics and useful remedies for common problems Educating the whole child means promoting social, physical, mental, emotional, and cognitive growth. By joining two powerful teaching tools, you’ll prepare students for a bright future—in school and in life—while growing your instructional expertise as well.

Student learning in school music ensembles is often focused on technical skill development. Give your students broader experience involving multiple music learnings, technical proficiency, cognition, and personal meaning. The Comprehensive Musicianship through Performance (CMP) model will help you plan instruction for school ensembles that promotes a holistic form of music learning and will allow you to use your creativity, passion, and vision. With model teaching plans and questions for discussion, this book can give you richer, more meaningful challenges and help you provide your students with deeper musical experiences. Sindberg combines the theoretical foundations of CMP with practical applications in a book that's useful for practicing teacher-conductors, scholars, and teacher educators alike.

To learn well, children need to move! A few minutes of playful moving, laughing, chanting, or singing promote more—and more productive—learning. The energizers in this book are easy to teach and learn. You can use them: Anywhere: Inside or outside the classroom, with children circled up, at their desks or tables, or waiting in line energizers work everywhere! Anytime: Between long instructional blocks, as Morning Meeting activities, when children need to calm down, and when they need to perk up energizers work throughout the school day! With any grade level, K-6: For quick selection, the energizers in this book are labeled by grade level but we've included variations and suggestions to help you adapt them to fit your group.

Written specifically for the elementary classroom teacher (not for the physical educator), this practical guide is designed to inform future elementary classroom teachers, as movement educators, about the discipline of physical education and the role they can play in producing physically active and healthy children. The text covers the variety of situations in which elementary classroom teachers may find themselves involved in physical education, from supporting a physical education teacher to managing a physical education program on their own. It provides a strong introduction to fundamental physical education concepts, as well as hundreds of sample activities and lessons.

Technology is ubiquitous, and its potential to transform learning is immense. The first edition of Using Technology with Classroom Instruction That Works answered some vital questions about 21st century teaching and learning: What are the best ways to incorporate technology into the curriculum? What kinds of technology will best support particular learning tasks and objectives? How does a teacher ensure that technology use will enhance instruction rather than distract from it? This revised and updated second edition of that best-selling book provides fresh answers to these critical questions, taking into account the enormous technological advances that have occurred since the first edition was published, including the proliferation of social networks, mobile devices, and web-based multimedia tools. It also builds on the up-to-date research and instructional planning framework featured in the new edition of Classroom Instruction That Works, outlining the most appropriate technology applications and resources for all nine categories of effective instructional strategies: * Setting objectives and providing feedback * Reinforcing effort and providing recognition * Cooperative learning * Cues, questions, and advance organizers * Nonlinguistic representations * Summarizing and note taking * Assigning homework and providing practice * Identifying similarities and differences * Generating and testing hypotheses Each strategy-focused chapter features examples—across grade levels and subject areas, and drawn from real-life lesson plans and projects—of teachers integrating relevant technology in the classroom in ways that are engaging and inspiring to students. The authors also recommend dozens of word processing applications, spreadsheet generators, educational games, data collection tools, and online resources that can help make lessons more fun, more challenging, and—most of all—more effective.

Shift Students’ Roles from Passive Observers to Active Participants. Preparing students for a world that did not exist when they were students themselves can be challenging for many teachers. Engaging students, particularly disinterested ones, in the learning process is no easy task, especially when easy access to information is at an all-time high. How then do educators simultaneously ensure knowledge acquisition and engagement? Ron Nash encourages teachers to embrace an interactive classroom by rethinking their role as information givers. The Interactive Classroom provides a framework for how to influence the learning process and increase student participation by sharing • Proven strategies for improving presentation and facilitation skills • Kinesthetic, interpersonal, and classroom management methods • Brain-based teaching strategies that promote active learning • Project-based learning and formative assessment techniques that promote a robust learning environment Intended to cultivate an interactive classroom in which students take an active role in learning, this book provides a blueprint for educators seeking to amplify student engagement while imparting critical twenty-first century skills.

Praise for How Learning Works "How Learning Works is the perfect title for this excellent book. Drawing upon new research in psychology, education, and cognitive science, the authors have demystified a complex topic into clear explanations of seven powerful learning principles. Full of great ideas and practical suggestions, all based on solid research evidence, this book is essential reading for instructors at all levels who wish to improve their students' learning." —Barbara Gross Davis, assistant vice chancellor for educational development, University of California, Berkeley, and author, Tools for Teaching "This book is a must-read for every instructor, new or experienced. Although I have been teaching for almost thirty years, as I read this book I found myself resonating with many of its ideas, and I discovered new ways of thinking about teaching." —Eugenia T. Paulus, professor of chemistry, North Hennepin Community College, and 2008 U.S. Community Colleges Professor of the Year from The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education "Thank you Carnegie Mellon for making accessible what has previously been inaccessible to those of us who are not learning scientists. Your focus on the essence of learning combined with concrete examples of the daily challenges of teaching and clear tactical strategies for faculty to consider is a welcome work. I will recommend this book to all my colleagues." —Catherine M. Casserly, senior partner, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching "As you read about each of the seven basic learning principles in this book, you will find advice that is grounded in learning theory, based on research evidence, relevant to college teaching, and easy to understand. The authors have extensive knowledge and experience in applying the science of learning to college teaching, and they graciously share it with you in this organized and readable book." —From the Foreword by Richard E. Mayer, professor of psychology, University of California, Santa Barbara; coauthor, e-Learning and the Science of Instruction; and author, Multimedia Learning