Whew! I just got done with my first mini lesson for the year, and it was SUPER fun! There seems to be an outbreak of personal space invaders amongst kindergarteners these days- jumping all over one another, hugging a little too tightly, grabbing each other, and so on, and those are just the boys! :) I searched around on Pinterest for ideas and smashed a few of them together.
I will attach the lesson that I used in both Smart Board format and Powerpoint format on my Resources page, BUT here's a quick overview of what I did. I began by discussing the four different types of space that can be invaded by others: property space, hearing space, seeing space, and body space. I role play for the kids what each looks like, as well. They really liked that and thought it was really funny, especially when I kept making noises over the little girl trying to talk about her dogs during the hearing space portion. I save body space for last, so we can play a little game. I give each student a piece of paper roughly the size of an open newspaper (I didn't have any newspaper handy, so I improvised). I played the song "Wipeout" and broke it in to three different levels:
Level One: On the playground (lots of space)
Level Two: At your desk (less space)
Level Three: Sitting on the floor or standing in line (small amount of space)
At Level One, they are able to dance around and have lots of paper space to do so. I stop the song after about 30 seconds and make them fold the paper in half. Now at Level two, they have to dance as if they were at their desks with less space to move their arms and legs. After another 30 seconds, I stop the music and make them fold their paper one more time. For Level Three, they are left with about enough paper to only fit their shoes. The music goes back on, and they dance as if they are in line or sitting on the carpet.
Both the kids and the teacher loved this lesson. They seemed to really understand the concept of changing amounts of personal space depending on where you are and what you're doing.
I will attach the lesson that I used in both Smart Board format and Powerpoint format on my Resources page, BUT here's a quick overview of what I did. I began by discussing the four different types of space that can be invaded by others: property space, hearing space, seeing space, and body space. I role play for the kids what each looks like, as well. They really liked that and thought it was really funny, especially when I kept making noises over the little girl trying to talk about her dogs during the hearing space portion. I save body space for last, so we can play a little game. I give each student a piece of paper roughly the size of an open newspaper (I didn't have any newspaper handy, so I improvised). I played the song "Wipeout" and broke it in to three different levels:
Level One: On the playground (lots of space)
Level Two: At your desk (less space)
Level Three: Sitting on the floor or standing in line (small amount of space)
At Level One, they are able to dance around and have lots of paper space to do so. I stop the song after about 30 seconds and make them fold the paper in half. Now at Level two, they have to dance as if they were at their desks with less space to move their arms and legs. After another 30 seconds, I stop the music and make them fold their paper one more time. For Level Three, they are left with about enough paper to only fit their shoes. The music goes back on, and they dance as if they are in line or sitting on the carpet.
Both the kids and the teacher loved this lesson. They seemed to really understand the concept of changing amounts of personal space depending on where you are and what you're doing.