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Seven Ways to Combine Reading Skills and Fitness

Movement and learning go hand in hand. Here are seven fun ways to combine reading and fitness for both Elementary and Middle school age students!



1. Letter Stretch

Get loosened up by working your way through the alphabet.For younger kiddos work on uppercase and lowercase letters. For older students spell common challenging words: supercalifragilisticexpialidocious, why not?


2. Alphabet Race

Students perform a relay race by working their way through the alphabet, coming up with one word that starts with each letter. Make it tougher by putting parameters around the words"must be countries, or verbs only"


3. Setting the Scene

Where did the most recent book take place?A jungle, the desert, a big city, or on a boat? Students get moving by acting out different animals, people, or tasks that would be found in that same setting.  Pretend to swab the deck, or plank instead of walking the plank!


4. Action Verbs

Students call out different action verbs and the entire group performs the action. Bonus - spell the word before performing the action. Jump! March! Crawl! Spin!


5. Spelling Word Jumping Jacks

Perform one jumping jack as each letter is called.Work your way through the week's featured spelling list.


6. Race In Place

Practice vocabulary words by calling out a vocabulary word and students race in place while reciting the definition.


7. Skipping Scrabble

Requires minimal materials. Have printed letters in different areas of the gym. Students skip, run, or hop collecting letters to build a word. Set a 'number of letters' requirement. For example: Build a word with five or more letters.



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