Teaching Vocabulary Using Movement in a Kindergarten Classroom

Abstract

It is essential to close the vocabulary gap at a young age. Through this study, I will be working to discover if using movement could be the best practice for closing this gap and beginning to implement it in my own classroom. Although the benefits of this may not be fully realized until they are in intermediate grades where there is a greater focus on content literacy, it is important to start now. Teachers cannot control the experiences that children bring with them to school; however, teachers can implement rich vocabulary instruction to help all students find success in reading, in the content areas, and in their day to day communication. I was hoping to find out if using movement to teach vocabulary has an impact on student learning and engagement. I measured if my students are more actively engaged in learning using movement than they are while learning through other methods, as well as measured their achievement on pre- and post-tests.