Using Yoga to Teach the Alphabet (Flash Freebie)

This past year I incorporated yoga poses into my classroom to teach the alphabet to my kinderkids. I was inspired to do this by my good friend and fellow kindergarten teacher Amy. She is not a blogger, but more of a blog stalker. :0)

 

I am definitely not a yoga trainer, so I use resources to help me incorporate yoga poses into my classroom. I think this book would be a great addition to the Language Arts mentor text Stacia & Amanda from Collaboration Cuties are having today. I am curious to know what the intermediate teachers think about using yoga in their classrooms.

 

Click above to see other mentor texts.



Source: Amazon.com

I bought this book last year through Scholastic Book Orders. It came along with a DVD too. This book shows each letter of the alphabet and gives 2 or more examples of poses that start with the letter. It is fun and engaging for the children. (It is also fun for me, and keeps me limber!) They get a brain break while learning about the letters with total physical response... great for kinesthetic learners! The ABCs of Yoga for Kids also has their own web site with resources. I printed out the T coloring sheet to pass along to our Chicka Chicka Boom Boom penpals since we had the letter Tt.

 

Source: Amazon.com

 

Another book, You are a Lion!, is another resource for yoga poses. I don't have this book but I did find it on We Give Books. This is a great site that has different books online. It is free to join. Last year, we had fun using this great book. It seems this book is no longer on We Give Books. I will have to add it to my wish list!

 

I haven't used my ABCs of Yoga for Kids DVD yet. Instead, I found fun yoga videos for kids by Cosmic Kids Yoga on Youtube. It is seriously a great program, especially when we have extra P.E. It is so cute to see my kinderkids having a great time doing the exercises. I'm not sure how the older kids would like this, but my kindergartners love it! I have used the first 5 with my kinderkids. They have uploaded 3 new ones since I last checked!! Here is the first one:

 

 

Typically, I teach a letter a day. During that day, I teach a yoga move to go with the letter. Amy has had her students make words using yoga poses; I hope to give that a try in the upcoming school year. I recently created a set of ABC cards for yoga poses. This set goes along with the book, The ABCs of Yoga for Kids. The book does a great job having a poetic way of describing the poses with great illustrations of children doing the poses. I plan to use my ABC cards after I have introduced all the letters. It will be a way for us to review our letters and incorporate a brain break too! This will be free for today only... just click on the picture to get it at my TPT store.