K is for Kinaesthetic, Knowledge and Knitting

Just to let everyone know that unfortunately over this next week I will probably be unable to reply to comments left on my blog posts until next Sunday.  I do hope that this won't stop you from responding.  I have been visiting many more than 10 blogs a day average to overcompensate for this upcoming difficult week so hope you can forgive me for not partaking on a daily basis over these next six days.  I am keeping my fingers crossed that my posts which I have pre-scheduled arrive on the site on the appropriate days.  Wishing everyone a happy A to Z Challenge week :)

Kinaesthetics (this is the way we spell it in England!!) involves the body doing something and this helps to form a link for learning.  I really like the Jolly Phonics approach to learning phonics where the children have an action to perform as they say the sound e.g. moving their head from side to side as if watching a tennis match whilst saying “t, t, t”.  In my experience this has helped so many more children hold onto those sounds and the letter symbol than simply saying, “this is the letter t and this is the sound you make!!”

Although many teachers deliver lessons via  visual and auditory means these days it is important to bear in mind that it is only by the age of nine that girls have become auditory learners and boys lag behind this by up to two years.  This has a major effect on those early and important years of learning.

The chart below shows some of the challenges faced by those whose visual and auditory learning techniques are not developed and function much better as kinaesthetic learners:

LEARNING CHALLENGES		LEARNING OPPORTUNITIES
KINESTHETIC LEARNERS MAY HAVE DIFFICULTY		KINESTHETIC LEARNERS MAY ENJOY
·         Sitting still and completing solo tasks ·         Listening ·         Spacing letters in handwriting ·         Interpreting nonverbal communications ·         Interacting positively with peers ·         Problem solving ·         Controlling impulses ·         Writing legibly in cursive ·         Spelling, particularly if instruction involves a phonetic approach ·         Recalling what was seen or heard ·         Recalling visual images ·         Expressing emotions without physical movement and gestures ·         Sticking with one activity for long periods		·         Activities that involve movement ·         Large motor skill activities ·         Art activities requiring physical movement, such as sculpture and woodworking ·         Field trips that involve physical activity ·         Real-life experiences ·         Dramatic activities, role-play ·         Dance and sports ·         Physical relaxation exercises ·         Frequent changes of learning groups ·         Hands-on activities, working with manipulatives

              Is kinaesthetic learning how you learn best - does it depend on what you are studying?

Knowledge is so important when dealing with children who are not learning in the same way or as quickly as their peers but it is also so difficult to have the knowledge needed at your fingertips.  The amount of hours, days, weeks, months, years as a teacher, I have spent trawling the net, reading books and magazines, speaking with professionals, looking at research papers and periodicals and still I know that I do not have sufficient knowledge to ensure that children with special needs always make the progress they should or could.  It's what keeps me up at night and what I worry most about - could I have done better for that child?  

How do you gain that knowledge to really help others to the best of their ability?

Knitting - I have recently come back into knitting larger items and am presently working on something for my Dad - I'd so like to have it done for his birthday but I think that is just wishful thinking!!  As you can see I have a lot to do and less than a month in which to do it :)

The colours don't seem very true to life on this picture - the main colour is an army green with brown bands and three peach stripes!!

I have been out and about adding to my collection of old knitting patterns (have you seen the price of new ones??) as I feel sure that my husband could do with another jumper before winter rolls around again and no doubt my DD will be after some items to go back to uni with.  No. 1 son has a penchant for knitwear with Icelandic & Fair isle designs but I think those types are a bit beyond me - I can only imagine the tangle I will get into with all the different balls so I'll probably keep buying those for him!!

Freebie for K is - Kite fractions, decimals & percentages - match cards