Two Kindergarten teachers re putting the Play Powered Launch Kit to the test in their classrooms and reporting back what they are learning. Within the first week, they’d already proven what we believed: the games aren’t a script, they are a starting point.
Same games, two different rooms
The first week of school, both classrooms played the same games:Noodle Sweep, Freeze and Melt, and Number Turnover. And both teachers immediately made them their own.
For Freeze and Melt, one class moved around a circle of dots while the other danced freely where they wanted. For Number Turnover, one teacher had the children play with one hand behind their back while the other had them bear crawl to play. Noodle Sweep was trickier for some of the children, and became a genuine, kid-level conversation about tummy muscles and building strength, while also allowing the teachers to get a quick assessment of the level of their core strength in a fun way.
Same materials, same core games, two completely different classroom personalities. That’s not a bug in the kit. That is the whole point.
Primes, all day long.
The teachers didn’t stop at games. They built primes into the actual rhythm of the day. Squats and hand squeezes at 8:30 upon arrival, a settle-down movement after recess. A head roll and a bear crawl to bed before nap. An elephant walk from the carpet to their seats.
For these classes, the arrival prime was the tell. The teachers modeled it a few times and were doing it independently and unprompted by the end of the week.
Not another brain break on a screen
One of the teachers put it better than we could. This wasn’t kids staring at a video, dancing and jumping half-heartedly for a couple of minutes. This is purposeful movement and real body control, built into transitions that were going to happen y.
Into week two
Week one is done, and their pilot is evolving. Noodle Sweep and Freeze and Melt are carrying over as the “known” games while two new ones get introduced this week. The teachers are tracking every variation they try, both theirs and the kids, so their library continues to grow and evolve.
After their first day, the teachers walked a mile and a half together after school to compare notes and reflect. That is not something you assign. That’s what it looks like when a framework actually takes hold.
This is the second entry in Pivot to Play’s ongoing Success Stories: real classroom moments from schools and teachers using the Pivot to Play® and the Play Powered Launch Kit. See more here.
UPDATE: A week in, the teachers sent us this: “We hit the ground running on the first day of school using the games and primes for learning activities, and after just one week of kindergarten the students are already remembering to do some of the prime activities on their own at the designated times. They loved the games and were even thinking of variations for us to play.”
