Prepositions

My Elves are learning about prepositions in class. Sometimes, when I say, "my Elves are learning," I really mean to say that I am teaching them about the topic, and don't qualify that only some of them are learning. I have a few obstinate, typical teenagers who resist any attempts of communicate. Sometimes my efforts to get them to respond and let me know whether or not they understand are futile (remember my tombstone at Halloween time?? "Ms. Lichten died trying to pull answers out of her students.").

Anyway... about those prepositions... they actually ARE learning these! And interacting, and getting excited! Thinking back to my middle school days, one of the most vivid memories I have is of my eighth grade language arts class' preposition dance. Aboard (the train), above (store the suitcase in the overhead bin)... (dribbling a basketball) beyond, by (shoot the basketball)...

So, of course, I created my own version of a Mr. Saffold-inspired Preposition Dance/Story. All my kinesthetic learners--especially my goofy 6th graders--LOVE this learning activity. And I have reminded myself and re-memorized nearly all the prepositional words and phrases! They all flooded back to me with the motions!

Here is the sixth-graders' version of the Preposition Drama/Story in full. It's around six minutes long, but if you skip through various parts, or just watch the beginning, you'll get the idea. (I know some of you will want to watch the whole thing, to witness more of the personalities of some of the students I have in class.)

Even my 8th and 10th graders have memorized the prepositions effectively, and I know they were super annoyed at the thought of having to get up and move to learn... "You want me to get underneath a table? What?!" I let them read the story and have the 7th graders do all the motions since they like running and bumping around and squatting below tables and such. I have my 6th graders on video. They are the best storytellers and movers! The motions really help with the understanding and memorization of these words that indicate location, direction, and/or position.

Also related to prepositions, I have had this catchy song stuck in my head for the last week and a half during the prepositions unit.