Get to Know Your Body

Learning outcomes

Students will:

• learn names of body parts
• know the difference between personal and general space

Teacher planning

Time required for lesson

30 minutes

Activities

1. Personal space. Teacher asks students to find a space that is all their own. “This is personal space and you should not be able to touch anyone else. Pretend you are in a bubble. Don’t burst it.”
2. Body parts.
   • Teacher asks how many body parts students can name?
   • The teacher shows the students the basic body parts: head, eyes, nose, mouth, ears, forehead, chin, arm, shoulder, elbow, wrist, fingers, leg, hips, knees, ankles, feet, toes, trunk/chest, back, abdomen.
   • Teacher points to a student and asks them to name the arm, a part of the arm, leg, a part of the leg, head, and the trunk.
   • Students repeat the names and touch the body parts.
3. Body parts linked to human senses. Teacher asks the students what do they use to: hear with, smell, talk, clap, blink, point, jump, wave. Teacher asks the students how they can: turn their head, bend their arms, legs, clap their hands, open and close mouth, make arms move in circles both big and small forward and back.
4. General space. Next the students are introduced to general space. This allows them to move but not touch each other.
   • They need to combine two hands and one foot, one hand and two feet, and so on.
   • While moving in general space have the students stop when the whistle blows. If you blow it twice they balance on two body parts. If it is blown three times they use three parts. Use different numbers and repeat several times.
5. Closing segment. End lesson by returning to personal space to sit down and talk about situations in which a student is in personal space (sitting a desk) and in general space (the lunch line). Review parts as cool down.

Assessment

Students should be able to correctly identify body parts and cite examples of personal space and general space during the closing segment.

By Bill Knight