Active minutes for our health during class in the 1st grade

This school year represents a special challenge regarding classes and working or studying from home due to the corona pandemic. What can be done to improve the health of the students when they are working at home?

In the 1st grade in the primary school called Osnovna šola Miška Kranjca in Ljubljana, Slovenia, we are doing ‘Active minutes for our health’. The first task is to copy the teacher’s moves. The teacher showes a move and the students repeat it. Then we randomly chose a child, bring him og her in the center of the screen, and the child shows a different move ... which the class then repeats. I can tell you that the students are really looking forward to this and are always happy to participate.

But my 1st graders get even more joy when using the activity JUST DANCE by using the internet site YouTube. Here they copy dance moves with the help of animated characters and popular music. Good technology and a lot of space make it possible.

Another initiative is that the school hallways have been equipped with sensory motor tracks and floor games, where children perform, train, and improve their motor skills.
All this has become a part of our daily routine, which passes on from year to year.

(Written by Ana Žižek, a primary school teacher from Ljubljana, Slovenia)

Photos taken in my class. Children are repeating moves.  
Our school floor with sensory motor tracks and floor games. Ana Žižek