Move With Action Words

Overview

In this second lesson of “All About Me at School,” students revisit a familiar shared text and connect illustrations, spoken language, and movement. They explicitly learn action words, practice following one-step directions, and describe what characters are doing before drawing an action.

Learning intentions

Students will be able to:

• Identify and use action words such as stand, hop, sit, look, and listen.
• Show an action when given a picture or spoken word.
• Follow a one-step movement direction.
• Describe what a person or character is doing.
• Participate appropriately in a group conversation and movement activity.

Success criteria

• I can show an action.
• I can say or identify an action word.
• I can follow one step.
• I can tell what someone is doing.

Curriculum links

• Standard English grammar and usage in speaking and writing.
• Collaborative conversations with peers and adults about familiar texts and school topics.
• Exploring word relationships and real-life connections between words and their use.
• Speaking audibly and expressing thoughts and ideas clearly.
• Using illustrations and details in a text to describe its characters and events.

Lesson structure (45 minutes)

1. 0–5 min · Settle and connect. Teacher welcomes students at the carpet, models “ready body” behaviors—eyes looking, ears listening, hands still—and displays the opening visual from the action-word introduction deck. Students practice sitting safely, look at the picture, and share one thing they remember from the shared text with a partner.

2. 5–12 min · Revisit the shared text. Teacher rereads selected pages from the familiar shared text, pausing at illustrations to ask, “What is the character doing?” and points to matching action pictures in the shared-text review slides. Students turn and talk using the frame, “The character is ___,” then share responses with the group. Teacher recasts responses into clear sentences, such as “The character is hopping.”

3. 12–20 min · Teach action words. Teacher introduces stand, hop, sit, look, and listen using a picture, gesture, and slow model for each word on the action-word teaching slides. Students repeat each word, make the gesture, and identify whether the action can be done at school; teacher briefly discusses real-life connections, such as when students stand for a greeting or listen during a read-aloud.

4. 20–28 min · Act out picture cards. Teacher gives each student or pair an action card from the action-card activity slides and demonstrates how to act safely in a personal space. Students take turns showing the action without saying the word while classmates guess, using “You are ___” or “I think you are ___.” Teacher supports students in speaking audibly and reminds them to watch the performer and wait for a turn.

5. 28–36 min · Play “Teacher Says.” Teacher explains that students move only when the direction begins with “Teacher says,” then gives one-step commands using the taught words: “Teacher says, stand,” “Teacher says, look at the door,” or “Teacher says, sit.” Directions and visual reminders remain on the Teacher Says instruction slides. Students listen, follow the direction, and freeze safely when the teacher does not say “Teacher says.” Include several seated or adapted options, such as raising hands, looking toward an object, or tapping knees.

6. 36–45 min · Action drawing and share. Teacher models drawing a person doing one action and completes the action drawing and sentence page on the document camera, thinking aloud: “I drew a child hopping. The child is hopping.” Students draw a person or shared-text character doing an action, then complete or dictate “The character is ___.” Partners take turns showing their drawings and saying what the person is doing. Invite two or three students to share before collecting the pages.

Resources

• Familiar shared text used in Lesson 1
• the action-word introduction deck
• the action drawing and sentence page
• Teacher-made action picture cards: stand, hop, sit, look, listen
• Document camera or interactive whiteboard
• Pencils, crayons, and clipboards or writing surfaces
• Carpet spots or clearly marked personal spaces
• Optional adapted seating or movement tools
• Visual “ready body” reminder

Assessment

• During discussion, check whether students can identify an action in an illustration and use the sentence frame “The character is ___.”
• During the card game and “Teacher Says,” note whether each student can recognize an action word, demonstrate it, and follow a one-step direction.
• Review the drawing page for an understandable action representation and an orally stated, completed, or dictated action sentence.

Differentiation

• Model every action slowly and pair each spoken direction with a picture, gesture, and consistent verbal cue.
• Provide sentence starters: “I can ___,” “You are ___,” and “The character is ___.” Accept pointing, signing, AAC, home-language responses followed by modeling in English, or a single-word answer.
• Reduce choices by presenting two action pictures, give additional wait time, and rehearse directions privately before the group activity.
• Allow seated, low-impact, or adapted movements; offer a peer model and a clearly marked personal space for students who need support with motor planning, attention, or sensory regulation.
• Extend ready students by asking them to create a new one-step direction, combine an action with a school location, or describe an illustration using a complete sentence.