EDU6545 ACTION RESEARCH

By Amy Del Gatto

The Use of Movement to Promote Sight Word Retention in Kindergarten

Problem: My students were not recalling sight words to the degree that I

thought they should be given the amount of instructional time we spend on

them. This problem was most evident during guided reading instruction, but it

was also very clear as a result of weekly sight word assessments. A student’s

rate of fluency suffers greatly when they are not able to recall non-decodable

high frequency sight words.

Topic Selection

I decided to implement the intervention of using a movement

activity into daily sight word practice for my research project.

Research on promoting rates of retention in students.

Research on the effects of movement.

Research Ques t ion

Will the integration of movement into sight word lessons

increase the rate of retention for sight words compared to

typical classroom instruction?

Methodology

Research Design

Sample

Data collection - Week 1 – regular classroom routine

Week 2 – movement activity (Eric Jensen)

Pretests / Posttests

Student Survey – results

displayed

Individual student

interview

Data Collection - Mixed

Quantitative Qualitative

Week1 – regular instruct ion

Monday : administered pretest for 4 words of the week (her, one, are,

down) and then introduced the words to the class. First day activities

included oral language exercises, writing the words on individual dry erase

boards, and locating/circling the words in sentences on individual

worksheets.

Tuesday – Thursday: making words activity, memory game with

flashcards, sight word identification coloring sheets, and locating words in

individual texts with small post-it flags.

Week 1

Week1 – regular instruct ion

Friday: administered posttest for the 4 words of the week (her,

one, are, down)

Week 2 - movement

Monday : administered pretest for 4 words of the week (because, has,

two, make) and then introduced the words to the class. Introduced

movement activity to the class in the gym.

Tuesday – Thursday: students participated in the bouncing balls

movement activity each day for twelve minutes.

Thursday afternoon: conducted half of individual student interviews

during afternoon center time

Week 2

Week 2

Week 2

Week 2

Week 2 – movement

Friday morning:

administered posttests for the 4 words of the week (because, two,

has, make) on an individual basis

administered student survey to students in small group format

Friday afternoon: completed remaining individual student

interviews

Week 1 - regular

Week 2 - movement

Classroom Data

Week 1 Week 2

0% 25% 50% 75% 100%0

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PretestPosttest

Percentage Score on Word Wall Assessment

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s0% 25% 50% 75% 100%

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PretestPosttest

Percentage Score on Word Wall Assessment

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Student Survey Results

I like kindergarten. I like learning how to read.

I like the bouncing ball word practice activity..

I like working with a partner.

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Student Pre-Survey Results

thumbs upthumbs down

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Student Interviews

Several of my students had a difficult time telling

me one thing they liked or disliked. It was very

difficult for them to answer one or more questions.

A majority of my students did not express anything

other than they like “it” because it is fun.

Refl ection

What have you learned?

What worked well?

What did not work as well as you had hoped?

Were there any unintended/unexpected outcomes?

What will you do next?

I shared findings with my administrator already this

week.

I ordered “Learning with the Body in Mind” and “Tools

for Engagement” by Eric Jensen

I will be attending professional development through my

coop in March regarding brain strategies

I will be sharing my findings with my kindergarten team

and this may lead to future planning as a group