by John Lorinc

From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
Published Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010 6:15AM EDT
Last updated Wednesday, Oct. 20, 2010 8:04AM EDT

Whether they're marching around the school identifying shapes, or taking nature walks to explore the great outdoors, getting children to be physical goes a long way toward helping them to focus in the classroom.

When Lukrica Prugo wants to deliver lessons on workaday topics like geometry or grammar, she likes to haul her kids out of their desks and take them on what she calls her "gallery walks."

Like a Pied Piper, the suburban Toronto teacher leads her Grade 7s around the school, getting them to identify shapes or rhyme off adjectives to describe what they see. Or she'll have them move around the class, ranking the assignments pinned to the wall, as if scrutinizing art in a museum. Sometimes she takes them on nature walks and asks them to write poems about what they observe.

"Getting them to be physical is huge," she says. "They're focused for longer and they answer questions for the full 40 minutes."... READ MORE...