Kinder: Non-Verbal Communication

The last couple of weeks in kindergarten, we have been focusing on verbal communication, through our study of Tomorrow’s Alphabet and The Alphabet Tree.  This week we took a look at ways we communicate without saying a word. We went through a slide show with images and the kids discussed what each image “said”.  We looked at everything from signs in the world (like the NO CELL PHONE SIGN 🙂 ) to body language in athletes after a big play.  

My oldest daughter must have known that I was teaching non-verbal communication today, because she was ‘kind’ enough to give me the perfect story about body language and facial expressions. So, after sharing my story about my grumpy 5th grader, I read a story called Yo! Yes? and we discussed what the body language of the characters told us about the story.  After the story, the kids listened to me read several sentences and attempted to match the right facial expression to each sentence.  They did a great job.

After matching the facial expressions to each sentence, I talked to the kids about how we can tell a whole story with our bodies.  I modeled choosing 3 different facial expressions to tell a story that I have experienced recently.  Each kindergartner then chose 3 facial expressions to tell their own story.  After they completed their non-verbal story, they used an app called Comic Book to take pictures of their story and they were allowed to add a verbal aspect using speech and thought bubbles.  Not all of the kids were able to finish, but here are a few examples.

ComicBook-App 2

ComicBook-App 3

ComicBook-App 4

ComicBook-App Taylor