MOVEMENT EDUCATION: Child Development Through Body Motion

Movement education is a long way from what was called phys. ed. in the old days. North plays down both organized sports and those mechanistic one-two-three drills that aimed to make the child a bouncing robot. She is a precise and persuasive explicator of body language as both a pedagogic tool aimed at coordination and mastery of physical skills -- running, jumping, catching -- and as a meaningful art of self-expression which can reveal to the sensitized teacher a great deal about a child's personality and self-image. Aimed strictly at teachers, the book is sometimes a too technical guide to the ""phrases"" or gestures which make up body vocabulary. Both simple and elaborate movement ""compositions"" -- e.g. ""bouncing like a ball,"" ""shrinking away to nothing,"" acting out a hunting ritual -- are suggested for ages ranging from ""infant school"" to ""junior and middle school"" which translated from the British means nursery school through junior high. Clear, imaginative and carefully structured, with many expressive photographs.