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I hope you’re enjoying your summer and finding a little downtime for some R&R and relief from the heat. Here at Move2Learn, we’ve been in planning mode for the 2023-24 school year. Like what, you might ask? Well–

• We ordered our Active Seating Packages that we’ll be delivering to Alexandria public school classrooms in August. 

• We’re finalizing our Social, Emotional and Academic Learning lessons, including five new ones, along with associated activities and videos. 

• And…we brought on a new team member, Arturo Yaggia! Arturo will coordinate our holistic Out Of School Time program, primarily for Hispanic youth at George Washington Middle School, in collaboration with ACPS and other local partners. 

Another highlight for us was the National Landing 5K Your Way “race” earlier this month. It was organized by our friends over at the American Physical Therapy Association here in Alexandria on behalf of Move2Learn and ACPS students. Here are some photos from the event!

A huge thanks to APTA as well as event sponsors Brooks Running and Health Professionals Service Organization for making great things happen!

Next, we’re gearing up for another 5K/1 mile fun run September 24—the annual RUN! GEEK! RUN! charity run/walk race, hosted by Ironistic, a small local business. It’s truly a community event supported by local schools and organizations and benefiting a different locally based non-profit each year. This year it’s MOVE2LEARN on behalf of our students!

Register today — it’s never too early!

Hope you’re staying cool, and thanks for caring about our students.☺️

Meet Eduin, Samuel Tucker Elementary School 1st grader, and his teacher, Ms. Grossman. Eduin uses the MOVE2LEARN under-desk pedals that give him the freedom to move at his desk, helping him stay on task and get the blood flowing to learn his best!

His smart teacher says: “My students have shown much better focus when given the opportunity to move during lessons!”

Helping our students like Eduin feel and learn their best through movement is what we do all year long. Our programming revolves around the all-important mind-body connection—whether in or out of the classroom—to prime students’ brains for learning.

Read on for our mid-year/summer update!

The 2022-23 School Year

• Outfitted 48 classrooms with Move2Learn Active Seating Packages, benefitting 1,200 students K-12.
• Launched 14 Move2Learn Out of School Time Programs—like running, yoga and dance—free to students K-12.
• Developed 5 Move2Learn social and emotional lessons that teachers K-12 use to help students work through emotions that get in the way of learning.

Looking ahead to 2023-24

• Deliver 70 Move2Learn Active Seating Packages to benefit 1,750 more students K-12.
• Manage 20 Move2Learn Out of School Time Programs, with 10 returning and 10 brand new, for students K-12.
• Develop 5 additional Move2Learn social and emotional lessons for teachers and students K-12.

“This is wonderful news. I’ll inform the staff and we’ll celebrate!!”
“Hooray!!!!!!!!!”
“Yippeeeeeeeeeeeeee!!!”
“FANTASTIC!!!!”

Happy ACPS Teachers

Comments from some very happy teachers when we accepted their applications for Move2Learn Active Seating Packages and Out of School Time programming!

That’s 70 packages/classrooms, 20 out-of-school-time programs, benefitting more than 2,100 additional students who now get to join their peers already using movement to feel and learn their best! 

What’s new this round of applications? Plenty! 

The Freedom to Move With Purpose

So many of our students struggle with learning loss, mental health and absenteeism. Teachers tell us active seating is a critical tool that gives them the power to overcome feelings that get in their way of learning and keeps them in the classroom and focused. The foldable desk bikes for middle and high school are new to our active seating offerings.A la carte menus so teachers get exactly what their classroom needs.36 out of 70 packages are going to classrooms that currently don’t have any active seating.

• The foldable desk bikes for middle and high school are new to our active seating offerings.
• A la carte menus so teachers get exactly what their classroom needs.
• 36 out of 70 packages are going to classrooms that currently don’t have any active seating.

Getting Active Before, During and After School

Getting active, developing confidence and a sense of community and discovering the mind-body connection—these are just some of the benefits our programs offer. And all of these benefits follow students back to the classroom, helping them focus and learn so they can do their best.10 returning programs and 10 new ones!2 new clubs at Alexandria’s International Academy—a special program designed for recent immigrant students—including girls’ soccer and futsal.First-time participating school Jefferson Houston K-8 will offer double-dutch jump roping, boxercise and running.Another first-timer, Patrick Henry K-8, will offer golf, pickleball, football, soccer and yoga!

• 10 returning programs and 10 new ones!
• 2 new clubs at Alexandria’s International Academy—a special program designed for recent immigrant students—including girls’ soccer and futsal.
• First-time participating school Jefferson Houston K-8 will offer double-dutch jump roping, boxercise and running.
• Another first-timer, Patrick Henry K-8, will offer golf, pickleball, football, soccer and yoga!

Every year, our Year in Review report is a chance to share Move2Learn’s proudest achievements for our students. This year, we’ve made tremendous progress in our efforts to transform learning through movement. Take a look

Through our newly launched before-, during- and after-school clubs, expanded Social, Emotional and Academic Learning lessons, active seating in classrooms and stationary bikes in libraries and administrative offices, Movement Challenges and Professional Developments, our 2022 programming has benefited 10,000+ students and hundreds of educators. 

Thanks to the support of our donors, we’re able to apply solutions to drive change in Alexandria to level the learning field for children who are most in need. Using movement to wake up the brain, redirect energy, reduce stress and anxiety, increase focus and so much more, together we’re helping students reach their highest potential. Learn more from our year in review!

Some of us are auditory learners, some visual, while others may be tactile learners, and then there are the ones that fall within the Kinesthetic learning group. What kind of learner is your student and how you can best help them?

For kinesthetic learners who learn their best through doing and moving:

• Act out or role-playing new information
• Go on field trips
• Have freedom of movement whenever possible
• Use movement to study

Check out more tips from parents.com!

The importance of getting movement throughout the school day is widely accepted as a fact these days.

The idea behind this report by the Center for Disease Control and Prevention from 2018—five years ago—was already in the mainstream, even back then. It fully supports the work we do here at MOVE2LEARN—bringing movement to students before, during and after school, helping kids feel and do their best.

Some sobering statistics from the report:

• In 2016, Colorado was the only state that reported requiring classroom physical activity breaks for elementary school students. No states required breaks in middle or high schools.
• Nationwide, elementary schools are less likely to include physical activity in planned academic instruction in schools with a majority Latino population than in schools with a majority white population.
• Nationwide, elementary schools are less likely to include physical activity breaks in schools where a majority of students have a low socioeconomic position than in schools where a majority of students have a high socioeconomic position.

Another big takeaways of the report is how few schools nationwide require brain boosts throughout the day.

MOVE2LEARN would love to see Alexandria public schools in the mix and will work with ACPS leadership to make that a reality.

Signed, sealed and delivered (and assembled and pumped up)! Last week, we stocked another 13 classrooms in Alexandria public schools with Move2Learn’s active seating packages. We’re so excited those teachers no longer have to hang out on our waiting list!

This means another 325 students have access to cool equipment—like balance balls, wiggle cushions, accordion stools and under desk pedals—that makes it possible to move with purpose to keep their brains awake and focused, so they learn their best. To date, we’ve delivered more than 3,300 pieces to 142 classrooms, K-12!

Move2Learn’s active seating packages, like our Movement Challenges, are our first steps in building deeper relationships with our teachers and students. From there, we get into other, less obvious but critical programming such as Social, Emotional and Academic Learning, or SEAL, lessons and Out of School Time programming.

What Teachers are Saying

Great way to keep them moving and engaged!

samuel tucker 1st grade teacher

The accordion stools allow my students to read while being active. Some of those students literally would not be able to sit down and read without a chair that allows them to move back and forth and side to side. – Hammond MS Librarian

Hammond MS Library

Students find them extremely comfortable and more relaxing than a traditional desk. In addition, active sitting supports healthy alignment while encouraging the body’s natural need for movement—improving circulation, energy and flow.

GWMS 8th GRADE TEACHER

78% of teachers surveyed said they’ve noticed an increase in their students’ alertness, ability to concentrate, and stay on-task since implementing active seating.
78% of teachers also said active seating has positively impacted their social-emotional learning.

Move2Learn Survey Findings

Why was there a Waiting List?

Well, we only had so much money in our budget for the 2022-23 season, so we prioritized requests from middle and high schools and special education classrooms.

Next on the list were those classrooms at the elementary level that didn’t have any active seating. Thanks to the generosity of donors during our year-end fundraising campaign, we were able to accommodate these additional requests!

The Need is Ongoing

But we still have teachers waiting for active seating. They may have a sprinkling of equipment, but after seeing the benefits, they’re requesting enough for each student.

That need is ongoing for all of our programming, so, too, as a nonprofit, is our need ongoing to raise funds to make it happen.

Check out the infographic below for highlights.

Every year, our Year in Review report is a chance to share Move2Learn’s proudest achievements for our students. This year, we’ve made tremendous progress in our efforts to transform learning through movement. Take a look at our infographic below to learn more!

Through our newly launched before- and after-school clubs, expanded Social, Emotional and Academic Learning lessons, active seating in classrooms and stationary bikes in libraries and administrative offices, Movement Challenges and Professional Developments, our 2022 programming has benefited 10,000+ students and hundreds of educators. 

Thanks to your support, we’re able to apply solutions to drive change in Alexandria to level the learning field for children who are most in need. Using movement to wake up the brain, redirect energy, reduce stress and anxiety, increase focus and so much more, together we’re helping students reach their highest potential. Check out the highlights below!