Fruitful partnership reaps many benefits

Garden clubs. Ping pong. Basketball. Volleyball. We’re able to offer all of that goodness and more, thanks to a generous grant made to Move2Learn by the Virginia Foundation for Healthy Youth! 

Under the grant, led by Program Director Jen Wiser and Project Manager Arturo Yaggia on the Move2Learn side, we’ve formed a community coalition to serve underserved middle school Hispanic youth in Alexandria city, with programming aimed at moving more, reducing stress with mindfulness and improving nutrition. Called the “Healthy Community Action Team,” or HCAT, the group includes Casa Chirilagua, INOVA Healthy Plate Club, Neighborhood Health, ACPS and Mind the Mat Pilates & Yoga.

We hired Arturo, a native Spanish speaker, under the grant, and he’s indispensable to our efforts. The team meets monthly to discuss programming and ideas that have resulted in really cool activities.

The Move2Learn Garden Club

For starters, the Move2Learn Garden Club at George Washington Middle School in collaboration with Casa Chirilagua. With guidance from the green thumbs of the Master Gardeners of Northern Virginia and the Virginia Cooperative Extension, about 18 students —recent arrivals from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador who are learning English—grew beautiful lettuce in the school courtyard. 

They turned the soil, planted the seeds, weeded the beds and watered using a bicycle-powered watering system. They learned about nutrition, the environment and the seasonal growth of lettuce, all while reaping the additional benefits of movement and sunshine! 

Yoga and Other Mindfulness Activities

Other aspects of the VFHY grant covered the school’s Move2Learn Yoga Club, organized by teacher Maritza Acosta. She identified the 12 participating Latina students as having potential but who need support, nurturing and guidance. 

Ms. Acosta also ran the M2L Walking Club last year with the same girls. 

An instructor from Mind the Mat Pilates & Yoga the Tuesday morning yoga. The INOVA Healthy Plate Club provided nutritional education, specifically around a healthy breakfast to coincide with the morning yoga hour.

Next Up

We’re at Casa Chirilagua every Tuesday for the next few weeks for after-school basketball, ping pong and volleyball. Students set goals for themselves to work on a particular skill like serving a volleyball or ping pong ball or mastering the layup. They get moving and enjoy healthy snacks before heading home. 

Basketball Coach Kwashie (left) and his basketball team; Ping Pong Coach Daniele with his ping pong team; and M2L Program Director Jen with Coach Bowser’s volleyball team.

Lower left: The coaches include Prince Kwashie (L), our Movement Mentor at Patrick Henry, for basketball; Luke Daniele, a former youth probation officer, for ping pong; and Madison Louise Bowser, a former volleyball player for Texas A&M! M2L’s Arturo is wearing the USA t-shirt. Lower right: M2L board member, Bryan Montgomery, pictured here with Coach Bowser, came by to see what it’s all about!

In addition to the coaches, we supplied a portable volleyball net and balls as well as paddles, balls and a net for ping pong.

We hope to extend our work with these students into the summer!

Striving for healthy minds, bodies: ACPS Superintendent on Mental Health

Melanie Kay-Wyatt, superintendent of Alexandria public schools, wrote a commentary piece on Mental Health Awareness Month that ran in the Alexandria Times. She says the ACPS wellness strategy «is one that focuses on improving the health of students and supporting their families.» She included Move2Learn as an additional resource for ACPS staff on the subject. Check it out.

“The mind and body are not separate. What affects one, affects the other.”

Author unknown

Our 2023 Community Impact Report

Every year, we report on our achievements, the impact our programs have on our students and looking ahead to the new year. We’re super proud of 2023 and are excited about 2024. Take a look!

Winter Movement Challenge: It’s a Wrap

Another Move2Learn Winter Movement Challenge has come and gone, and the results of this growing program are nothing short of amazing!

  • Total number of Brain Boosts district wide: 2,901! 
  • Most participation ever!
  • One-third of teachers were completely new to any Move2Learn programs!

The Move2Learn Movement Challenge involves thousands of students, K-12, and is a fun and easy introduction for teachers and students to get moving throughout the day using our signature Toolkits and awesome brain boost videos. 

Movement with purpose throughout the school day helps students of all ages stay on task and better focus. So they learn their best. 

Without further ado, here are this year’s winners of the 10-day challenge.

  • James K. Polk Elementary School, with a whopping 778 brain boosts and the highest level of participation ever. They incorporated movement into their televised morning announcements. Great idea!
  • Jefferson Houston Pre-K-8 IB School, with 402 brain boosts and the highest level of participation ever.
  • George Washington Middle School, with 131 brain boosts and the highest number of participating teachers ever.

Honorable mentions go to the following schools for the highest level of participation they’ve ever had:

Alexandria City High School, Douglas MacArthur Elementary School, Lyles-Crouch Traditional Academy, Mount Vernon Community School, Patrick Henry ES, Samuel Tucker ES and Ramsay ES!

Oh, and a special shout out to Jen, Move2Learn’s director of programs who oversees the challenge, for being dubbed “The Brain Lady” by students!

In the news with The Zebra

Move2Learn’s president and CEO, Brooke Sydnor Curran, and director or programs, Jen Wiser, were recently interviewed for an article that ran in The Zebra. The article was written by the president and CEO of Kids’ First Years and focused on the power of movement as babies and toddlers into school age and beyond.

Brooke said: «We’re proud to say that movement is becoming the norm at ACPS. Also, it’s wonderful to see students and their families learn about movement, so they can do activities together at home.»

Read more!

Happy 2024!

Happy 2024! The year is already shaping up to be a busy and productive year for us at Move2Learn. Our programming to help our students in Alexandria public schools feel and learn their best is well underway and continues to be a super important part of our students’ school days.

What we’re focused on this year

We’re Inside the Classroom with our Active Seating Packages, signature Toolkits and Movement Challenges. The 2024 winter challenge is almost here!  
Student from Alexandria City High School’s International Academy is a fan of the Move2Learn stationary bike.

We’re Outside the Classroom with clubs like yoga, dance, boxercise, running/walking, lacrosse, jump roping, overall movement and more.   
Students at Hammond Middle School feeling the goodness of yoga.

We’re all about SEAL, Social, Emotional and Academic Learning, with 10 new lessons we call “Movement to Feel & Learn Your Best.”
Jen Wiser, Move2Learn Director of Programs, and students from

What else is happening

AND, we have another arrow in our quiver that we’re super excited about: Our new Measurement Survey that gives teachers a way to report back on their experience with our programs. The measurement experts at Magnolia Consulting guided us through the rigorous and exacting process to create a valid survey from which we’re already collecting valuable insights.

Here’s a sneak preview of the kinds of feedback we’re getting…

On Inside the Classroom

“My students will ask to use the Move2Learn Active Seating when they’re feeling tired or having trouble focusing. They go back to their seats when they feel more energized.”

On Outside the Classroom

“This is a great program for the students. They’re really engaged and really enjoy participating. Move2Learn provided a lot of support with equipment, supplies and programming.”

On SEAL

“My students need to move and the Move2Learn SEAL lessons make it easy to incorporate movement breaks. Identifying strong emotions is important, and the lessons have helped students handle them when they get in the way of learning.”

The feedback we get will inform everything we do—to make sure we’re always providing the most useful and effective programs.

Move2Learn’s Morning Movers

Here’s a story about how Move2Learn’s Outside the Classroom program works. Lucas, a 4th grader at one of our Alexandria public schools, is an energetic boy who’s excited about school and who loves to run. With that combo in the classroom, though, he’d be bursting at the seams with energy, so much so that he’d bolt up, out and down the hallway to calm his body and mind. The chaos he created for himself and his class was real and had a negative impact on everyone’s learning, especially his.

Then he joined the Move2Learn Morning Movers club at his school, and his days got a whole lot better! That’s the science of movement and the reason for Move2Learn’s Outside the Classroom programs. They’re so important to our students’ social-emotional health and key to their academic growth.

Check out the Morning Movers!

Classroom teachers can vouch for the improvement in behaviors and academics. April Rodgers, a PE teacher with ACPS, heads up the Morning Movers club and is a huge advocate of moving two learn. She recently put together a video for the latest ACPS School Board meeting and talks to the kids and teachers about the benefits of movement in how they feel and learn.. Have a look!

Move2Learn’s Movement Club debuts at Ramsay ES

After school on Wednesdays is pretty awesome for 4th graders at William Ramsay Elementary School in Alexandria. The students, who belong to the Move2Learn Movement Club that’s led by our partner, School Nurse Jodi Bobbitt, meet until 4 p.m. for activities like dance, yoga and hiking and time to refresh and reset.

A diversity of nationalities, languages and abilities, the kids work together to make the most of their time. In addition to Ms. Bobbitt, other adult assistants include the school physical therapist, a special education teacher and a PE teacher.

For their final session this semester, the club is going to a local swim club. Most of the students have never been there, so they’re really excited. Parents and siblings are invited, too! Expanding the movement connection to home and families—we love that!

The Movement Club at Ramsay Elementary School is one of 20 Move2Learn Outside the Classroom programs.

For the past year, our one-of-a-kind Outside the Classroom programs like the Movement Club have been a huge success. They’re key to not only the well-being and social-emotional health of our students, they’re absolutely key to their academic growth. 

We have 10 new and 10 returning programs across Alexandria. Here’s what makes them unique:

    • Most of the students participating in our programs are hand selected by their teachers because they’ve been identified as struggling in school. Teachers make our programs part of a student’s success plan;
    • Our programs are led by our teacher, counselor and other school partners who have key relationships with students and know and understand their complex needs. These trusted connections support students’ sense of belonging and get kids eager to get to school on time and to stay there; and
    • Like all of our work, our Outside the Classroom programs teach students how to recognize and manage stress, anxiety and other strong emotions using movement. Understanding that body-mind connection helps them overcome feelings that get in their way of learning.

Other awesome reasons our programs are so special? They’re FREE to students and take place right at the schools, removing barriers like cost and transportation! Plus, we make sure everyone has essentials they need to participate like shoes, socks, sports hijabs and sports bras. Equipment is needed for all the activities so we supply that, too: Items like yoga mats, jump ropes and lacrosse sticks. And we provide teachers ongoing and onsite assistance—we do everything to make them feel supported!

What goes on «Outside the Classroom»

I’m really excited to fill you in on how our one-of-a-kind Outside the Classroom programs are going. From Alexandria City’s public elementary schools to high schools, the benefits of our 10 new and 10 returning programs are all-important to the well-being and social-emotional health of our students and key to their academic growth. Oh, and did I mention they’re fun?!

Starting with Chance For Change, a campus of Alexandria City High School, some students, normally with restricted access and no PE, now have the benefit of getting outside a couple of times a week during the school day for fresh air and exercise, to refresh and reset. And it’s a really big deal to them—and to us.

The young adults are members of the Move2Learn Walking Club, the first of our Outside the Classroom at CFC. The walks are part of their social, emotional and academic learning time that focuses on the body-mind connection and teaches them how to recognize and manage stress, anxiety and other strong emotions using movement. Understanding that body-mind connection helps them overcome feelings that get in their way of learning.

Students at George Washington Middle School love the after school Move2Learn Yoga Club
Students at George Washington Middle School love the after school Move2Learn Yoga Club
These students belong to the Move2Learn Walking Club at Alexandria City High School.
These students belong to the Move2Learn Walking Club at Alexandria City High School.

That’s the science of movement. And that’s the reason for all of our programming and why we’re committed to make it happen and keep it going for our students.

One way we do that is to make sure everyone has what they need to participate: Equipment like yoga mats, lacrosse sticks, boxercise gloves, jump ropes and fitness trackers as well as essentials like shoes, socks, sports hijabs and even sports bras—you name it, we provide it.

What makes us stand out from other programs?
    • Our programs are led by teachers and counselors who have key relationships with students and know and understand their complex needs. These trusted connections support students’ sense of belonging and get kids eager to get to school on time and to stay there.
    • They take place right at their schools, mostly the middle and high schools, removing the barrier of transportation.
    • Teachers choose the activity based on student interest. Some of the most popular programs include run/walk, yoga, dance and overall movement.

Our largest purchase so far has been athletic shoes—upward of 250 pairs—that we bought and delivered to students participating in nine of our programs. But first we had to measure all those feet—that was a lot of measuring.😊

All of this is absolutely FREE to students who otherwise wouldn’t be able to participate.

We’re excited about our unique programming and its growth and impact to help our students learn their best. If you’d like to learn more, feel free to reach out!