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“The Power of Movement”
By Michelle Bruch, The Journal, Minneapolis, MN, August 1, 2011
A Chance To Grow is more than a health clinic. It runs a daycare center, and it provides teacher workshops across the country. The agency has gained national recognition for its “S.M.A.R.T.” program, which encourages teachers to take breaks for exercise in the classroom. Movement is vital for kids to focus — it “gets the wiggles out,” Occupational Therapist Julie Neumann says, “bodies need organized movement so they can stay still to learn.” After 80 hours of exercises like the ones mentioned above, children on average make a six-month reading gain, according to the agency. Today, 300 schools across the country use the S.M.A.R.T. strategy, and this summer, staff are conducting teacher workshops in states like Delaware, Tennessee and Michigan.
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“Teachers Learn Curriculum Designed to Prevent Learning Disabilities”
By Ivory Hecker, Northland’s NewsCenter, Duluth, MN, July 14, 2011
Teachers in the Northland are learning a new curriculum that’s designed to correct or prevent learning disabilities in students. S.M.A.R.T. training looks at kids through a developmental, rather than chronological, standpoint and emphasizes the connection between physical movement and mental learning.
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“Northland Foundation approves grant for S.M.A.R.T. program”
Pine Journal, Carlton County, MN, February 28, 2011
The Northland Foundation has approved a third year of funding for the Minneapolis-based nonprofit A Chance To Grow to partner with area schools in implementing S.M.A.R.T., a brain-stimulating program shown to improve reading skills. The Northland grant will provide $8,000 toward mentoring services for educators in nine elementary schools in Duluth and across the northeast region.
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“Special Education Classroom Activities”
By Carol McCulloch, Bright Hub, February 4, 2011
Designed by professional physical therapists, the Stimulating Maturity through Accelerated Readiness Training (S.M.A.R.T.) Curriculum “helps children develop the skills that are essential for classroom learning,” says Josh Orpen, Communications Coordinator of the Minnesota Learning Resource Center. The program’s multi-sensory activities provide tools for training the brain stem to develop auditory, visual, and motor functions.
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“S.M.A.R.T. Learners Spinning up Success in the Classroom”
By Jeff Olsen, KARE 11, Minneapolis, MN, August 25, 2010
Teachers continue to adopt a Minnesota-based educational curriculum that uses a variety of physical activities to enhance a child’s mental ability to learn in the classroom… “They say that the average 4-year-old has spent 1,000 hours in a car seat. We know that computers and TV kind of robs kids of normal outside activity,” MLRC Director Nancy Farnham said. Farnham says without that activity, the brain stem isn’t able to develop enough for a child to be ready for classroom learning.
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“S.M.A.R.T. Puts Teachers on Floor”
By Jena Pike, Northland News, Duluth, MN, August 17, 2010
The program has helped improve test scores for students in the past, including groups which traditionally have lower scores. Teachers also cover topics, such as behavior in the classroom and what it might mean for a child's learning style, and what mistakes teachers make. "Traditional things – having kids always sitting still, some kids are movement learners, they gather information with a simple rocking back and forth. It might drive you nuts as a teacher but it may be the way the children do it,” said one mentor.
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“Extra Stimulation a SMART Idea”
By Tanner Kent, Mankato Free Press, Mankato, MN, July 30, 2010
SMART is an increasingly popular curriculum based on neurological science that shows that stimulating certain parts of the brain through muscle movement can prepare students to learn, especially those in elementary grades…Gina Danielson, a first-grade teacher at Washington Elementary, in Mankato, said she would spend about 20 to 30 minutes per day engaging her students in SMART activity. She said the results were noticeable and significant with students being less fidgety, more focused and ready to learn. “I saw growth across the board,” Danielson said. “Reading especially.”
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“Movement is the Key to Healthy Development”
BLOG: Alan Jordan, Maximum Opportunity, May 15, 2010
On a personal basis, I can attest to this. My daughter benefited from visual motor coordination training. That was almost 25 years ago. Once she made certain connections, she prospered. I’m pleased to see that this program is alive and prospering.
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“Learning to Play”
By Michelle Leonard, The Farmington Independent, Farmington, MN, March 25, 2010
First grade students have a lot of energy. A lot of energy. What they probably don’t know, though, is that their excess energy is helping them learn. “They have a lot of energy, and they need a way to release that energy in a productive way,” said Riverview Elementary School first grade teacher Julie Auge. And that’s why, when her class doesn’t have P.E. or music, Auge often takes them to the school’s Brain Room.
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“Exercising more than just the body at Woodland Elementary in Eagan”
By Grant Boelter, Sun Newspapers, Eagan, MN, December 2, 2009
Trampoline springs creak, balls bounce and a flurry of words and letters ring through the portable classroom at Woodland Elementary in Eagan. Just another day in the school's SMART Room. "Every time we hit the platform, we say the word," explained one second grade student, when talking about an exercise he does in daily circuits.
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"A S.M.A.R.T. new program at Jefferson"
By Kremi Spengler, The Journal, New Ulm, MN, October 11, 2009
S.M.A.R.T. sites report high levels of academic achievement. Students are continuously challenged and stimulated by the activities that are incorporated into their daily academic routine. Schools who have implemented this program for some time have reported a strong positive correlation with academic scores, said Jefferson Elementary School Principal Pam Kirsch. She added that S.M.A.R.T. students have increased flexibility, stamina and upper body strength - "these are physical and academic gains."
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“SMART Learning Catching On”
By Tanner Kent, Mankato Free Press, Mankato, MN, September 9, 2009
There’s a classroom epidemic spreading across southern Minnesota. From Waseca to Cleveland, from St. Peter to Le Center, a new and invasive strand of brain-based
learning is arriving in schools. Symptoms include running, jumping, crawling and creeping. And the long-term consequences, educators say, could have significant impacts on brain development, language acquisition and academic achievement.
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"Hartley Teachers Learn to be SMART by Being Active"
By Ruth Ann Hager, Waseca County News, Waseca, MN, July 31, 2009
“Society has changed so much; kids aren’t playing outside like they used to, they’re playing video games, watching television and sitting at computers. They’re not ready to be learners,” said Hartley Elementary School principal Michelle Krell. The idea behind SMART is that visual, tactile and auditory activities stimulate the brain and increase learning.
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“Teacher Workshop Trains the Brain”
By Tanner Kent, Mankato Free Press, Mankato, MN, July 30, 2009
At first blush, it appeared 90 teachers were simply having a good time. But as those teachers danced to the beat of a boombox blaring “La Bamba” in a crowded conference room, something more profound was taking place. They were actually learning an easy technique for stimulating their students’ corpus callosums — which connects the two hemispheres of the brain — through physical movements that cross the body’s midline.
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“DPS S.M.A.R.T. Room Promotes Kindergarten Pre-Reading Skills”
Dyersburg State Gazette, Dyersburg, TN, December 11, 2008
Kindergarten teachers at Dyersburg Primary School are busy learning what children have known for generations—the importance of play. Based on the latest brain research, the S.M.A.R.T. program integrates current neuro-developmental maturation techniques into the regular curriculum to produce a booster effect for acquisition, retention, and production of basic skills. And how do kindergarteners do that? By jumping, climbing, balancing, crawling, swinging, and yes, even spinning.
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Life to the Max
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Minneapolis Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN
By Emily Johns, Star Tribune, May 08, 2007
Jordan Elementary School first-grade teacher Cindy Lind, right, watched as her students, including Carly Brosious, center, played in the SMART room. The SMART program uses physical activities to stimulate brain growth. And all this running and jumping seems to work. “I’ve never had a better group of spellers,” Lind said.
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EDITORIAL: Teaching, learning, Star Tribune, December 24, 2002
When Minnesota became the first state to offer charter schools a decade ago, the idea was to encourage innovative alternatives to traditional public schools. Educators, parents and others were given the flexibility to use different teaching approaches--especially to help children who were failing in so-called "regular" schools.
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Marshall Independent, Marshall, MN
By Deb Gau
HENDRICKS — With all the lights in the room dimmed, first and second grade teacher Barbara Deuel clicked on a lantern and asked her students to read the word written on a flash card she was holding. After the kids chorused, “jump,” Deuel clicked the lantern off for a moment while she changed cards, and back on again.
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