The Walkabouts Platform Reinforces New Concepts and Skills

Profile

Northwood Academy is a private Christian school that serves about 850 pre-K through 12^th grade students in Summerville, South Carolina.

“[My kids] love to guess which character will lead a lesson by looking at their shoes during the intro.”

-Alixandra Little, First Grade Teacher

Teaching Experience

Alixandra Little is a first grade teacher at Northwood Academy in Summerville, South Carolina. She has 16 years of instructional experience, all of which have been spent teaching first grade. She currently has 21 students in her class.

Goals

Several years ago, Alixandra Little used the Walkabouts Platform at her previous public school in Summerville, South Carolina. After moving to Northwood Academy, she wanted to continue to use the Walkabouts Platform because she knew it would engage her students in academic content while also incorporating kinesthetic activities into their lessons.

Outcomes

Little says, “At first, my students were a little reluctant to engage, but after a few Walkabouts, they got excited. They love to guess which character will lead a lesson by looking at their shoes during the intro.” When Little introduces a new skill or concept, she says she likes to reinforce that content with a Walkabouts lesson because it is a great way to involve movement as students learn. 

In addition to the Walkabouts lessons within the platform, she also uses Walksheets, worksheets with a movement component.  She says that Walksheets are easy to follow and serve as a great review tool to evaluate whether students grasp concepts. She especially appreciates that Walksheets do not feel like busy work, and that they can be used as a whole class or an individual activity.

Little explains that another aspect of the Walkabouts Platform that is helpful is that all the lessons are easy to find, correlated to state standards, and that teachers can access content from all grade levels (pre-K through 5^th grade). She says that this flexibility allows teachers to review content from a previous year or access more advanced content for accelerated students.

One of the main reasons Little decided to continue using the Walkabouts Platform after moving to a new school is because the lessons integrate movement which is especially important for first grade students who need physical activity for both mental and physical development. She says movement helps with behavior as well because students are more focused and engaged after a Walkabout.

Recommendations

Since moving to Northwood Academy, Little has recommended the Walkabouts Platform to the entire first grade team.  She hopes more teachers will begin to implement the platform with their students as well as use the Walksheets as they are accessible without having to complete Walkabouts lessons.