Walkabouts Platform Aligns to State Standards and Is Easy to Navigate (Minnesota)

Profile

Chelsea Gall says that an important aspect of FIT Academy is to include movement in lessons and activities throughout the day. So, when the Walkabouts platform was shared as a resource through a Minnesota Department of Education grant, she thought it was a great match for the school and for her 1st grade students.

Chelsea Gall teaches 1st grade at FIT Academy in Apple Valley, MN. She has been teaching for seven years, all of which have been in 1st grade at FIT Academy.

“Walkabouts is easy to navigate and tied to all our standards.”
– Chelsea Gall

Goals

Chelsea Gall says that an important aspect of FIT Academy is to include movement in lessons and activities throughout the day. So, when the Walkabouts platform was shared as a resource through a Minnesota Department of Education grant, she thought it was a great match for the school and for her 1st grade students.

Outcomes

Gall uses Walkabouts as a whole class activity. “I will introduce a topic from our curriculum, and then the next day, I’ll find a corresponding Walkabouts lesson on that topic to reinforce what I taught.” Because she uses Walkabouts as a whole class activity, she can easily see who understands the material she has taught and who may need more assistance. She has observed that students interact with the lessons and can respond to the questions. She says, “I really like that all students have an opportunity to participate and answer the questions, instead of just one or two who get to answer during a [typical] lesson.”

The students also enjoy doing Walksheets, which are worksheets with a movement component. Galls say, “They really like starting with the movement-based activity at the beginning, and then moving onto the other questions in the Walksheet.” She uses Walksheets both as a complement to the Walkabouts lesson and as an independent activity.

Before using Walkabouts, Gall would search for movement-based lessons on YouTube and even tried a couple of other programs. While some also incorporated academic material, not all were aligned to state standards or were not as character-driven and interactive.

Recommendations

Gall plans to use Walkabouts again next year and plans to recommend it to other teachers in the school. She says that it is very intuitive and easy to search for topics that align with her lessons and the state standards. This gives her confidence in the material she is teaching.