25 Weeks of Gratitude: Sonora Elementary’s Walking Classroom Program
Taking steps toward a brighter future
By Olivia Kays
Learning doesn’t always happen behind a desk. For fifth-grade students at Sonora Elementary in Springdale, sometimes it happens while walking around the school track with headphones and an audio player.
On a brisk morning, 22 students from two fifth-grade classes walked the track as they listened to a 20-minute lesson on marine life — a topic they will soon cover in science.
After their walk, the students gathered to discuss what they had learned.
“I learned that when people throw plastic into the ocean, sea turtles will try to eat it and choke on it,” one student said.
“We should be careful what we throw in the ocean,” Sadie Worthy added. “And also, we shouldn’t fish too much to protect the sea life.”
Worthy had participated in the Walking Classroom during the school’s after-school program and was excited to have another opportunity to do so during the school day.
“I liked the one I did about the food chain. It talks about how something small connects to something bigger and bigger and bigger and goes on and on,” she said.
What made the food chain lesson particularly useful was that it coincided with Worthy’s science lesson in class. And it is knowledge she hopes to expand even further when they begin their lessons on marine life.
“I want to learn about sea life food chains and how bigger fish eat smaller fish,” Worthy added.
More than knowledge
That connection is exactly why Brittany Ebey, Worthy’s teacher, believes this program is so valuable for her students.
“It has definitely improved their vocabulary,” Ebey said. “It’s really good for building their background knowledge ahead of a lesson.”
She said the program can give students a foundation before they encounter a topic in the classroom, allowing them to ask questions and participate more fully in conversations about what they’re learning.
The Walking Classroom program includes more than 160 preloaded, 20-minute lessons on literature, social studies and science. Students wear small audio players around their necks with headphones attached and listen as they walk laps around the school’s one-fourth-mile track. In the 20 minutes it takes to complete a lesson, students often walk four or more laps, totaling a mile or more.
But the students are seeing benefits beyond academics.
“It makes me calm and not so stressed about school,” Olivia ONeal said. “And it’s nice to be out in nature.”
Addison Martens first participated in the program in second grade and was excited to be back.
“I like it because I get to be outside while I’m listening to a story, and it makes me enjoy nature and reading more.”
How it began
Janelle Harp, school counselor at Sonora Elementary, has helped lead the Walking Classroom’s evolution over the years.
The equipment was originally purchased using a federal grant that limited its use to Sonora Elementary’s after-school program. When the equipment needed an upgrade, Harp applied for a Blue & You Foundation grant to replace it. The new funding also eliminated the previous restrictions on when the equipment could be used, allowing staff to incorporate it where they thought it would have the most impact.
This year, she began using the program with small groups of students during enrichment activity time.
“As I’ve worked with some of our kids in the classroom, what I’ve discovered is that a lot of fourth and fifth graders are reading pretty intense science lessons, but they don’t always have the vocabulary foundation to understand the context of what they’re being taught,” she said.
“It’s not that they can’t understand it. They just don’t always have the vocabulary. So sometimes they need additional context.”
Connecting to the classroom
Following the students’ marine life walk, Harp guided their discussion by asking not only what they had learned, but what they still wanted to know.
“I want to know why hammerhead sharks have flat heads,” said one student.
Others were interested in learning more about the Mariana Trench, the deepest point on Earth. Harp shared those interests with Ebey, who encouraged the students to remember the questions and topics that sparked their curiosity during the Walking Classroom for an upcoming research writing project.
Harp’s focus is on finding creative ways to help students succeed. Seeing these connections between physical activity and education has changed the way she thinks about learning.
“It changed the way I thought about academics,” she said. “I’m very thankful for the Blue & You Foundation. They made this possible for us. Look what these kids are doing.”
In celebration of the 25th anniversary of the Blue & You Foundation, 25 Weeks of Gratitude spotlights 25 stories of Arkansans whose lives have been impacted by Foundation-funded work.
*The Blue & You Foundation was established in 2001 through an initial gift from Arkansas Blue Cross and Blue Shield. Since its inception, the Foundation’s financial base has grown through wise and prudent investment strategies. This has enabled the foundation to support its mission by making grants funded by the interest earned on those investments.