Akron Life January 2023

EDUCATION

by Kelly Petryszyn, Alexandra Sobczak and Nathalia Teixeira

Great Resilience Schools are confronting obstacles. Through art therapy, a movement class and intervention, students are bouncing back from the pandemic.

SMART MOVES

Extra Lesson classes, photos provided by Spring Garden Waldorf School

At first, a rhythmic activity in the Extra Lesson developmen tal movement class at Spring Garden Waldorf School in Copley was difficult for now 8-year-old third grader Grace Heller. Each student is tasked with stepping a leg over a rope while touching their shoul der with their opposite hand, continuously crisscrossing to a drumbeat. This helps with bilaterality or bringing inter action between the left and right brain hemispheres. Grace, who has torticollis, which is a

tightening of the muscles in the neck, eventually mastered it with big results. “Once you get the hang of it, you feel so accomplished,” Grace says. “Her coordination skills have improved tremendously,” says her mom, RyAnn Heller, who adds that it has helped Grace learn to ride a bike. Students take Extra Lesson — a class specific to Waldorf education, which addresses the

whole child — periodically from kindergarten to second grade and then on a by-need basis. It helps students develop physical capacities and coordi nation, gain skills needed for complex movements including spatial orientation and balance and be able to transition from play-based early education to sitting at a desk and taking in academic instruction. The class has been especially important, as the sedentary nature of the pandemic shutdown affected students’ abilities to pay

attention and follow teachers’ instructions and their gross motor coordination and fine motor skills. “A child who has difficulty with attention, I see a distinct correlation between that and their ability to sit still,” says Diane Miskinis, Extra Lesson education support teacher. “The class allows children to strengthen this balance.” Extra Lesson addresses gaps through playful activities like imitating fish, frog and pony

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