Program Introduction

LEARNING FOUNDATIONS not only teaches ‘life skills’, such as self-confidence; it also provides a format to address the foundations of learning so a child can begin to learn with ease. In addition, one of the greatest outcomes of The LEARNING FOUNDATIONS Program has been improved attitudes. Students that are below or behind in their studies so often internalize a ‘less than’ attitude about themselves and begin to dislike school. The LEARNING FOUNDATIONS Program has had great success in improving reading while also improving self-esteem and self-confidence. Parents and teachers notice the difference. Some parent comments were, “Best program my child has been in;” and, “Great tutoring, even their school teachers commented on their improvement.”

LEARNING FOUNDATIONS has a proven reading /language arts tutoring program that combines integrated movement with classroom instruction for children in K-6th grade. Gymnastics clubs can become valuable partners with their local educators because they can offer programs that support learning in its fundamental aspects.

Data from the last tutoring session held at Gym Magic, Inc. in Las Cruces, NM from 2010-11 is illustrated in the graph (<<Click Link). The score in blue was the initial oral fluency reading rate at the beginning of LEARNING FOUNDATIONS. The score in red was the final oral fluency reading rate after 10 sessions with LEARNING FOUNDATIONS.

An important adjunct to this data is the improved self-confidence observed in the students and their desire to continue coming to class (even after they’ve completed the program). Their attitudes had dramatically improved, and they were enjoying coming to the gym for tutoring. Bottom line: students improved their reading skills, improved their integrative movement and improved their attitudes about learning and their ability to learn!

LEARNING FOUNDATIONS was developed in 2008 as a multi-level tutoring program by Gym Magic Sports Center & Preschool. Gym Magic, although a multi-sport facility, has always placed their emphasis on learning and education. Their sports have been used as ‘tools’ to help instill important life skills and later to capture and develop the movement/learning connection which can directly affect academics.

Gym Magic believes children learn most effectively when placed in a playful, engaging environment. Building positive learning attitudes has been a major goal as this can set the stage for creating a love of learning and a life-long pursuit to learn. In 2007, Gym Magic hosted the first S’cool Moves for Learning seminar in New Mexico. Presented by founder and reading specialist, Deb Wilson, S’cool Moves brought the movement/learning connection into full focus (see www.schoolmoves.com for more information) and laid the groundwork for establishing LEARNING FOUNDATIONS.

In the past, learning and higher thought were considered to be entirely separate from movement. Play and movement were relegated to extracurricular activities in schools with more time being devoted to sedentary classroom work. However, neuroscience was pointing in another direction, the direction of integrative movement and ‘active’ work. Our challenge was to merge and balance the needs of our technological society with our biology, which developed using movement to properly integrate the brain’s communication. We came full circle in this riddle of learning, movement and education.

LEARNING FOUNDATIONS grew out of Gym Magic’s desire to bridge the brain/movement/learning connection. Research in neurophysiology was pointing to this strong connection and we decided to “take on” the challenge. There is now a wealth of information showing the positive effects of movement and exercise on behavior and our mental states. We now know that communication within the brain improves when it is organized with movement.  At a time when our society was spending less time and money on movement (exercise & active sports) and more on computers and technology, we were discovering how much physical movement impacted the process of learning.

Dr. Carla Hannaford, noted neurobiologist, states “The more closely we consider the elaborate interplay of brain and body, the more clearly one compelling theme emerges: Movement is essential to learning. Movement awakens and activates many of our mental capacities. Movement integrates and anchors new information and experience into our neural networks. And movement is vital to all the actions by which we embody and express our learning, our understanding and ourselves.”

LEARNING FOUNDATIONS was developed with the belief that success and the processes involved in success are learned attributes which can, therefore, be taught. LEARNING FOUNDATIONS, which is a combination of FUN and challenge, can help teach children about success. The hope of every parent is to have happy, successful children, and we believe we can and have assisted in this endeavor!

It turns out that movement and the stimulation of the vestibular system in early childhood actually helps prepare and develop the brain for what we term “higher learning” (focus, concentration, problem solving, speech, language, reading, writing, and social-emotional maturity). Movement (rolling, climbing, spinning, and jumping) helps organize and facilitate the flow of information within the brain and lays the foundation for the development of “higher learning”. John J. Ratey, MD, had this to say about movement and brain development, “Mounting evidence show that movement is crucial to every other brain function, including memory, emotion, language, and learning…Our “higher” brain functions have evolved from movement and still depend on it.”

LEARNING FOUNDATIONS was developed by Nancy L. Bates, PhD, MT (ASCP), owner and founder of Gym Magic, Inc, and Sandra I. Graham, MS, educational coordinator.

Nancy Bates holds a doctorate in Biology with a minor in Biochemistry and a master’s in Cell Biology. She is a registered Medical Technologist through the American Society of Clinical Pathology (ASCP) since 1971. She has worked in clinical laboratories in numerous hospitals and was Study Director in a private contract laboratory for the registration of new pharmaceuticals. She founded Gym Magic, Inc. in 1993 and built the first private multi-sport facility for children in New Mexico in 2004. Gym Magic began as a gymnastics school and has grown into an educationally-based children’s facility that now provides a developmental preschool, tutoring, after school programs and instruction in gymnastics, swimming, cheer and dance for the youth of Las Cruces. She has trained with Deb Wilson in S’cool Moves for Learning, a program for enhancing learning through integrative movement.

Sandra I. Graham has a master’s degree in education with an additional 48 hours in motivational/instructional strategies. She has served as a public school teacher from 1971 until 2002 in the state of Illinois. She is the Educational Coordinator for Ashley’s Garden, a developmental preschool housed in Gym Magic. She is responsible for program development, training and licensing. She is a certified Master Trainer for Denver II and has completed S’cool Moves for Learning, a program for enhancing learning through integrative movement. She has compiled the reading and language arts tutoring program for Imagination Station and has been the Educational Coordinator for Gym Magic’s successful SES Title 1 tutoring program from 2008 to present. She is responsible for the training, implementation and monitoring of the teachers involved in tutoring at Gym Magic. She is Vice-President of Gym Magic Foundation, Inc.

LEARNING FOUNDATIONS, through Sandra Graham, has trained over two dozen tutors that implement LEARNING FOUNDATIONS through Gym Magic’s SES Title 1 program.

Neuroscience has given us great insights into how we learn – it’s not just in our heads; it’s in the movement of our bodies. It’s time to incorporate these findings into our educational systems and into our after school activities. Physical movement enhances fitness and reduces childhood obesity, which is a growing problem in our society. The lack of coordinated, integrative movement during childhood has a direct impact on our ability to easily learn because these activities enhance the development and organization of the brain; they are not just for muscle development. Neuroscience documents the strong connection between physical movement and learning (as in reading, math and logic). “Learning involves the building of skills, and skills of every manner are built through the movement of muscles – not just physical skills for athletes…but also the intellectual skills used in classrooms and workplaces,” states Dr. Carla Hannaford, noted neurobiologist.

Education and our children’s ability to learn are prominent topics today as we struggle to understand why students are falling behind. As a technological society, we know education is the foundation for success. It is truly because of education and our intellectual progress that we have become a technological society. But what are we missing now? What are our children missing? What corrective actions can we take as parents and as a community to reverse this downward trend?

Neuroscience has some interesting answers for us. It involves our technological society and our understanding of how we actually learn. The rapid pace of technological innovation has dramatically changed our homes and our everyday world. Children are simply spending more and more time in front of a ‘screen’ whether TV screen, computer screen, or hand-held device. We don’t want to move backward, away from technology, but we may need to address some unintended consequences. These consequences are also imbedded in neurobiology.

As parents and children spend vast amounts of time on computers, we may have underestimated the effects of time spent in front of screens especially on our children. Neuroscience submits there is a significant difference between the effects on children and the effects on adults due to the difference in brains (a mature adult brain versus a young developing brain). In addition, the time spent in front of a “screen” takes time away from other significant activities, notably physical exercise.

Babies are born with 100 billion neurons (brain cells) but most are not connected yet. They are waiting for sensory input to form connections and create meaningful pathways – the foundation of how we learn. Between the ages of 3 and 10, a child’s brain activity is more than twice that of an adult because a child’s developing brain establishes trillions of connections. The important element is that these connections are mediated through movement and coordinated sensory input.

A child’s brain evolves through coordinated, integrative movement. Scientists agree that coordinated movement integrates and organizes the brain for learning. We learn best through movement; our brain depends on movement to develop the brain, not just our muscles. “Despite what we think, learning is not ‘all from our head’. It is the movements of our body…that form the pathways in our mind that we later use to read, write, and think in an imaginative and creative way”, states Susan R. Johnson, MD, FAAP (2006).

As adults, we typically associate higher learning with reading books, listening to lectures and working on computers – things we did in college. We’ve forgotten how we learned during the most active developmental period of our life–our childhood years. It is during this active period of learning and development that we so clearly utilized movement. Unfortunately, we, the public, have not associated ‘learning’ with movement (unless you happen to be an occupational therapist as they have utilized movement in their work with children for decades).

Our society has relegated physical exercise as ‘play’ or extracurricular activity and placed the emphasis for education in the classroom. Again, classrooms are fundamental to learning and education, and we do not want to reduce classroom time. We do, however, want to provide the coordinated, integrative movement that the developing brain needs to organize and even optimize its performance. It is time to re-emphasize physical movement into our children’s daily routines.

New studies in education have documented that the best predictor for success in reading and math from kindergarten through 3rd and 4th grade was actually eye-hand coordination and motor skills. Coordination and motor skills are superior activities for enhancing learning and establishing success in school. Debra Wilson, reading specialist and creator of S’cool Moves for Learning, has stated that gymnastics is the very best form of integrative movement. Studies have also documented new neural networks (i.e., flow of information in the brain) in the brains of children involved in preschool gymnastics. “Neurologists are finding evidence that the cerebellum, which coordinates physical movement, also coordinates the movement of thought,” states John J. Ratey, MD in Users Guide to the Brain.

• IF WE LEARN THROUGH MOVEMENT…

Decades ago, we would not be having this conversation because kids were actually outside running, jumping, swinging, skipping, spinning, etc. Most of their free time (non-school time) was spent outside playing. Children also performed quite well academically. This is not too surprising as we now know the two are connected–we know that coordinated movement helps the brain organize and develop. However, it has taken us many years to understand the ramifications of reducing our physical activity levels as it pertains to learning and not just weight gain and obesity. As adults, we were slow to make the connection of low physical movement with lower achievement rates and learning difficulties.

The fact that our children are not playing outdoors actually has far reaching consequences for their education and their ability to learn. Consider the following quote from noted neurobiologist, Carla Hannaford, PhD: “The more closely we consider the elaborate interplay of brain and body, the more clearly one compelling theme emerges: Movement is essential to learning. Movement awakens and activates many of our mental capacities”.

Less outdoor play time would not necessarily bring to mind difficulties in reading and math unless you considered the connection between movement and learning. Neurologists have spent decades examining the role of the cerebellum in the brain and have discovered that the cerebellum not only coordinates physical movement but also coordinates the movement of thought (John Ratey, MD).

Movement lays the foundation for our learning, and our gyms offer the best form of integrative movement, all within a playful, fun environment. It’s time to seriously look at the combination of movement and education.

• IF WE COMBINE MOVEMENT AND CLASSROOM INSTRUCTION…

Our brains have the most marvelous capacity for learning, for adapting, for changing. In neurobiology, this is called ‘plasticity’, the ability to adapt and change. This wonderful ability allows us to fill in gaps, to add coordinated movement to our repertoire and thereby improve not only our physical abilities but also our brain organization.

The documentation of the movement/learning connection is a real game-changer. With this understanding, we can approach physical exercise (coordinated, integrative movement) in a whole new light. It’s not just for ‘fun’; it’s not just for ‘play’; it’s not a waste of time; it’s a valuable component of how our brains organize and learn. We are not only teaching ‘life skills’ such as self-confidence; we are providing a basic component to improve a child’s ability to learn with ease.

Gymnastics clubs can become true partners in the educational arena because basic integrative movement is the foundation of gymnastics training. Gymnasts have a long history of academic excellence, and we now know it’s much more than simply time management and self-discipline. Gymnastics training can actually help to develop and organize the brain!!

LEARNING FOUNDATIONS has a proven reading/language arts program that combines integrated movement with classroom instruction for children in K-6^th grade. Gymnastics clubs can become valuable partners with their local educators because they can offer programs that support learning in its fundamental aspects.

Gym Magic offers a proven, special multi-level reading program which combines integrative movement (gym time) with traditional classroom instruction in reading and language arts. A maximum of 3 students to 1 teacher will be used as this ratio has proven to be the most effective.

Tutors are degreed, certified teachers; special education teachers; ELL teachers; or qualified, trained college-degreed tutors. Class will meet twice a week for 2 hours each time. Parents will be given weekly progress reports.

Applications are available through your classroom teacher or principal.

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Gym Magic ofrece GRATIS SES El Programa De Lectura Y Lenguage en Atres para los estudiantes de kindergarten hasta el 6to grado. Las clases seran en Gym Magic (despues de escuela/o en los fines de semana).

Gym Magic ofrece un progama especial multi-nivel en lectura combinado con movimientos integrals (tiempo en el gym) con las intruciones del las clases tradicionales en lectura y language en artes. Un maximo de 3 estudiantes por 1 maestro se usara como proporción esta aprobada por ser la mas efectiva.

Los tutores son graduados , maestros certificados; maestros con educacion especial; ELL maestros; o calificados, entrenados en tutorial por el colegio-graduados. Las clases seran dos veces a la semana por dos horas cada vez. Les daremos a los padres cada semana un reporte del progreso del estudiante.

Gym Magic esta lacalizado en 2341 Entrada del Sol, Las Cruces NM 88001

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Introduction by Dr. Nancy L. Bates

Welcome to Learning Foundations. Learning Foundations grew out of the need to provide a different approach to tutoring that was based on the whole child and the process of learning. Our program is focused on elementary school students that need reading and language arts tutoring.

As a gym and sports center, we have something that other tutoring programs do not have: a kid-friendly, FUN environment filled with colorful mats and bouncy ‘things’! This is important because many struggling readers develop poor self-esteem over time and a FUN, colorful environment helps to set the stage for a New Beginning of reading and self-confidence!

Self-confidence and self-esteem are two words tossed around so frequently they have lost much of their impact, but they are, indeed, important issues for our children. After just a few short weeks of tutoring, we’ve had numerous parents comment on their child’s improved attitude about themselves, their abilities and how they felt about school in general. We think everyone deserves a healthy, positive attitude about learning because this lays the foundation for a life-long pursuit of learning.

If a child has been identified as needing tutoring, you can be sure that that child is aware they are behind and in need of help. Their parents may also be desperate to find help as most parents understand the importance of education and being a good reader. Many students will feel deflated and defeated by school. To change their attitude is to win the first major battle!

Learning Foundations can be a golden opportunity for students and their parents because our students aren’t thrown into yet another classroom where they are made to sit still and try to learn. Our students start out in a FUN place, our gym, doing FUN activities that allow them to be just another kid, not the kid who can’t read very well.

In short time, they gain new skills in the gym (which are, of course, directed at building brain organization and planned motor skills through integrative movement – known as serious FUN) and begin to RELAX! They soon experience that ‘learning’ can actually be fun and that they are, indeed, capable of improving their reading and thus their school work.

Gym time is extremely valuable time!! This is where we find out that many of these students cannot skip, do jumping jacks, jump rope or play hopscotch. Again, this relates to the fact that today’s youth are not outside playing anymore; they’re the generation that has grown up watching TV and playing on computers. They are also the group that might have missed a number of important developmental steps that provide ease of learning because the brain is organized through early play (motor activities developing into planned motor skills). As so aptly stated by Dr. Carla Hannaford, “Learning involves the building of skills, and skills of every manner are built through the movement of muscles – not just physical skills for athletes…but also the intellectual skills used in classrooms and workplaces.”

Deb Wilson, reading specialist and the co-founder of S’cool Moves, states “Movement is the architect of a child’s brain. The two hemispheres of the brain are designed to constantly communicate with one another. The left side of the brain controls the right side of the body, and vice versa. Bilateral activities, common to all gymnastics programs, require both sides of the body to work together and separately. Coordinated movement patterns create efficiency in the brain. Efficient pathways create fluent readers who complete reading tasks with ease. For example, during reading, the left hemisphere attends to letters and the sequence of words, while the right side of the brain focuses on comprehending what is read. Reading fluency depends on an intimate conversation between the two hemispheres of the brain– a clear signal, just like a smart phone.”

Researchers have even documented that graduating seniors will have more hours in front of TVs than the total number of hours spent in a classroom after 12 full years of school. An amazing statistic! Most everyone is also aware of the poor showing US students have had in international testing for a number of years now. It appears we have not turned that around yet, but it is gaining much national attention and the poor performance of our schools has been in the spotlight. Change and improvement may be in the wind!

Learning Foundations provides a proven method, a method we have developed and adapted after working with hundreds and hundreds of students. We use a nationally recognized reading program that has been adapted for our program. This is combined with integrative movement in the gym to provide bilateral activities, improve balance, rhythm, timing and core musculature – activities that impact learning and especially reading.

SES TUTORING

Gym Magic was awarded a SES grant to offer the Learning Foundations curriculum in reading and language arts to eligible students. Students must be attending eligible Title 1 schools within LCPS. SES is a totally FREE TUTORING program. A list of eligible schools can be found at the LCPS website under Federal Grants, SES (Supplemental Educational Services).

For 2011-2012, the sign up period is from October 24 – November 22. Applications are distributed to each eligible school and must be returned to either the student’s teacher or principal prior to the cut-off date. It is recommended that interested parents return their completed applications as soon as possible as space is typically limited.

Gym Magic hires local, certified teachers that are then trained in our method. We use small groups (3 students per teacher) as we have found this provides just the right balance of individual attention plus small group dynamics. Each student has an individualized program with weekly progress programs provided both to the district and to the parents.

Gym Magic is open Monday through Friday from 8:00am to 7:30pm and on Saturday from 9:00 to 1:00pm. Parents and students are welcome to tour the facility. For additional information, please call Ms. Graham or Dr. Bates at Gym Magic (575.523.1616).

Click here for “Learning Foundations Overview”

PLEASE CALL 644.3493 or 496-7466
for more information.
Email: nancy@gymmagic.com
learningfoundations.info