While walking through a school it’s easy to see that a typical classroom contains desks, a white board, students, and a teacher. Boring, right? But, what if a classroom was a place where a student could jump on trampolines, balance on beams, and army crawl across the floor while learning at the same time? Through a program called the S.M.A.R.T. Room, this is all possible. 

S.M.A.R.T. stands for Stimulating Maturity through Accelerated Readiness Training. It is a program based on brain research that shows kids enter school without psychological/neurological readiness skills. This program was brought to the attention of Maple Lake Elementary through kindergarten teacher Annie Jost. 

“I was trained in Watertown and I brought it here and started to get people excited about it last year,” she said. 

First grade teacher Ann Hagen and second grade teacher Nicole Christiansen received training at the Minnesota Learning Resource Center during the summer of 2011. 

“From the training we know the biology behind the program and how it helps the kids,” said Hagen. “It pumps you up and without it we couldn’t have gotten the room running.”

The phrase “movement anchors learning” is a key component in the S.M.A.R.T. Room where students are allowed to run and play. “When they move, they can retain information,” said Jost. “And it’s fun.”

While walking through a school it’s easy to see that a typical classroom contains desks, a white board, students, and a teacher. Boring, right? But, what if a classroom was a place where a student could jump on trampolines, balance on beams, and army crawl across the floor while learning at the same time? Through a program called the S.M.A.R.T. Room, this is all possible. 

S.M.A.R.T. stands for Stimulating Maturity through Accelerated Readiness Training. It is a program based on brain research that shows kids enter school without psychological/neurological readiness skills. This program was brought to the attention of Maple Lake Elementary through kindergarten teacher Annie Jost.