Wow, the school year of 2020-2021 was quite a ride! I am sure I speak for teachers everywhere when I say that this will be a year that I will never forget! That being said, it was actually one of Gym and Learn's most successful years. We had a fantastic year of new and returning students and a year full of learning, growth, and fun! Check out some of these highlights of this great school year!
Highlights of the 2020-2021 School Year
- Graduated a record number of students: We graduated over 25 students to Kindergarten this year! Not only is that the highest ever, many of these students have been with the program since they were two! We celebrated the end of year with a fun tailgate, complete with an ice cream party at the end! What a great way to send these kiddos off to Kindergarten!
- Introduced a new handwriting curriculum: We trained and implemented a new handwriting curriculum for our students. This curriculum is based off five basic line shapes (line, dash, diagonal, curve, and plus). From these five shapes, any letter can be formed. With this new curriculum, we were able to see amazing growth in writing and understanding in all our students. They really took the new way of teaching and jumped on board!
- Powered through COVID, better than ever: Like everyone, we had to take COVID in stride, but we came out stronger on the other side. Our students adjusted to a more rotation based schedule where they moved from room to room to help keep everyone safe. With this change, we were able to implement more writing and math practice for our older students, and stronger shapes and number recognition for the younger students. It also allowed our students more one on one time with the teachers, which lead to strong learning and academic skills.
- New Classroom: Gym and Learn was able to expand into the Summer of 2021, and now has two classrooms! This amazing addition allows for more students to enjoy the program and for our students to be able to have a classroom focused on the learning for their age group. Our classrooms are now divided by 2-3.5 and 3.5-PreK. The younger classroom (Blue Room) is able to focus on shapes, colors, letter recognition, and age appropriate art activities while our older classroom (Green Room) focuses on letter and number writing, basic math, and older activities for their students. The students are loving the new space and the age appropriate activities in both rooms.
This year, full of challenges, was an absolute blast! The students, staff, and parents stepped up and allowed us to have an amazing year. I cannot thank everyone involved enough, this year has been one of growth, grace, and grit but I would not change one second of it. Way to go!
Kirsten Conrad
Gym and Learn Director and Head Teacher
