The Walking Classroom

Walk, Listen, and Learn

Supporting the Whole Child

The Walking Classroom helps support the whole child approach to education, and kids are thriving!

ASCD (the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development) developed five Whole Child Tenets—healthy, safe, engaged, supported, and challenged, which when followed can lead to students who:

  • Become engaged in school
  • Act in accord with school goals and values
  • Develop social skills and understanding
  • Contribute to the school and community
  • Achieve academically

How can The Walking Classroom help?

Students Must Be HEALTHY

healthy student

The Walking Classroom gets kids out of their seats and taking brisk 20-minute walks while listening to fun, educational podcasts that align with the curriculum.

Each podcast also features a different health message to build the student’s health literacy and encourage healthy habits.

Students Must Be SAFE

safe student

Kids can listen and understand 2-3 grade levels higher than their reading levels.

Because of this, participation in The Walking Classroom helps build self confidence by helping underachieving students perform at grade level and feel just as a smart as their higher achieving classmates.

In addition to better academic performance, this self confidence often translates into better behavior, less depression, and less bullying.

Students Must Be ENGAGED

engaged student

The Walking Classroom gets kids excited about learning, which increases their engagement and participation in post-walk activities. On Walking Classroom days, many teachers report 100% attendance!

94% of teachers surveyed said their students are more engaged in classroom discussions after using The Walking Classroom.

Students Must Be SUPPORTED

strong student

Each Walking Classroom podcast features a different character value woven throughout the narrative to help strengthen students’ social and emotional learning.

Learning about and discussing traits such a loyalty, respect, patience, and perseverance can help teach kids to better manage their own emotions, build and maintain positive relationships, and demonstrate better decision making.

Students Must Be CHALLENGED

challenged student

Challenges come in many forms. For some it may be academic, for others physical.

Many teachers using The Walking Classroom have shared stories of students who simply couldn’t initially keep up on walks for an entire podcast, but as time went on their stamina improved. By the end of the school year they had met the challenge and could proudly lead the pack for walks.

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