With Support and Collaboration- Action Based Learning reaches Burlington, VT
Vergennes Union Elementary School Featured in Education Week
This School Keeps Kids Moving All Day. See How it Works
- Education Week, Jaclyn Borowski
A short drive outside Burlington, Vt., sits Vergennes Union Elementary School. Aside from the building itself, little else in the school is sitting.
In this K-5 school, movement is everywhere. Dancing and stretch breaks in classrooms. Movement activities in hallways and out in the school forest. And a program that combines movement with learning while reinforcing literacy and math skills in the gym.
Through the support and collaboration of educators throughout the building, and the school’s longtime physical education teacher Robyn Newton, students are staying physically active as a regular part of their day.
Here, Newton and her colleagues explain how it works, and why movement is an integral part of the learning process in Vergennes.
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Meet Robyn Newton, PE Educator and fellow ABL Champion
Robyn Newton marks her 28th year teaching K-6 physical education at Vergennes Union Elementary in Vergennes, Vermont. Newton is passionate about teaching new skills, creating unique opportunities for play and emphasizing movement as key to helping students physically, mentally and socially. Her priority is building a better community for her students to be active, providing lessons that build trust, respect and confidence.
Newton secured a $900,000 Carol M. White Physical Education Program Grant for new equipment, programming and opportunities for her district. She started Kindergarten Action-Based Learning, a research-based motor development program linking physical activity and increased academic performance, and a two-week whole-school interdisciplinary Olympic unit.
Newton was Addison Northwest School District’s 2001 Elementary Teacher of the Year and the 2010 Society of Health and Physical Educators of Vermont’s Elementary PE Teacher of the Year. A member of the Vergennes Parks and Recreation Committee, she led a $300,000 project to renovate the community’s ice rink and basketball facility.
A native of Fairlee, Vermont, Newton graduated from the University of Vermont with a Bachelor of Science in physical education. She received the Outstanding Student in Physical Education Award and played softball, earning the player of the year award. She has a master’s degree in education and a Certificate of Advanced Graduate Study from Southern New Hampshire University. Newton coached the St. Michael’s College softball team for 18 years and was named the 2004 Northeast-10 Conference coach of the year.
Contact:
Action Based Learning
ablacademy@kidsfit.com
