Thanks to a new fund, students at Morley Elementary will be moving more.

The Move to Learn Fund was recently established to incorporate movement into classrooms at Morley. It will be used to purchase kinesthetic equipment like stand up desks and special chairs that allow for more movement, and cover costs for training teachers on movement in the classroom. 

The fund was established by a generous donation from Karen Ricker. Karen was a physical education teacher for 38 years at Morley, but often took her work beyond the PE classroom. She would regularly work with struggling students, using movement to achieve better academic results. Through these experiences, she gained a strong belief that movement is essential for children to be successful. She believes it isn’t realistic to require students to sit for long periods of time and expect them to stay attentive. With the trend of schools cutting back on P.E. classes and recess, she saw a need to provide opportunities for movement at other times during the day.

Karen’s hope for the fund is that students will benefit from equipment like stand up desks and other unique items. “This allows for the wiggle worms to move in a quiet manner,” she said. “Hopefully, they will be able to concentrate more on the teacher’s lesson than the urge to move.”

There have been numerous studies that support what Karen says. Research shows that movement can lead to significant improvement in cognitive skills like memory, attitude, academic behaviors, and academic achievement. 

Karen is excited to see the fund in action and is hoping for terrific results. Thanks to Karen, her legacy of helping students through movement will continue at Morley for years to come.