Teacher creates chalk walks for students
TEXARKANA, Ark. — For one local PE teacher used to getting her students to move around, stay-athome time for her and local youngsters hasn’t stopped them from getting physical and staying fit.
Cecily Butler, physical education teacher at Genoa Central Elementary School, has been making “chalk walks” for neighborhood kids and her students so they can remain active while practicing social distancing at the same time.
She got the idea when she was sick and recuperating in bed before the coronavirus hit. She’d been working on alternative methods of instruction out of necessity, putting learning activities online for students.
“When you’re an activities teacher, it’s a little different and what we do is a whole lot different, so I had to be creative with how I wanted to do that,” Butler said. While getting better, she began planning the chalk walk.
“I made up like five different courses, sent my daughter to get me some chalk and started. The first day or two we had a few kids, then a few more. Then I got the word out. I started posting it on social media and on my elementary PE Facebook page,” Butler said.
Living in Texarkana, she’s seen how kids are cooped up inside with their parents going a bit crazy with them inside. She lives on a quiet street without through traffic, so a chalk walk was a good fit for the neighborhood.
“It’s just a nice little venture out,” Butler said. Parents started bringing their kids over to check it out.
She draws the chalk walks in front of her house. Each one has been different.
“I try to make sure that I include the stuff that’s important, like the locomotor motions, hopping and skipping and galloping, but I do it in a different way,” Butler said. “This course here has cloud hops … they hop from cloud to cloud. I have a penguin walk where you waddle like a penguin.”
The favorite? The T-Rex stomps. Kids have moonwalked. (Parents know about that.)
“It’s safe. We can keep spacing, social distancing. And the kids just have a blast doing it,” Butler said. And it’s not just kids who have fun, although about 20 Genoa Central students have come out to try it out.
“I have a neighbor who’s 79 years old, and he has done every one of my chalk walks like a champ,” Butler said. “It’s been fun because I love kids. Getting to watch them and hear them squeal and see them smile ….”
Having taught for 26 years, the former coach found a chance to slow down and teach elementary PE in recent years. She enjoys it. “It has been everything I dreamed it would be,” Butler said about working with kindergarten through 4th graders.
She posts videos with her chalk walks so kids can go home, copy the design and make their own. She’s also sent neighborhood scavenger hunts to her students.
“Whatever we can do to get out side and have fun and get rid of some of that energy, and get to be kids and not worry about the stuff that’s going on in the world,” Butler said. “Because when they’re doing the chalk walk, the last thing they’re worrying about is the coronavirus.”