A new trail at St. Kateri Catholic School may encourage children to stay in the classroom longer. The Grande Prairie school has installed a sensory pathway called the St. Kateri Indigenous Trail. Classroom Support Teacher and Creator Erin Coffin says the trail was designed to help children who have trouble paying attention.
“This trail is for all students. It’s for the kids who are fidgeting in their seats, who sometimes need movement breaks, children with autism, children with ADHD. We always make sure they have movement incorporated in throughout their day… We’re trying to engage their neuropathways to self regulate themselves.”
The pathway took six months to complete and was installed over the Christmas break. All the symbols were hand-drawn by Coffin with the help of the school’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit Liaison.
Students start at the beginning with a bear crawl along the paw prints. Then as they move along, they do wall push-ups, a poses, indigenous dance and take some time to self reflect before moving into wall sits, a spin and a seal crawl to the end.
Coffin says she hopes the path will cut down on the number of times students need to leave the classroom during the day by giving them exercises to do.
“I’m just hoping that I’m going to see an actual change in statistics of children getting up and leaving the classroom. I want them to be more fully engaged in the classroom and be taking less breaks… If they’re taking a break, instead of the one minute to come down and get a drink, they take that five minutes and have that break and then you probably won’t need one until the afternoon.”
The total cost of the pathway was around $1,500 and was funded by the Education Foundation, the school’s First Nations, Métis and Inuit Coordinator and the school’s principal.
