S.M.A.R.T. Newsletter - Oct. 2021 One S.M.A.R.T. Teacher

Mrs. Russell is our October One S.M.A.R.T. Teacher! When you visit her Teachers Pay Teachers store, notice how she starts the year with simple Creep Track cards and as the year goes, she increases the complexity, but continues to make sure they are review material. Her beginning of the year bundle has simple shapes, colors and letters.

While the Creep Track helps develop Gross Motor and Bilateral Coordination skills (see our Time Saving Tips for more information), it’s also a Vision Activity. When students watch their hands or look at the pictures or words in the Creep Track, they are working on saccadic eye movements - the precise jumps the eyes make as they move from one item to the next. We use this Learning Readiness Skill when we get to the end of a line of text while reading and our eyes jump to the next line, so we can continue. This activity also helps students connect their motor and vision systems.
 
By keeping the Creep Track cards review material, Mrs. Russell’s students don’t have to use their cortex to decode the information, but are able to stimulate their brainstem, making their saccadic eye movements instant and automatic.