MORRILTON, Ark. — At first glance it looks like your everyday Pre-K classroom, but the theory behind these activities paints a much bigger picture for Morrilton Primary School students. Principal Sharon Wilson says "we are so excited about the growth we’ve seen in children in just the four months we’ve been involved in this, and it’s been tremendous.”
The South Conway County School District has adopted the “fueling brains model" for students here at Morrilton Primary School. Wilson adds “we focus on brain capacity for executive functioning dealing with inhibition control, cognitive flexibility, and working memory. The two classes are separated into rooms: Right-brain and Left-brain.
The right brain room features brighter lights with a noisier environment while the left-brain room features a dimmer and quiet environment. “The left-brain classroom is Montessori, and the right-brain classroom is Reggio Emilia. We look at a lot of different activities to help those skills into the children.”
Superintendent Shawn Halbrook says the district made the decision to go all in with the fueling brains model. “Through a consortium agreement through our education cooperative we were able to get the cost down for this first year below $100,000. It was still a significant investment for our school, but the return on investment is going to be much greater later.”
The program serves over 140 students in the community with 7 classrooms. 3 pairs of left brain, 3 right brain, and one hybrid.
“It’s a paradigm shift compared to what they used to have to do and the growth of how they’ve embraced it. It’s helping our kids grow and that helps our entire community grow.”