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Mrs. D. from is requesting supplies through DonorsChoose, the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.

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BrainGym: Pattern and Movement to Increase Brain Function I

My students need a megaphone, batteries, arrow markers, river stones, and spot jumping disks.

  • $570 goal

This project expired on July 23, 2010.

This project expired on July 23, 2010.

Classroom photo
Mrs. D.
Grades 3-5

My Students

If I only had a brain! While this is not Oz, new research in brain function shows that specific exercises help us to switch back on muscles and reflexes that make learning easy--we increase the two-sided and 3-D function of the brain we had when infants--when learning was easy and exponential.

My students in grades 3-5 attend a charter school whose goal is to teach not only core knowledge, but also assist parents to train them in character development.

We are in portable buildings and limited space but we are extremely flexible. But parents want what we offer. Because both parents work, I have seen the responsibilities required of these children--their lunches are a hodge-podge of snack foods, hair uncombed, and many discipline problems. Many of our students have the increased stress of a deployed parent or guardian. Many have fine motor skill issues, dyslexia, they struggle to write legibly, they are slow readers, they have eye tracking problems and poor memory. The eye tracking alone lends itself to transference issues--the simple task of copying from the board to the paper or reading a test question in a booklet and writing the answer on a separate piece. Brain gym is a "shine time" activity they choose. We offer it 4 times a week.

My Project

Can you hear me now? I shout to my groups. They are large and spread out across a wide area. The megaphone will help me communicate to the group. The arrows and river stones are for balance, following directions and teamwork. We do "lazy 8's" with our posters using our thumb and eye motions slow and easy to stretch the muscles in the eye socket. We do slow determined juggling to cross mid line of the body; we do cross-crawling, lock-ups using eye tracking. We use wobble boards made by a volunteer parent.(No place to store them yet.) The spot jumping disks are for stationary upper body movements and maintaining balance. If they "get off the mark" they know they did not do the exercise correctly. Balance, eye-tracking, coordination moves--like P.E. One side of the brain has become stronger than the other. The exercises are specific to pattern the brain to be more relaxed and integrated before a child has "switched off".

The activities of brain gym increase the neural connections between the hemispheres.

Research shows increased auditory comprehension, memory, listening skills, teamwork, writing effectively, staying on schedule, fine motor coordination. Crossing the mid line of the body with specific actions lights up parts of both sides of the brain. We can guide those slower learners and those that have undocumented learning needs by physically activating their circuit training in a brain gym! No more scarecrows!

35 students impacted
Mrs. D. Grades 3-5 35 students impacted

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Where Your Donation Goes

Where your donation goes
Materials Cost Quantity Total
Straight Arrow Markers • Nasco $9.85 1 $9.85
23-Watt Megaphone without Siren • Nasco $176.25 1 $176.25
Gonge River Stones • Nasco $54.85 2 $109.70
Spot Jumping • Nasco $87.50 1 $87.50
Size C Super Heavy-Duty Batteries • Nasco $7.25 1 $7.25

Materials cost

$390.55

Vendor shipping charges

 $39.06

Sales tax

 $25.00

3rd party payment processing fee

$5.86

Fulfillment labor & materials

$35.00

Total project cost

$495.47

Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms

$74.04

Total project goal

$569.51

Our team works hard to negotiate the best pricing and selections available.

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As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. D. and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.

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