Children are required to sit in hard resin chairs for 4-5 hours a day at school, I can only last 30 minutes. Stability balls offer students a chance to bounce, wiggle, and move while in their seats. For those with ADD, ADHD or other issues these balls allow them to stay focused in class.
We are a proud little school of 350 students.
We may not be the highest school in the district, but we are a hard working school. What we lack in test scores we make up for in growth and determination.
Our students are hard workers who stay positive and enjoy working. We try to make our school a fun and safe place for students to learn in. Some of our teachers have taught parents, aunts, uncles, and siblings of many of our students, we do not have a large transient rate.
We have many different languages and cultures represented here, and try to acknowledge and celebrate all.
We are a neighborhood school and are continuously building parent and community relationships with our Community Council, PTA and parent volunteers in the classrooms.
My Project
My students will be using the stability balls instead of regular chairs as their seats in the classroom. Last year I used exercise balls, stools and floor cushions for seating and saw an improvement in student engagement,. When students are comfortable in their seats they pay more attention. The balls allow students to bounce, move and wiggle while in their seats so we are not losing instruction time nor are students out of their seats bothering others.
The way that my room is set up now with three different seating choices students sit at tables, not desks. We have limited places to store our things. If the entire class had stability balls we would be able to use our desks again. Then students would have places to keep their items in their desks.
I will be able to use the balls year after year so that other students would benefit from the experience.
My students are not used to be given things for their school.
This would let them know that there are people out there who care about them and about their education.
When they see that their education is important to others it will become more important to them.
They will be thankful for the new balls. We only have six in our classroom right now and they are everyone's favorite seat. Also having enough balls will allow us to go back to desks and store our belongings.
More than half of students from low‑income households
Data about students' economic need comes from the National Center for Education Statistics, via our partners at MDR Education. Learn more
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