Help me give my students 15 more ball chairs: twelve 17 inch Flex-Space Balance Ball Seat, and three 22 inch; Flex-Space Ball Seats. This will outfit my classroom for my larger and smaller students.
I have 220 Kindergarten, first, and second grade students come through my science room everyday. We investigate weather, water, seasons, light, sound and more. We pack a lot of learning and activity in a small space. My challenge is getting them all comfortable with explaining their reasoning.
My young scientists are eager to learn and full of questions.
They have short attention spans and a variety of learning styles. They learn best when the material is presented repeatedly in multiple formats: music, video clips, having different books read to them (both fiction and non-fiction), worksheets, and physically acting out concepts when possible. When we studied migration and hibernation: I read four books over the five days. We watched two video clips, acted out bears and frogs hibernating, and then acted out whales, geese, and reindeer migrating. We finished with a sorting worksheet so they could show me that they knew which animals used those different strategies.
My second graders have more lab activities and writing built into their curriculum, getting them ready for third grade science. They focus more on sharing ideas, predicting what will happen in their labs, and cooperative learning.
My Project
Last year, I wrote a DonorsChoose.org project for 6 exercise balls to use as seats for my classroom. This was enough for each of my tables to have one, which rotated around the table so students got to use them once every 6 days, and two extra to use for students who really need to use them daily to help them concentrate on classwork. Those students were more involved in class and had higher test scores. All the students love using the balls as chairs! So I wrote another project asking for ten more so that half of my students could have ball seats. My students are able to use them every other day and are disappointed when it is not their turn.
I am requesting fifteen more balls so that all of my students will have the ball seats to use daily.
All students will be able to use them every day. The Flex-Space Ball Seats have five small feet to keep them from rolling away which is a concern in the classroom. My students sit still for much of their day, these chairs allow them to move while still concentrating on their learning.
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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. Mackey and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
