You KNOW how it feels to sit in a chair at a meeting for hours on end. You KNOW how you fidget and doodle and talk to your neighbor and text and check emails... Now, consider being 6-years old, and trying to focus on the teacher all day while sitting in a rock-hard chair! Most students simply can't!
Many of my first grade students are eager to learn, excited to share their thinking, and want to participate in class lessons.
However, the conventional classroom setting provides rock-hard, tiny blue chairs that don't allow for the natural wiggly-squiggly body of a 6-year old child. When I provide alternative seating, such as a pillow, a ball, or a Kore-stool, the validation and acceptance of their need for movement while learning helps to keep them engaged for longer periods of time. They need to move in order to learn! In my class, students use a stand-up table, a ball, pillows, bouncy bands, or the Kore-stool during those instructional times when they must sit in their chairs. This has proven very effective in keeping their attention and improving student participation.
My Project
The Kore-stool is one of many types of seating arrangements I utilize in my class. Students learn that, although some movement is OK, self-control while using the seating "tool" is also very important. They are validated for their need for movement, then expected to learn how to control that need in a positive way. Rather than demanding students to sit still and learn, I encourage them to move, but with a positive twist! I like the Kore-stool for the improved posture, core strength, and balance practice it provides.
I can't wait to get my students in these chairs!
If I could, I'd have a class set of them! Just imagine the difference between walking into a conventional first-grade classroom, where students are sitting in their solid chairs, backs stiff, hunched over their table, compared to a room in which students are sitting in chairs, on balls, on pillows, or on Kore-chairs. We don't all learn the same way, nor do we listen the same way! Help me help students appreciate each others' learning diversity!
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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. Dann and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
