Have you ever had to sit all day long on a hard plastic chair?? Our class has been sitting, swaying and bouncing our way through 4th grade. Those of us with attention difficulties find it so much easier to concentrate when we sit on a ball. Its good for our brains, our posture, attitude and waist. l
We love sitting on balls in our classroom.
Some of us are autistic, some have attention problems, some are day dreamers, but all of us are active 9 and 10 year olds. Sometimes we accidentally poke a ball with a pencil or pen, sometimes we leave things on the floor and our balls roll over them and get punctured. Our teacher has a repair kit and some of the balls have been repaired 6 or 7 times in the past 4 years. 5 of them have been repaired so many times that they are slow leaking around the patches. They have to be pumped up every morning, and 2 of them again at recess. Its really hard to go back to sitting on hard plastic chairs after we have spent our days on soft flexible balls.
My Project
Sitting on balls helps kids concentrate and is good for their minds and bodies. We have few discipline , attention and behavior problems in our classroom, yet we also have a high needs group. In the past 4 years we have noticed a difference in student attitude, behavior and achievement when the kids sit on balls instead of chairs. I originally purchased 25 balls, and am down to 22 and 5 of them desperately need to be replaced.
All of the research results I have read about yoga balls in the classroom mimic what I have seen in my own classroom.
Kids learn better when their bodies are active and engaged. Sitting on a ball does that for them. Their core muscles are constantly engaged, their parents report that they love school and love sitting on the balls. Please help us so we can continue to sit, sway and bounce our way through 4th grade.
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