Stabilizing our Futures

Funded Feb 8, 2016

Thank you so much for your generous donations! It was so exciting when the materials arrived, but a little daunting when I thought of having to air up all 24 of the exercise balls. at first I asked the PE teachers if they had an air pump I could use, but then it dawned on me that the students would be way more interested in taking care of them if they helped air them up. I aired up one ball and had it at a squirmy students desk the next morning. Up to this point the students had no idea that these balls were even coming. When my first period walked in they were all questioning why only one student got to sit on a ball. I let them know they too could sit on the ball if they wanted to come in at lunch and air one up. The entire class volunteered. It was amazing! At lunch that day I had about a dozen or so students who actually came in to help. I'd like to paint a really clear picture. These are middle schoolers so the term "balls" is of course very funny to them therefore every time they said the word while airing them up caused a round of giggles. Add to that the fact that we were using hand pumps, which of course was a very interesting hand motion, that the boys especially thought was even funnier. The kids had a great time getting the "balls" ready to go.

We have now had the balls in our classroom for almost a month and the students are doing amazing. For the most part they are done giggling over the word "balls" and we simply refer to them as our seats. A handful of students have opted to sit in a chair instead although I did make them go at least a week with the new seat. For those who said they were uncomfortable, I wanted to them to determine if they were uncomfortable with a new situation or truly physically uncomfortable. I have noticed a difference in the focus and attention span of some of the students who really needed the help. They seem to be able to concentrate a little bit more as well as a little bit longer. I also notice that most students are not up and out of their seats near as much as they used to be. This alone make a world of difference in the amount of learning taking place.

Recently the occupational therapist came by my room just to tell me that she had heard about my new seats and was so impressed and so grateful that I was doing this for students. I have also had other teachers tell me that they read recently about the link between movement and math scores. Your generous donations are being recognized on my campus and I could not have done this without your support. Thank you so much!”

With gratitude,

Mrs. Wiersema