Yoga Balls in the Classroom

Has your child mentioned the latest "crazy" thing that we've done?  I am sure the list is long of things that they could tell you about as far as "crazy things Mrs. Cantrell does" but our latest adventure has been our chair balls.  Last year I heard of classrooms replacing their standard chairs with yoga balls and I was intrigued.  So during the summer I did some research and knew that I wanted theses in our classroom. I wrote two projects through DonorsChoose in order to get a class set and the projects were fully funded in December!   Just last week we finally aired a few of them up so that we could all practice on them and I believe we might be ready to replace our chairs now! The kids are definitely excited, even after they learned that the balls weren't toys but had actual academic and physical fitness benefits.  

I have had a lot of people ask a lot of questions, most common is "Are you seriously putting a classroom full of 1st and 2nd graders on bouncy yoga balls during the class time?"  I have been happy to defend this choice, leaving the skeptics  intrigued and excited to see how it all works.  So before rumors start flying about "crazy Mrs Cantrell" let me tell you how this will help your child this year.  

• Increased blood flow, including blood flow to the brain which helps students academically
• Engaged bodies, engaged brains ---> leads to deeper learning
• Keeps students actively moving without walking around or disrupting classroom 
• The ball allows students to get the wiggles out, helping them to focus better 
• Better posture (students are excited to hear this will help them in sports)
• Better coordination
• Better handwriting due to posture and blood flow
• Strengthens stomach and back muscles

Already, with just practicing on the chair balls, I have noticed the students are excited and eager to have the opportunity to use them.  For some, it is a balancing act and their stomach and back muscles will improve with the consistent use.  I am eager to see the change in student engagement and increase in handwriting skills.  

If you have ANY questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to holler or leave a comment. I'd love to share my excitement for this opportunity! 

 

Another New Adventure

It seems like this school year is the year for new adventures in our classroom. We've began so many new explorations, stretched our minds in new ways, and definitely learned how to adapt to having a split classroom.  It has been a great adventure so far and I know the kiddos would agree.

This past week we added something new to our learning experiences.  Skype sessions.  Thanks to a project fulfillment via DonorsChoose.org, we were able to get the technology in our classroom that would allow for us to use Skype.  Once the kids learned what it was and how we would use it, they were excited!

 I wanted to use Skype to enhance some of the learning we were doing in our classroom, with science, social studies, and even math.  There are so many different ways to use Skype in the classroom.  We first Skyped with a class of 1st graders in Massachusetts that I had recently "met."  This classroom was also using the yoga balls and we used this Skype session as a way to learn more about the balls and see them in action. It was a HUGE HIT! The Massachusetts teacher, Ms Hewitt, and I have decided to use this opportunity to allow our classrooms to continue to connect with each other in order to learn about different communities, foster relationships with peers, and build upon the sense of a bigger world.

We used Skype on Tues to connect with Dr Don (my uncle) who taught us a little about how the brain sometimes plays tricks on us and modeled that with an optical illusion.  He also taught us about being a scientist; reminding the kids that being curious and inventive is a good thing and leads to a new or expanded learning.  He challenged the class to think of some questions for our next Skype session that we would like a deeper explanation of and he would do his best to help us out.

In the upcoming weeks we have 2 other Skype sessions tentatively scheduled as well.  We will be Skyping with a friend of mine in the Middle East who also donated to the DonorsChoose projects for the Skype materials and for the yoga balls. We will be using that time to say a personal thank you as well as expand on our current Social Studies unit on cultures and communities.   We also have a session scheduled with the author of the Howard B Wigglebottom books for a lesson on listening skills where she will be reading the book aloud, do a mini lesson, and then we'll get to have a Q&A time. A REAL LIFE AUTHOR!

I'm not sure I can possibly demonstrate their excitement with this latest adventure.  I, for one, am excited to use it as a way to move the walls and take our learning outside of Fremont, to the other side of town, outside of Springfield, past the boundaries of Missouri and broaden our cultural awareness, making our children greater stewards and hopefully more understanding members of our society.  I'm eager to see where the kiddos take us on this Skype adventure.  They have mentioned using it to call upon experts; experts in space exploration, experts on different careers, experts on animals.  Again...the sky's the limit with these kiddos and I'm continually amazed.

So stay tuned for more updates on our Skype sessions.

New DonorsChoose Project

Have you heard of DonorsChoose.org?   Check here for a short posting to see how DonorsChoose is affecting our classroom for the best.  I always try to make sure my students have the materials they need to succeed. So I've created a classroom project request at DonorsChoose.org, an award-winning charity.

I'm asking for donations of any size to help out our classroom. For the next week, any donation you make to my project will be doubled by Anonymous Donor (up to $100). If you know anyone who is passionate about education, please pass this along. Your donation will brighten my students' school year, and you'll get photos and thank yous from our class.

Here's our newest classroom request:

Putting Books in Their Hands

To have your donation matched dollar for dollar, enter the promo code CHEER on the payment screen. This awesome match offer lasts through November 17, 2013.

Feel free to copy/paste this info and share with your friends and family members.  The kids and I greatly appreciate your support

DonorsChoose.org

DonorsChoose.org is an AMAZING organization that allows classrooms to get much needed materials for the classroom by getting support from donors around the country.   Teachers are well known for spending their own money on classroom materials...too often the beginning of the year school supplies run out before the end of the year and need replenished.  Thanks to DonorsChoose.org, people around the city, state, and even country can make donations to the projects teachers have posted.   

I have been blessed to have had several projects fully funded with DonorsChoose.  Materials we've received just this year alone include whisper phones, self timers, stamps and ink pads, letter beads, decomposition viewer, worm farm (compost kid), and several science tools.   These materials are such a great addition to the wonderful things we are already doing in our classroom and really help enhance the learning that is happening.  

If you would like to make a donation to any of our projects or maybe you have a family member or friend that would like to help in our classroom, here is the link to our project page. 
http://www.donorschoose.org/kcantrell 

 We typically have 3-4 projects online, awaiting funding, especially as the year progresses and we discover more needs. 

Feel free to share the link with friends and family members!  

Exploring Dirt

This would be every little boy's dream...playing in dirt.  But yesterday in our classroom that's exactly what we did!   We didn't call it "playing" though - we explored!   Last week's homework assignment was to bring back a sample of soil from near your home. We used the 14 containers that were returned to do an exploration about soil to help lead us further into the study of our Earth.

Students got to use magnify glasses to really see the different components to soil and noticed that it's not just dirt.   They found roots, rocks, dead bugs, and grass!!

 We also used the soil to explore how soil is different every where you go.   Here is the whole collection of soils....notice the color and texture differences.

We discussed why that might be, especially since we all live in Springfield.   Some noticed the dark soil was clumpier and we figured out that that soil was more wet than the others.  Some soil was so dry it was just a pile of dust.

We will continue our study of soil and rocks and plants ... which will lead us deeper into the study of our Earth and how we can protect it.

Stay Tuned!

Mrs. Cantrell's Class
PS - Thanks to donors at DonorsChoose.org for fully funding one of our Science Projects that will help us "dig further" into this study of our Earth.