I had three goals for myself this school year, besides the usual things I wanted to accomplish. They are
1. replace chairs with stability balls
2. get a class pet
3. hatch chicken eggs in class I know these may be strange goals to some, but they are mine.

This post is about the stability balls. Last year was my first year teaching Kindergarten. When searching various sites for different strategies I came across articles about teachers that had done this. I was intrigue by this concept and started to search specifically for others who had replaced their chairs for stability balls. It didn't take me long to realize that I too wanted to do this. I got permission from my principal and then began my own study. I asked my PE teacher if I could borrow a stability ball and then let my class at the time try it out. I started with my most energetic student and went from there. This small scale experiment went well and students were eager to use the ball when it was their turn.

The next step I had to make was figuring out how to pay for the balls. There are school supply companies that sell class sets, but they are expensive. I started looking for grants to help with this cost but after months of looking couldn't find anything. I'm not saying they aren't out there, I just couldn't find one. After praying about the idea came to ask friends, family, and church members if they would be willing to donate some money to fund this very unusual project. I found that I could purchase used stability balls from amazon for around $10. Since prices are so high, that's the cost of a fast food meal. I emailed everyone I knew and within a couple of weeks I had all the balls I needed for my class!

On the first day of school I had chairs ready for the students, because I wanted to have "ball orientation" with them. We talked about what kinds of ways we needed to sit and other things we needed to do to take care of our new "chairs". I had looked at a particular blog and liked the rules she used and decided I would try these to start. I posted the rules and drew pictures as cues. We have now been in school for a month and I LOVE how these balls have impacted my classroom!

There is tons of research as to why it is good to use them, so look for yourself. I'll update mid-year as to how things are going. Below are pictures of my class using these balls.

Special thanks to all those who made this possible!!!!!