Allowed to fidget

So we were talking about ways to help children focus in Educational Psychology on Tuesday and there was a snippet about an elementary school from my district with stand up desks in the Schools and Society text.  I thought I would take some classroom observation pics to illustrate some of the things we were talking about.

Mrs. Cossalter's kindergarten classroom - notice the water bottles.  Mrs. Cossalter actually thinks that the water bottles are very distracting.  She allows them because the drinking fountain is broken and the kids need to stay hydrated.  They have rules about only drinking during work times and play times - otherwise they will leave the group time to go get water and distract the class.  The water bottles probably work differently in a classroom that has more lecture time.

This is Sammy's "wiggle seat."  Apparently he wiggled all of the air out of it.  By all accounts, this seat REALLY helps him focus.

This is Ms. Miller's 3rd grade classroom.  Last year Ms. Miller had an especially wiggly class - there were feet in the air, they were moving around, they could not sit still.  She got the balls from another teacher at the school who purchased them through a grant she was awarded.  Ms. Miller says there is a parent this year who thinks the balls distract her child, but Ms. Miller believes that the balls are incredibly effective.

In the reading for Schools and Society there's a little box on page 117 that says this:
"Unlike children at schools almost anywhere, students at Marine Elementary School in Minnesota do not have to sit still while learning.  Quite the contrary, they may stand and fidget all day long if they want.  And they do.  Students learn at stand-up desks that come with swinging footrests and adjustable stools, allowing them to switch between sitting and standing as their moods dictate.  The desks help give students the flexibility they need to expand energy and focus on their work rather than worrying about how to keep still.  Noted one student: 'Understanding poetry is easier when I can wiggle when I want to.'" (Sadker, Chapter 4)

Marine is a very small town about 15 minutes north of Stillwater - there are about 700 people living in Marine.  I think there are a lot of artists living in Marine.  I never heard about the stand up desks and when I talked to a close friend who went to Marine, she didn't remember being able to walk around freely or having standing desks.  On a side note, this year's homecoming queen is a graduate of Marine elementary - I'll have to ask her if she remembers the stand-up desks.

The Marine Elementary school webpage is: http://marine.stillwater.k12.mn.us/

The Marine school report card is here: http://education.state.mn.us/ReportCard/2010/RCF083401789.pdf

Some interesting facts from the Marine report card:

15.62 total staff members in the school, 8.41 are teachers, 6 of those teachers have their Masters (about half the teachers in Minnesota have their Master's - this small school has a higher percentage of that share)