Many students tend to fidget while they’re studying, so Mandi Fletcher found a way to incorporate movement into focused learning at Mills River Elementary.
… And it’s far from the annoying tap-tap-tap of a pencil on a desk.
An interventionist at the school, Fletcher received a $500 grant from the Lions Club of Mills River to purchase stability balls, wiggle discs, latex resistance bands, resistance putty and other materials that students who tend to fidget during class can sit on or hold in their hands while listening, writing, reading and performing other classroom activities. In addition to those students she teaches, Fletcher said other classrooms will be able to utilize the materials.
The ability to move actually helps her students focus, she said, and the adaptive equipment is designed not to be distracting.
In addition to the 12 stability balls, seven wiggle discs, 50 yards of Thera-Band, 10 tubs of Theraputty and 24 figits, Fletcher purchased materials to make five weighted lap pads, three weighted blankets and several sensory bottles for calming aids.