It took several weeks to phase them in. I originally saw another teacher's blog who had her stability balls on frisbees. So, frisbees were generously donated. I tried mine out for a few days first while I waited for the rest of them to be shipped. (I wanted to be sure I experienced all of the challenges I would face with the balls first hand.) I'm not afraid to admit my ball slipped off the frisbee when I sat down on it during the first two days! We can't kids slipping off their balls and frisbees getting hurt. We also can't have balls just rolling around. So, I thought students could just put their ball of the frisbee once they stood up to move around. However, that just takes too much time. (I am a stickler for keeping transition time to a minimum.)
I gave the problem to my students, and one came back and said, "Did you ever think of putting sand in them?" Genius idea! I did some research and realized that many balls are even sold with 2 lbs. of sand. It made perfect sense to me... so I funneled 2 lbs. of sand in 20 balls! Time consuming...yes, but TOTALLY worth it! When we are leaving for the day, the balls will even sit on top of tables without rolling off, all because the sand weighs them down.
Once our problem was solved and all the balls came in, I introduced out stability ball contract to the students. With clear guidelines, students have been very successful! I have only had to take three... and each of those was within the first day the student received their ball. I introduced 3 a day to the class. I also use ClassDojo, so the students with the most points received their ball first. This worked great because those students were perfect candidates for modeling correct use of the stability ball before others received theirs.
It has been fun and enlightening watching the students on their balls. Some things my intern and I have noticed:
1. Students who are more athletic bounce higher. (Even though they are only supposed to make small movements that don't distract people, their "small bounce" is higher.)
2. When students are not directly engaged, they bounce higher (Examples of times students aren't directly engaged: a student is sharing at the end of workshop, or I am fiddling with my technology pulling up materials or fixing something, another adult walks into the room and needs my attention and interrupts a minilesson)
The balls are supposed to help with students' attention. Instead of using that energy to distract others, pick at things, or doodle, their small movements and balancing on the ball helps keep their focus. Only, when they aren't engaged, their movements get bigger! It definitely clues you in to how many are engaged during a lesson. It also helps build core strength, along with a long list of other benefits. Even though I have been very nervous, (because with anything new there are challenges) I LOVE THEM!