Mindful Breaks: Engaging Minds with Wobble Stools and Puzzles
Teacher: Janie Pennington
School: Pioneer Park Elementary
Amount: $342.51
Category:
The LPSF Grant provided my classroom the opportunity to work on puzzle with friends or alone with the use of a wobble stool. My students sometimes struggle with anxiety, social skills, and even decompressing. I have 2 tables in my classroom that students have the availability to come in and work on a puzzle quietly alone or with a few peers. Many of my students do not have puzzles at their home or have not been exposed to any. I now have students that will attend to their classwork and then ask for some “puzzle time”. The wobble chairs add that extra sensory piece that make working on the puzzle(s) a relaxing and calming task. I have a variety of puzzles to expose my students to and a majority of them are educational and create conversations about the topic or images. There’s a bit of a competition with the intermediate grades on who finished one first. I’ve even had students that are not mine ask to come in and work on the puzzles, staff as well. I enjoy seeing kids who do not really know each other start to talk or cooperatively work on one together.
Thank you so much, Lawton Public School Foundation, for the opportunity to purchase the puzzles and stools and witness “mindful breaks” that help children get a tiny break from the rigor of the general education classroom. “It’s always the small pieces that make the big picture.” -Randy Frazier