School Located Near Historic Site!
Most of the twenty eight classrooms at the Sporting Hill Elementary School in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania, have at least one ball chair. Some are manufactured by Newman Adaptive, maker of the AlertSeat™; others come from a competitor. But whatever they are called, teachers see great benefits in using them.
Said one kindergarten teacher, “Young children need to move…The ball seats help by allowing them to release energy while they are seated.”
In kindergarten and PreK settings AlertSeats can make a difference. At day’s end, they move easily to table tops for quick, easy classroom cleaning.
AlertSeats in five sizes are fully compatible with typical desks and tables, providing a satisfying, stable and comfortable seating alternative in any classroom.
A colleague added, “I have used it for students who need to have someplace to calm themselves when they are having a difficult day.”
The students described here are in regular classrooms at Sporting Hill, which is located in a suburban community just west of Harrisburg, the capital of Pennsylvania. With 630 students, it is one of seven elementary schools in a district that has seen a rapid transformation in recent decades from rural to suburban.
AlertSeat at Sporting Hill Elementary
In kindergarten and PreK settings AlertSeats can make a difference. At day’s end, they move easily to table tops for quick, easy classroom cleaning.
AlertSeats in five sizes are fully compatible with typical desks and tables, providing a satisfying, stable and comfortable seating alternative in any classroom.
The Sporting Hill Elementary School is named after a little known Civil War action known as the “Skirmish of Sporting Hill,” which happened on June 30, 1863, marking the northernmost engagement between Union and Confederate troops. The southern force had hoped to score a major blow to the North by capturing nearby Harrisburg, but withdrew to help reinforce Gen. Robert E. Lee’s main body of troops massing at Gettysburg, 30 miles to the south.
According to Dr. Anthony Parks, principal, the ball seats were the idea of a fifth grade teacher who saw exercise balls being used to good effect instead of conventional classroom chairs in another school. Based on that observation this teacher at Sporting Hill applied for a grant and the first ball seats were purchased, AlertSeatsTM among them.
Additional seats have been added thanks to a grant from a local company that supports the school with the money to buy needed items not in the school system’s budget.
“I found the seats extremely helpful for those students who experience a difficulty in sitting still in the classroom,” said a first grade teacher. “The seat allows my students to complete their work in a chair that supports their need for movement.”
One of the second grade teachers endorsed the use of the ball chair by saying, “For the ones it works for, it really works.”
While teachers at Sporting Hill are enthusiastic about ball chairs like the Alert Seat™, says Dr. Parks, “the kids love them.”
Learn more about the Sporting Hill Elementary School at their website.
