Students Have a Ball

教室裡有球
Sitting on exercise balls brings more than a smile to students and teachers 看看这些学生在教室里＂坐＂什么－答案可不是椅子喔！
by Ruth Devlin

Sitting on a chair all day in school can make anyone want to move around. So, more and more teachers are letting students have a ball. By replacing chairs with exercise balls, teachers find students’ posture and attention improve.
Dottie Pownall, a fifth-grade teacher in West Virginia, has been using balls as chairs since December 2008. “The students love them,” she says. Pownall took a survey of her students. She found that 80 percent thought sitting on the balls helped them focus better.

Former teacher Lisa Witt felt so strongly about the use of balls as chairs she started Wittfitt. This company encourages the use of balls. In addition, the company educates not only teachers but also students on how to use them. "We have clients in 24 states, three provinces in Canada, Puerto Rico and Japan," says Witt. "Research show that sitting on the balls promotes sitting up straighter. You can slouch on a ball, " says Witt, "but it feels awful." Because the students are moving, their blood flow increases. That carries more oxygen to the brain, so the kids have more energy and can focus longer. "Furthermore, they're fun." says Pownall.

More Information
About the WittFitt stability ball, one kindergarten teacher said, " I absolutely love ball chairs in my classroom. I tried them because I had an "active" class that couldn't sit still in their reqular chairs. I wish I would have tried them sooner, it has been very effective and my class has responded beautifully. I am seeing more independence and responsibility, therefore more teacher sanity!

Grammar
Former teacher Lisa Witt felt so strongly about the use of balls as chairs, she started Wittfitt.
strong-to feel strong,Jake always felt strong after exercising in the gym.( physically)
feel strongly about -not refer to physically,
to feel strongly about-believe in the importance or value of something.
Former teacher Lisa Witt firmly believed in the use of balls as chairs, so she started Wittfitt.
They feel strongly about protecting the environment.
Miranda feels strongly about finishing school before getting married.
to feel strongly against-强烈反对
Richard feels strongly against racial discrimination.
Jack feel strongly against animal abuse.

Vocabulary
oxygen (n)- People get oxygen from the air they breathe.
furthermore (adv)-I can't finish my work tonight. Furthermore, I can't finish it tomorrow, either.而已 *The car is not big enough for four of us, and furthermore, it's too expensive.
*I don't know what Bobby said about me. Furthermore, I don't really care.
students have a ball (idiom)-(1) have a lot of fun and having a great time in school.
(2) have a basketball of football.
replace-Henry got replaced when he became ill.
The company will replace all PCs with notebooks.
posture-体态，姿势
She needs to improve her posture if she wants to be a model. 。改善她的姿势
His bad posture made him uncomfortable.他的坏姿势
survey-ask a large amount of people to get opinion.
slouch-背靠着椅背坐，半躺半坐的。
furthermore-in addition, you say something first and "add" something more.

Chat Room
provinces (n)-省Canada has 10 provinces and 3 other area called territories地区,( Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Yukon three territories)
states -United States, U.S.A. has 50 states. Puerto Rico is USA's territories.
provincial (adj)-(1) anything having to do with provinces.(2) some thing or some one is narrow minded. 省的，相关于首都，大都市而言。指地方而言。指地方的，或乡下的。