On Monday mornings each week we have a school wide assembly. During this time we pick one brain gym to model to all of our students. The brain gym Is modeled school wide for about a month. Once teachers and students feel comfortable using it then we use the brain gym in our classes.

At first the students just saw the activities as fun, but even some students are beginning to see the difference it's making. "It really gets me ready for my learning day!" as one student said.

The fifth grade teacher has some of his students use the balance boards while they are reading. Regularly, you can walk by his room and see 2-3 students reading while balancing.

Some teachers have seen such a tremendous difference in their students that they are using it every day for transition time. The first grade teacher, Kemsen Bourque has made Brain Gym part of her day. It's NOT an add-on, she sees it as a necessity.

She has two students who do Brain Gym activities frequently. throughout the day. One student who has formerly had trouble staying on task and/or being defiant has made huge gains with having Brain Gym® in his life. One day she was experiencing difficulty some activity. Having trouble all day she worked with some Brain Gym® exercises and began to notice shifts and she said that her fussing was a BIG mistake and will never not do it again.

Some of the older students are even able to identify the particular Brain Gym they need for a given activity.

During a first grade observation, I noticed a little student getting all fidgety. Without the teacher saying anything, the little student began to caress his ears 3x in an up and down motion. After doing that, he was able to sit up and continue on with the lesson.

We hope to learn more about Brain Gym so that we can continue to help our students learn and grow. We know that it is helping all of our students, but have seen some pretty strong individual evidence of just how important Brain Gym is for the success of these students.

Amazing program.

Jessika Sheldrick
Otisfield Community School