E-"U"-phoria and e-X-ercise!

Along with my new larger classroom (that contains a window!!) I am getting some new furniture!  My ESL coordinator and facilitator put their heads together and surprised me with a new desk AND a U shaped table!   Thanks, ladies!

I know....why am I getting excited about a U shaped table???  Because they are great!  Unlike the usual school issue kidney table,  a U or horseshoe table has a deeper part for the teacher.  It's easier for the teacher to reach the students who are seated around the table.  I had one a couple of years ago at another school and missed it.   I had to look through some specialty catalogs for schools to find it, but I did.
 

Supposedly, my new table will be delivered by Tuesday at the latest!   Oh, "U" table...I love "U"!!

Now, if I could convince them to get a "flower" shaped table for Mrs. Pokey....

Or the really cool "amoeba" shaped tables she saw recently as a STEM school she visited!   When she came back from the STEM school visit, she kept talking about the "amoeba" tables they used with students sitting on exercise balls!  ( Boing, boing, boing!!!   I'm afraid my students would never stay in one place with exercise balls to sit on.  They would have great core strength and ab muscles, but it would drive me crazy!) 

Here's a link to an article about exercise balls as seats in elementary classrooms.  

Exercise balls in the classroom in the Chicago Tribune.

Hmmmmm.   I have some "squirrel-ly" students who might benefit from exercise balls, though. Perhaps Mrs. Pokey and I may have to look into writing a grant proposal this year for exercise balls so we can try them out.   Boing, boing, boing....