From the outside, Melissa Irving's fourth-grade classroom at Belle Terre Elementary School looks like any other class.
But on the inside, things are a little different.
An experiment to find out how kids would like stand-up desks is underway. So far, so good.
Emma Kalcounos was the first student to try out a homemade prototype and has since moved on to a "real" stand-up desk.
"It's awesome," Kalcounos said. "And it makes me feel more alert and ready for the next task."
For a veteran teacher like Irving, that's music to her ears.
She's seen a marked change in her students ever since the desks made their debut this school year.
"My wigglers? Problem solved," Irving said. "They're standing. They can adjust themselves. They can stand if they need to. They can sit if they need to. It just gives us more options."
Those alternatives do help with children who, because of mental or physical limitations, may not be able to stand in class.
Irving likes the ease of breaking students into smaller groups by wheeling their desk around.
Meanwhile, students said they're feel more involved in class. Kalcounous is a walking, talking advertisement for the desks.
“When you're sitting down, you feel like tired because you're sitting and you're not, like up and like, paying attention. But when I'm standing, I feel like I'm paying attention and I'm not tired," Kalcounous said.
That's about as good an endorsement for school as you'll get from a fourth-grader.
District officials would like to expand these stand-up classrooms to other schools.
The desks cost approximately $500 each.