The Secrets of Flexible Seating in the Primary Classroom
After 10 years of constantly scrolling Pinterest boards of beautiful examples of classroom flexible seating I FINALLY made the leap with flexible seating in my own classroom! I had yet to take the plunge into flexible seating for multiple reasons. One of the main reasons was that I couldn’t wrap my brain around how to successfully manage it in a K-1 classroom. After some trial and error, I came up with systems that helped me to implement flexible seating in my classroom that I hope can help you if you’re looking to embark on the exciting flexible seating journey as well!
Secret #1: Flexible seating also requires a flexible teacher. I jumped into the flexible seating world with two feet and I had to pivot my plan multiple times throughout the year. My goal with starting flexible seating was to allow my students to choose their seat every day so that they could work in a place that helped them to focus and learn best. I quickly learned that my students didn’t care so much about WHAT helped them learn best, they mostly cared about WHO they got to learn next to. I had to be flexible and change my plan from allowing students to sit where they wanted every day (because honestly this just turned my classroom into social central with besties sitting next to each other all around the room). I ended up having a quick individual check in with each student and talked to them about each flexible seating option. I let them tell me 2-3 places they thought would work best for them to work and why. From those students check ins I created a seating chart. This allowed students to have a voice in where they sat, but I still had some control over who they sat next to. From there I began to implement Free Sit Friday where I do let students sit where they want and by who they want.
Secret #2: Use alllllllll the floor seating. My students love, love, love the floor seating options in my classroom. The top picked area to sit is at the carpet with the lap desks and floor rocking chairs. The second most picked seating choice is my floor table with yoga mats. Even though most adults might not choose a floor seat options, kids love the option to sit on the floor.
Secret #3: Set clear expectations. Before letting my students try out our new flexible seating choices I introduced each seating choice and went over its expectations very explicitly. I also had students sign a flexible seating contract where they agreed to follow our flexible seating expectations. By setting up expectations at the very beginning, my students knew exactly how to care for our new materials and how to use each item safely. If you’re looking to set clear expectations for flexible seating in your classroom check out this Flexible Seating Rules and Expectations product!
Secret #4: Don’t get yoga balls without feet unless you want to chase balls rolling around the room all day. This may be the best secret of all!
Now you are likely wondering how I was able to afford all of these wonderful seating options and let me tell you I spent $0 of my own money! I am a big believer in DonorsChoose and have now had 35 projects funded for my classroom over the past 10 years. This past school year the teachers at my school were contacted by DonorsChoose letting us know that a generous donor in our area wanted to fund projects at our school. All we had to do was each post a project for up to $1,200! This was when the lightbulb went on for me that I just had to make a project to create flexible seating in my classroom. If you are thinking of creating a DonorsChoose project to fund flexible seating in your classroom check out this post I made with tips for DonorsChoose.
-Ashley @ Little Learning Ladybugs
