Flexible Seating in the classroom – Assisting Student Success Part 1
Flexible seating and assisting students success in the classroom is something that I wanted to do, but it was something that I kept going back and forth on. Did I want to get rid of the safety net of my simple chairs and tables that my students knew how to use? Should I replace that with a whole new idea that, lets face it, could end up with my students running around not knowing what to do as if they were chickens with their heads cut off?
Well, I bit the bullet. I decided to start flexible seating.
Is flexible seating an easy thing to start? Nope. It wasn’t. But it totally could have been if I knew what to expect and set it up properly to begin with. Just like with everything else, my students really needed a lot of modelling and needed to start very slow.
Flexible seating is a classroom seating arrangement that allows students or the teacher to choose a place in your classroom that will help them be successful in competing their classroom work or given tasks and activities.
Here is a picture of my classroom very early on in my flexible seating adventure…
Oh, the choices. There are so many choices in flexible seating that I certainly won’t be able to cover them all, but I hope that I can at least give you a good jumping off point.
When it comes to choosing your flexible seating options, the first thing that you need to consider is the space in your classroom. You could purchase the best of the best flexible seating that all the other teachers have, but realistically you may not have space for all of those choices.
Here are some of the things that you can purchase to use as flexible seating options and accessories in your classroom:
Seating Options
-Yoga Ball Chairs
– Yoga Mats
– Placemats
– Hokki Stools
– Rocking Chairs
– Stools
– Small Carpets
– Scoop Seats
– Crate Seats
– Pillows
– Bean Bags
– Laundry Baskets
– Exercise Disks
Here is a list of accessories that may be helpful in your flexible seating
– Lap Tables to use on the floor
– Clipboards for floor use
– Community supplies or pencil cases
– Work bins (since you may not have desk space to store your student work)
– Work cubby – Instead of individual work bins.
