Flexible Seating 2.0

My Life Update
It has been almost a year since my last post.  This is due to the fact that I started my doctorate program at the American College of Education in October of 2016, precisely when my last blog post occurred.  Life got busy!  I am currently taking 9.0 units (3 classes, Applied Statistics, Grant Writing, and Global Perspectives).  Never stop learning!

Flexible Seating Update:
My first year with flexible seating had its ups and downs.  Supplies were the biggest challenge.  Originally, most whole group instruction was done at the big rug in the front, and then for EVERY activity, students waited at the cubbies to gather materials, and then chose a new place to work.  Transitions took a while and I felt like valuable instructional time was lost throughout the day.  I stopped flexible seating in January and February due to my frustrations with materials and transitions.  The first half of the year, I never moved the desk arrangements (which my back appreciated!) since students were able to choose their seats so easily.  In January and February when I reverted to my comfort zone of assigned seating, I moved desks around weekly (more sore back!).  I tried table groups, larger table groups, rows all facing the front, etc, and was never fully satisfied with the classroom.  I had a student teacher at this time who asked about my flexible seating.  I decided to return to flexible seating in the spring, but knew changes had to be made.

Classroom Problem Solving 101
I presented the idea of returning to flexible seating to my first graders and they were excited.  I explained why I took it away (transitions and materials), and asked for solutions.  In the end, we turned desks back around so they could use the inside to store materials.  We tried choosing seats for the day and rotating each day.  We kept forgetting to rotate daily.  We finally decided that we could handle once a week.  We moved the classroom rug to the back, because students could not read the white board from desks when the rug took over the front half of the room.

Friday afternoons we cleaned and organized the insides of the desks.  If students were content with their current seating placement, their organized materials stayed inside their desk.  If students were sitting at the tables on the ground, materials stayed in the cubbies.  I shuffled the equity cards (each student had a name on one playing card) and pulled out one at a time.  That student had first choice.  They could choose to stay at their seat, or stand up and move to any open seat or one with someone's materials on top of their desk.  We did this until ever name was pulled.  We transitioned and got settled into new seats.  This was their place until the next Friday afternoon.  It worked!  I could still move students as needed, and if a child realized they did NOT choose their just right seat (distracted by the neighbor, couldn't see the board, etc), I let them move.  Remember, that I still had about 36 seating/standing options for 25 students.  This left some open spaces for wiggle room as needed.  Sometime, students were required to sit boy girl as they choose seats (to separate the clicks that were too social).  This worked, too.  No one argued over who got the yoga ball or wobble chair, because they knew they would eventually get their turn.

I just set up the flexible seating arrangement for the 2017-2018 class year.  I moved the low tables to the front and sides from the room.  I angled the side tables for a better view of the board (#1 complaint last year was not being able to read the white board or projector).  The rug in the back has the crate chairs and will be used for morning meetings, story time, independent or group work, and restorative circles.  Life is good!

Even more exciting... I bought my first GREEN SCREEN to use with my class!  I also bought my first robot!  The adorable DASH robot.  My goal is to fundraiser to purchase 6 robots for the classroom to be used with coding and STEAM.  This year is going to be epic!

The green screen will be used every Friday (my goal) to publish our amazing work!  My hope is that students can become new reporters and share good things happening at our school site with the school.  They can record each other, edit, and present mathematical concepts, vocabulary words, songs, and stories, commercials about themselves, video diaries, science and social studies projects, and so much more.  This can teach technology, problem solving, creativity, team work, listening and speaking skills, and such.


 Dash the robot (the things on its head allows it to connect to Legos!  Too cool!).  Dash walks, talks, dances, and more.  Students can use tablets to code the robot and can even program their own voice into the robot.

 Darci, a friend from training, is going to try out flexible seating this year.  She recommended wrapping pool noodles in duct tape in a circle to help stabilize them so they do not roll around.  Thank you, Darci!

 Last year I tried colorful dots that were cut from laminated construction paper.  Eventually the kids destroyed them and they were tossed.  This year contact paper is being used to teach the primary colors (red, yellow, and blue), and to brighten up the classroom.  Lots of empty wall space right now to be filled up by my student's work.

 

I learned the importance of community building and team bonding at a 3 day trauma training.  I bought a huge Jenga style block set at Walmart to help us problem solve and bond!  It will also be used for Makerspaces and STEAM challenges.

 My district adopted the new Wonders curriculum this school year.  My plan book is out, and I am ready to go!