Flexible Seating

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The Why

As soon as I heard about flexible seating I knew I wanted to give it a try! I’m thrilled that you’re here and interested in improving your students’ learning via flexible seating! This has been a game-changer in my classroom and I can’t wait for it to transform your room too. It can be intimating and a bit overwhelming to consider, but you won’t regret it! 

Flexible seating is a choice provided to students that allows them to work around the room comfortably and focused. It provides students the environment they need to be their best. These seating arrangements can look wildly different from room to room, and the depth of implementation can too! Every year we have students who do their best when they can get their wiggles out, students who do their best standing, kneeling, or in a number of positions that only little bodies find comfy.

Students do their best when they are comfortable. Heck, I do my best work when I'm comfortable. A colleague of mine encouraged me to give it a try, and probably like many of you reading this I thought, "Where do I even begin?" Fears began to race through my mind. What if this doesn't work? Am I turning my room into a recess zone? How am I going to manage this?

Below, you will find an easy to navigate description of how I funded, introduced, and implemented flexible seating (and of course the results). I’m happy to say that while we had some good, bad, and ugly days in the beginning, it’s now an integral part of our learning!

*Choice*

The more choices students have the more they will feel invested and responsible for their learning. When I give my students choices I see greater engagement, more excitement, and a higher desire to learn. Their effort increases and there is a certain amount of pride that comes out in their work.

 

The What

*Seating Options & Purchasing*

Educators have an incredible amount of options available to them when implementing flexible seating. Below are a range of free, moderate, and higher priced flexible seating options.         

• Standing, kneeling, laying, sitting around the room 
• Ask local carpet companies to donate old carpet squares to your classroom
• Parents/community members can donate gently used children’s seats/pillows

• Clipboards
• Yoga Mats (I cut these in half! Kids love them, and they're easy to roll and store!) 
• Bouncy Bands 
• Chair Cushions 
• Lap Desks - Hobby Lobby
• Scoop Chairs 
• Stools - Ikea
• Stools 
• Sign Stands (I use these to display rules/expectations for flexible seating)
• Puzzle Floor Tiles (love these bright colors)
• Stability Discs with pump
• Adjustable Bed Risers (perfect for creating standing tables)
• Crazy Creek Chairs
• Stadium Chairs
• Balance Ball Chair
• Animal Pillow Chairs (I love these animal designs, you can also grab similar pillows in the College/Back to School sections of Target/Walmart)

• Wobble Stools 
• Bookshelf Reading Nook

Check out all of my favorite classroom resources here!

5 Below

If you're lucky enough to live near the "5 Below" stores then there are a ton of deals you can scoop up! Here are my favorite items from 5 Below:

• Exercise Balls 
• Yoga Mats (again, I cut these into smaller sections so more students can use them)
• Pillows - they have a lot of different options from long body pillows, pillow chairs, fun shapes (my kids loved a poop emoji pillow I found here), and little squares. 
• Rugs

 

The How

*Funding*

Our PTA gives us an allotment of money to spend on our classrooms each year. This year I used mine towards some of our seating! What the PTA didn’t cover I submitted a project on donor’s choose, and asked for parent/community donations.

Here are some options for funding your flexible seating!

5 Below has amazing and affordable tools for flexible seating.

ONLINE:

-Create a project to be funded via crowdsourcing. You can share these projects with family, friends, and social media networks in seconds.

-Donor’s Choose: www.donorschoose.org.
-GoFundMe: https://www.gofundme.com/
-Classwish: http://classwish.org/

-There are also online resources like Freecycle where you can pick up free items others in your area no longer want. It reminds me of a virtual curb pick up. You can see what people are offering to give away for free in your neighborhood.

AT SCHOOL:
-Describe your vision to the PTA and ask if they would be able to help cover any part of the cost.
-Ask parents/families to donate any gently used children’s chairs/rugs from home (we had 2 pillow chairs, a bean bag chair, mini table and a handful of rugs). You will be amazed at what furniture people are looking to give away. J

-Start a classroom fund, let parents and community members know your goal and ask them to donate towards your classroom.

COMMUNITY:
-Check out local garage or rummage sales.

-Look at donation centers such as Goodwill or the Salvation Army.
-Facebook Marketplace/Craigslist
-Late spring check out college areas as many students are getting rid of furniture they no longer need.

*Implementing*

The idea of flexible seating can be overwhelming at first, and that’s OKAY. You can start small, see how it goes, and add more options as you go. That’s what we’re currently doing! This approach allows me to see what’s working for my kids and what’s not. We make changes, improve, and keep moving forward.

Initially I shared the idea to students in class, wrote a note home to parents notifying them of the exciting change happening in our room, and asked for donations. 

You can grab that flexible seating parent letter for FREE near the end of this post. There is also a flexible seating contract included. 

During the time of collecting donations, donors choose project funding, and my personal shopping for items I prepared the students on what to expect when we began flexible seating.

When first introducing the idea of flexible seating to my students they became extremely excited, I could tell their little eyes were filling up with all sorts of off-task ideas. To keep this train from derailing we talked about being strategic in where they chose to work. We talked about what strategic meant and why that would be important. I listed the initial options they would be able to choose from (pillows, carpet squares, exercise balls, and standing). 

We then we brainstormed ideas of when you would choose to use an exercise ball (reading, word work, small group), when you would choose to stand (partner work, using manipulatives, centers), etc. For the first 2 weeks I walked around asking students why they choose their workspace. This held them responsible for choosing an appropriate seat for their task. At times students were thoughtful and deliberate in their choices, other times they responded with, “…because I wanted to do what –so-and-so- did.” (Remember:  This is a work in PROGRESS! It will not be perfect from the start.) Over time, we continued to discuss the expectations, the WHY behind flexible seating, and now they’re independently able to make strategic choices.

After reviewing our classroom rules for flexible seating students signed a contract. You can grab that for FREE as well. This contract helped students view this opportunity seriously and show that they understood it needs to be respected as much as our other classroom materials.

Our Class Rules

-I will choose a workspace where I can do my best.

-I will be a good classmate by making sure my body movements and workspace will not disrupt others' learning.

-I will respect the classroom materials.

What did not work:

I had tried using a student rotation schedule in the beginning but found that it wasn’t nearly as effective as students picking their seats. It took away choice and made more work for me in creating centers that matched those specific students with their specific seating options. As our options grew (as donations and funding became available) the schedule became too complicated and wasn’t benefiting the students enough to continue with it.

What did work:

To remedy the scheduling mess I got myself into, I now create engaging, fun, and meaningful daily 5 centers and I let the students take the responsibility for choosing the right work space. Thanks to many rounds of modeling, encouraging feedback, and student accountability they’re choosing appropriate strategic places, staying more focused than ever, and loving the choices. It’s less work for me and more choice for them. Win-Win. Sometimes I’ll even hear them asking each other why they chose their workspace. #happyteacherheart

What did not work:

After a few days, students would want to rush to the same spot/same resource and it became a competition of who would get what type of flexible seating. In no way was this the type of environment I was trying to create.

What did work:

We had a classroom discussion about why we are doing flexible seating. I reminded students that my number one goal when using flexible seating was for them to be relaxed and find the best workspace possible.  What works well one day may not work best the next. Subsequently, each day forward they had to choose a spot that was NEW to THEM. Each week we started over, but this prevented the same students from always having the same resources or spots. Students fell into the routine of choosing a new spot, quickly, quietly, and no arguing. As time has gone on I've added choice charts (see below) which have been a great visual addition that's helped immensely with the management of choosing spots. 

*Teaching*

Whole Group- As we still have our classroom desks, students sit at their desks or on our front carpet for whole group instruction. I love to have students turn and talk and this keeps them close for that.

This year I also have a friend who really needs to move around, stand up, etc. He recognized through flexible seating what works best for him so we moved his desk to the back and he is allowed to stand and move as needed to pay attention during whole group instruction.

Small-Group- When I teach small groups I pull them back to work at a table with me. We have exercise balls around the table that students use. While I meet with students for strategy groups the other students are working on their weekly centers. They are allowed to pick any work space as long as it follows our classroom rules.

*Level of Flexible Seating*

My classroom is not 100% flexible seating. We use our desks in combination with a fantastic amount of flexible seating options. It started off as a small endeavor to see what impact it would have on my students and has grown into a wonderful integral part of our workspace.

Someday down the road, we may move towards 100%, but for now, I love having the option of using our desks OR our flexible spaces around the room. The desks are a place to house their materials and aid their organization. State testing requires us to have students in rows of desks, another reason why we keep our desks.

There are some amazing teachers out there, like Angie from Lucky Little Learners, who did switch to 100% flexible seating. Check her post out here if you’re interested in that.

                                             The Results

• *Focus and productivity has skyrocketed.
• *Students enjoy the extra responsibility of choosing a strategic workspace and take their learning more seriously.
• *Students have a better understanding of what works best for them! I’ve even had parents say they’ve noticed their child picking new locations at home when reading or doing homework. 
• *Students are able to engage in tasks longer than when they were stuck sitting in their hard desk chair. 

Flexible seating contracts are an excellent way to hold students accountable and encourage them to uphold your classroom flexible seating rules. 

Letter & Contract Freebie!

Click HERE to grab my free parent

letter and student contract forms. 

Managing Flexible Seating - Choice Charts

        

Grab your own editable choice charts here! 

Other Ideas

I love seeing how other teachers use flexible seating in their rooms. This is where I'll be adding pics and ideas I see from other amazing teachers! 

To the right, Simply Kinder had the great idea of placing her exercise balls in crates. This helps keep them in one place, but allows students to move in their seats! 




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