In my first year teaching first grade, it became really clear to me that expecting children to spend the majority of the day sitting in a chair is setting them up to fail. Some kids work better standing; some kids really need to be far away from others in order to work, some kids need some sort of movement stimulation in order to focus on a task. So, this year I tried out flexible seating. 135 days into the year, I definitely would NOT go back to traditional assigned desk seating, although I do think that flexible seating comes with its own set of challenges, and that some students need more boundaries than others on their flexibilty. Options My school supplies trapezoid tables for students as well as one long rectangular table and one round table for guided reading (personally I strongly prefer kidney tables for this purpose, but I'm happy we have abundant resources). Currently we have two trapezoid tables at their maximum height which make a single standing table, two four trapezoid tables that are used in pairs as floor-level tables, and three trapezoid tables at sitting height that students use with chairs. We also have a single traditional desk with a chair, plus chairs at the two teacher tables. Finally there are six yoga mats (each one is half of a standard yoga mat) which students can use to stake out space on the floor. Routines Students start and end the day at their "sitio base" (base spot). In the morning they eat their breakfast there and do some morning work. Then we have morning meeting at the rug, after which students put their bag of independent reading books in their (assigned) reading spots--gotta get some movement in! Then students return to the rug for our reading mini-lesson, after which they read in that assigned spot. Flexible seats really come into play for reading stations: certain stations, like computers and choosing new books in the library, require you to be in a particular spot. But others, like reading to a partner, working on writing, and word work drawers, are open to choice. Students know to choose a spot where they can "work the whole time" without wanting to talk to anyone else. If they can't successfully do that, they know they will be required to move. We also use flexible seats during phonics time (we use Words Their Way in Spanish), though students have to sit with their phonics partner; I dismiss them by differentiated phonics group so that they can coordinate with their partner to find a good spot. For the rest of the day, each time I send students to do independent work, I remind them to think about where they can work successfully, then dismiss them a few at a time to choose a spot. It's definitely necessary to put a limit on how long students can spend choosing a spot (I usually count down from 5) and to remind them that they can't switch. Sometimes I stop by a group of friends that have chosen to sit together and ask who is going to make a better choice--then I praise whoever moves for making a mature choice that will help them grow their brains. At the end of the day, after students get their backpacks, they return to their sitios base and wait for their table to be called to get a snack and their take-home folders. Rollout At the beginning of the year I assigned students to particular spots using black placemats (we call them "espacitos" or "little spaces". I let students know that we would all be trying out different spots, and that they should think about what they liked and didn't like about each kind of workspace. They would have one assigned spot for the entire morning, and another for the entire afternoon. During the first week or two I rotated students around the room, giving everyone a chance to experience each of our seating options. After trying each of these out, we had a meeting where we discussed which options people liked most and why. We noticed that we had different preferences--and agreed that that's ok! We also talked about what can make it hard to work in a particular spot. Finally, we were ready to try choosing a spot. I emphasized how big a deal it was, and reminded them that if they had trouble making good choices themselves, I would make the choice for that day. In those first several days of choosing--and, let's be honest, on squirelly days throughout the year--it's necessary to spend some time reminding ourselves of how to choose a good spot, and to interactively model a few times how to choose one. When we come back from Spring Break, I'm planning to have another reflection session, when we can remind ourselves of what works and what doesn't Ultimately, flexible seating helps my students learn to self-monitor. It injects choice into much of the day. And it makes it much easier for me to deal with emergent issues, like separating a pair that had an argument at recess or encouraging a new collaboration.
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AuthorI'm Ms. Howland. I teach first grade in Spanish and English in a transitional bilingual model. Click any photo to learn more!
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