Flexible Seating: 3 Days In

What a wonderful week it has been! There have been so many changes and new challenges for students and staff alike - and that's a wonderful thing. A change is as good a rest - but I am ready for an actual rest, too! Happy Friday!

I feel so warmly welcomed at MQW. The staff have been supportive and friendly and are helping me find my way in a new place with new procedures and rules. And the students - I can't tell you how kind, open, polite, and fun they are! I am so excited to get to know each of them this year. I am a very lucky teacher!

Thoughts on flexible seating so far... 

Flexible seating has gotten off to a great start in my room. My biggest challenge is definitely space - class sizes have gone up this year and it makes a big difference in my room because of it's strange shape. We are making it work, however, and I just finished moving around some furniture to give everyone a little more breathing room. It's amazing how much space 30 grade six students can fill! :)



I am moving very slow with implementation of the seating. Kindergarten has not yet been introduced to the seating  - we are just using the button mat for now. From grades 1-6 we begin every class on our tape "circle" - it used to be a square which was TOO small! So now we have a kidney bean-type oval and it works well. 


First, we go over the rules. I realize they are very "negative" sounding but I wanted them to get right to the point. The students have been very receptive to these rules and I have had no behavioral issues with seating so far.





Once we are seated in our circle, I use the class list to call students one at a time to pick a spot in the flexible seating area. We are rotating using a class list. I started with the very first name on my list - they had first choice that class. The next class they attended, I started with the second name on my list. The first name from the previous class is now at the bottom and is the very last person to choose. We will go through this way until everyone has had a chance to choose first. Once this is completed (I expect this may take until Christmas), I will re-evaluate how we pick seats.




Right now we are only using the flexible seating area when using the TeamBoard, whiteboard, or piano. Eventually, I want to be able to use the flexible seating all over the room for centers, group work, composition, worksheets, etc. For now, we are sticking to one area. Wish us luck!



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