When working with young, wiggly kindergarteners, flexible seating can be extremely helpful. Depending on how they feel throughout the day, offering alternative seating can help them focus and accomplish tasks at hand. Here are three reasons to use flexible or alternative seating in your classroom this year.
I am SO excited to talk about something fabulous that is going on in my room. I am sure you have heard about this buzz word that has been floating around education since about January. I am talking about flexible or alternative seating. I love using alternative seating, my kids love it just as much as I do. I have a lot of different seating options in my room.
As I am teaching I keep coming back to two fabulous teachers I know. How they made learning fun and memorable for her students. When I was a kid, every year we were in rows of desks. In Middle School I had a fabulous Pre AP English teacher, who rocked the boat. We had couches and we had recliners. I remember going into her class every day and it was different. I was allowed to pick where I sat. It was something new every day, I had the freedom to choose where I sat and who I sat with. I knew that I needed to sit someplace quiet and sure didn't need to sit by my best friend. I could make the decision of what was best for me to learn. My first year teaching my mom offered me her bathtub. That sounds crazy but I sat there and cried. This is a picture of me on the first day of Kindergarten, and me now. The bathtub is something that I hear all the time about from my mom's former students. How much they LOVED reading in the bathtub and how they loved the different places to read. That also gave me another reason to move to alternative seating.
So based off these two wonderful teachers I took the plunge. As I am 6 years in these are the reasons I continue flexible seating.
Reason 1: Giving Them Ownership of Their Learning
Alternative seating gives my students choice and ownership of where they sit. Think about your day. How would you feel if you walked into your classroom and you were told you could only sit at your desk? After a little while it would get old real fast. Well our kids feel the same way. They don't want to sit at the same table with the same kids every day. So alternative seating just makes sense! It allows your students to make the choice.
Reason 2: Meeting Their Needs
When I was little, I literally could not sit still! With flexible seating we can differentiate our seating. The kiddos that need to move and groove, they can stand at a standing desk. The kiddos that need it to be super quiet, can sit in a corner where it is quiet. The kiddos that are social butterflies, they can sit in groups of kids so they can talk quietly while they work. The kiddos who need structure, they can sit at a desk and work by themselves.
Reason 3: FUN
Let's be real. Imagine that you are 5 years old, how COOL would it be to sit on a dinosaur when you are working. How NEAT would it be to be able to read in a bathtub? With flexible seating one day they might lay on their belly with a clipboard, and the next day they might sit on the couch. It can change, and they love it. It isn't the same every day!
I hope this helps you make the jump into flexible seating!
