In my kindergarten classroom we don't have desks or tables. Instead, we use a wide variety of flexible seating like bean bags, donut seats, wiggle cushions, scoop chairs, fancy chairs and a picnic table. We love our seating, however, it makes doing work difficult sometimes since our students don't have assigned seats. Instead of using a school box that stays at their seats, we use carpet bags that we leave in our cubbies. When it's time to go to work, we just go get our bags!
Every kindergarten student is going to need a few supplies within reach at all times. To make this possible with our flexible seating I created carpet bags out of these Large Bright Totes Bags. These bags allow my students to have everything they need while working on the carpet or at their alternative seats.
For me, the most important element in their carpet bags are these Scribbles, Dots & Stripes Pencil Bags. This is where they keep their crayons, pencils, markers and any other tools they need. These pencil bags also prevent all their supplies from floating around in their carpet bags. One thing you might notice is that each student has three markers from the 16-Color Chubby Washable Marker Classpack and a golf pencil. It's so much easier to teach correct pencil grip when they have less room to hold a marker or pencil so the smaller markers and golf pencils are a must!
The next thing they have in their Carpet Bags are Rainbow Clipboards. If your students have a desk, they have a place to write at all times. Well, we don't have desks. We have chairs and the floor. We needed something so my students could actually write on their papers. These are perfect because they also hold their paper tight when they are cutting and gluing. It's a win-win!
My students do phonics then immediately turn around to do writing. At first I was having them take their phonics papers to their cubbies then come back to the floor. Well, that was an unnecessary transition so I decided to get these Classwork Pocket Folders. They work perfectly for my students to keep track of their work when we move onto the next lesson. The Classwork Pocket Folders also work well for those unfinished assignments that I want to come back to later, but don't want to get lost. I also have my students put their little paper books in the pocket folders as well.
I like to do a lot of hands-on math. Another reason I love these carpet bags is that they make it easy for my students to have all their math manipulatives at their fingertips. I love these Ten Frame Center Sets. They're perfect for my calendar time when we are working on number sense. Check out this article to learn more about how I Make Calendar Time Engaging. I love to add an assortment of Mini Erasers into my students' carpet bags to keep them engaged as well!
When I'm teaching and I have 22 carpet bags floating around, things can get kind of crazy. To keep all of the bags organized I created these bag labels so my students can easily find their bags. Download the editable bag labels for FREE here! All you have to do is type in your students' names, print and add the labels to their bags! I hope this article gives you some insight on managing supplies when using flexible seating!
