This year has been a whirlwind! Successful... but has flown by!
I spent some time over President's Day weekend reflecting on successes with flexible seating this year. Here are my thoughts!
- I did a better job with training this year. I really spelled it out during the first month of school. I had conversations with children that I never thought I needed to have at this age, ie: "This is a chair. I know it looks like a ball, but it is actually a chair. " (Picks up a metal classroom chair.) "Would you throw THIS across the room? No? Then we also would not throw the exercise chair." But it paid off and I have many fewer behavior issues related to mis-use of the seating.
- Standing boards were a big hit! VERY popular at first while everyone tried them out. Now, I have a handful of kiddos that use them everyday.
- I had some awesome colleagues donate chairs to my room, so we also added 2 director's chairs and 2 folding chairs. These are VERY popular and I hope to add a few next year.
- Standing table is working out incredibly well with the bed raisers. I tried them on a single desk and this didn't work as well as the desk is much more easily moved and pushed over.
- I wasted too much time this summer trying to decorate and make my tables "look good". I covered them with contact paper and they looked good for about 1 week. By late September I was yanking it off because it looked gross. In retrospect, the tables are constantly covered in their work and materials anyway, so why do they even need decorations?! Duh, Kendy! Won't be making that mistake again.
- My room is NEVER neat, nor tidy. No matter how hard I try. I must learn to accept it for the wonderful, student-centered disaster it is!
Just a few take-aways from the year so far. I posted a few "faceless" pictures below. Once I get permissions, I want to start posting more of my room in action! Stay tuned!
I spent some time over President's Day weekend reflecting on successes with flexible seating this year. Here are my thoughts!
- I did a better job with training this year. I really spelled it out during the first month of school. I had conversations with children that I never thought I needed to have at this age, ie: "This is a chair. I know it looks like a ball, but it is actually a chair. " (Picks up a metal classroom chair.) "Would you throw THIS across the room? No? Then we also would not throw the exercise chair." But it paid off and I have many fewer behavior issues related to mis-use of the seating.
- Standing boards were a big hit! VERY popular at first while everyone tried them out. Now, I have a handful of kiddos that use them everyday.
- I had some awesome colleagues donate chairs to my room, so we also added 2 director's chairs and 2 folding chairs. These are VERY popular and I hope to add a few next year.
- Standing table is working out incredibly well with the bed raisers. I tried them on a single desk and this didn't work as well as the desk is much more easily moved and pushed over.
- I wasted too much time this summer trying to decorate and make my tables "look good". I covered them with contact paper and they looked good for about 1 week. By late September I was yanking it off because it looked gross. In retrospect, the tables are constantly covered in their work and materials anyway, so why do they even need decorations?! Duh, Kendy! Won't be making that mistake again.
- My room is NEVER neat, nor tidy. No matter how hard I try. I must learn to accept it for the wonderful, student-centered disaster it is!
Just a few take-aways from the year so far. I posted a few "faceless" pictures below. Once I get permissions, I want to start posting more of my room in action! Stay tuned!