Flexible Seating: Questions Answered!

I get many common questions from people when they hear I do flexible seating in my classroom.  I have posted a couple other times about flexible seating in my classroom (here and here) but I thought I would do one post that answers all the questions I get about flexible seating. 

Let me preface by saying I do not believe there is only one way to do flexible seating.  Also, I am in NO WAY perfect or an expert on this.  I find that many teachers are very interested in trying flexible seating but are nervous about doing so, so I am simply sharing my experiences and what works for me and my students in the hopes that it helps you implement successfully or inspires you to give it a try!

So here we go!

*Warning*  This will be a lengthy post as I try to answer all the questions!

How did you introduce flexible seating to your students?  Do you start from Day 1 or introduce one type of seating at a time?

In my classroom, I 'assign' students spots at first.  They would come in every day and their name would be on a different type of seating.  For example, little Lily comes in day 1 and her seat for the day is a crate seat.  Day 2, she is assigned to a Wobble Chair (which are amazing BTW!) for the day.  Day 3, she is assigned a stool, and so on until she has tried all seating options for a day.  Throughout these first days, we are having class meetings and discussions about the rules of and how to properly use these different types of seating.  We also talk about which seating they liked/didn't like, which would be best depending on what they are doing, etc.  For example, if you are reading a book, where would you be more comfortable?  How about if you are doing a cut/paste project?  Working in a group?  Which friends do you work well/not so well around?

I make sure to train my students VERY well on this, because with all things teaching, the better you lay down routines and procedures, the better the chance your students will be successful with it.

After each student has tried each type of seating and after I feel we have established rules and procedures well (roughly 1-2 weeks), I move into letting them choose their own seating.  They are SO excited for this that it goes well because they do not want to lose the privilege of choosing for themselves.  They take this responsibility very seriously.

Did you have any challenges with students choosing to sit next to their friends and getting distracted?

This piggybacks well with my answer to the last question.  No, I do not have many issues with this due to the fact that I took the time to set up my rules and procedures in the beginning and I stick firmly with them.  Students know that if they do not choose a spot that works well for themselves, then I will pick one for them---and they do NOT want that.  So while every once in awhile I will have to move a student, the majority of the time they do a great job of picking spots for themselves.

Do students sit in the same spot all day?

My students choose where they want to sit for each activity of the day.  When we switch to a different activity, they make pick a new spot.  So for math time, they may choose a crate seat next to their partner at a table.  Then when we go to reading time, they may prefer to sit alone on the carpet.

My only rule is they have to stay where they chose for the duration of the activity.  So if you chose a crate seat for math, that is where you stay until math time is finished.  This eliminates them constantly roaming the room as opposed to working.

I teach lower grades/upper grades.  Do you think flexible seating would work for students this age?

My kindergarteners can do it, so yes!  I think that flexible seating works (and is best practice) for students of any age as long as you set it up effectively in your classroom and give students the tools they need to be successful.

Where do students keep their supplies?

This was probably the toughest part of flexible seating for me because I have always been a community supply classroom.  We had table buckets and each table shared supplies which worked nicely.  Since I got rid of most tables (and students were no longer assigned to tables), that obviously had to change.

I went back to having individual student crayon boxes where they keep their crayons and pencils.  They keep them in their cubbies along with their reading journals, writing folders, etc.  This way they grab them and take them wherever they go and put them back in their cubby when finished.  I kept scissors, glue, markers still technically as community supplies.  They are in baskets on a shelf and when a student needs them they grab one.  

What types of seating options do you have?

At the moment, I have a rectangular table with 'regular chairs', a rectangular table that I removed the legs from and students sit on the floor at, a U table, an old re purposed coffee table I found in my garage, 4 stools, 6 crate seats, 3 Kore Wobble Chairs, 2 hexagon tables, and some pillows (I recommend ones with removable pillow cases so you can wash them!).  I also have shelves around the room that students like to stand at and work on top of, as well as a classroom set of clipboards that students can use when choosing a spot on the carpet to work on.  

Where did you buy everything that you use for flexible seating? 

I actually hardly bought anything....I already had a classroom set of clipboards (collected from the dollar store over the years) and some crate seats.  I took the legs off one of my existing tables and lowered it to where kids could sit on the floor at it.  I left one table as it was with regular chairs.  I then took an Ikea trip and bought a few inexpensive items.  

You can read in detail everything I did and purchased in this blog post.

Do your kids argue over seating?

It has happened (I do teach K after all!), but not often.  I eliminate part of this by calling groups of students at a time to choose their places.  I never just send off the entire class at once.  This would likely cause chaos, flexible seating or not.
 
Also, at the risk of sounding like a broken record, another thing that helps with this is are the rules and procedures.  Students know that if there is any arguing then neither of them will sit there, and I will choose their spot.  Again, they do NOT want this.

Lastly, over time this just becomes normal to them--it's just how things work in our classroom.  It is like when a kid gets a new toy--it tends to be amazing and their favorite for awhile, but after the newness wears off it is just like any other toy.  It also works like this for our seating.  No one type of seating is 'the best' to fight for anymore because they are used to it.

How did you introduce this to the parents?

I don't really 'introduce' it.  If parents ask about it I of course answer their questions but I do not make a big deal of pointing it out.  Again, it is just how our classroom runs.

All parent questions I have answered have been more out of interest and curiosity rather than interrogation, and I have had really good feedback from parents.  They love that I am trying something different that we feel is best for students.  Some parents have been amazed at the improvement in their child's focus and behavior at school.

What about procedures when you have a sub?

This has been one of the toughest parts.  Subs haven't necessarily seen or been in a flexible seating classroom so they are not sure how to manage it.  I have a typed up page in my sub folder that specifically explains our flexible seating procedures.  From there, I must trust my students to keep up the procedures while I am gone.  But we all know how that goes at times....;)  So I tell my sub that if there are any problems or he/she does not feel comfortable, then just go ahead and assign students seats for the day.  They can handle that until for a day or two until I get back.  :)

I have a small classroom.  Do you think I could still do flexible seating?

YES!  In fact, this is one of the main reasons I tried flexible seating myself!

I have a tiny classroom.  Between 4 rectangle tables, a U-table, and a carpet area, we were maxed out on space.  I'm talking like when kids were sitting at their chairs, they were knocking their chair into the person sitting at the table behind them.  There was no way to walk in between tables.  Also, only having 4 tables meant having 6 students at one table which was very crowded.  We were always on top of each other, which turned into a lot of bickering and arguing.

Switching to flexible seating actually gave us more space.  I removed 2 rectangle tables which opened up our room a lot.  We are also now using every nook and cranny of space in our room.  Students will find the craziest spots to work in!  We are now so spread out around the room which has eliminated so much of the bickering between the students.  They are no longer stuck squished between the same friends all day every day.  They now get to choose who to sit by and sit by many different people throughout the day.  It has worked wonders for our classroom community.

 

Which kinds of seating do your students like best?

This changes.  We got our Kore Wobble Chairs mid year this year and the students went crazy for them!  They allow them to wiggle around a bit while working.

I was most surprised by the fact that so many of my students love to stand while working.  They will just find a shelf to stand at and work on top of.

Other than that, I would have to say they choose all other seating options pretty evenly.  Your best bet is to have plenty of options for them to choose from!  

You teach kindergarten--what about their name tags?

We have just been keeping them in their cubbies with their crayon boxes.  When they need them, they go grab them.  I have seen some teachers taping them to the bottom of crayon boxes or having students keep them inside crayon boxes.  For me, just keeping them in their cubbies worked well.

What do your students think about flexible seating?

Again, this just becomes a norm in our room so they really don't find it revolutionary enough to talk about whole lot.  We do talk about what a big responsibility it is for them to be able to choose what is best for them, so they are proud of themselves about that.  They also love explaining to 'grown ups' and other teachers how it works in our classroom.

How do you do whole group instruction?

Most of my whole group instruction is done from the carpet area.  For these times, I do give assigned spots on the rug because I prefer to make sure my students are next to a good partner for when we do partner shares and talks.  It also denotes their own space so we are not super close or super far away from each other.  When we leave the carpet, they are free to go choose whatever spot they like to work.

         

I hope this answered all of your questions!!  Feel free to pin the image below to be able to refer back to this post.

To sum up--routines, routines, routines, procedures, procedures, procedures!  Again, I do not feel that there is any one right way to implement flexible seating.  But I do encourage you to try it!

The Power of Student Choice is an incredible thing and I urge you to take the leap!  If there are any other questions you still have I would be happy to answer them in the comments below.