Flexible seating is a new alternative to traditional seating in an elementary classroom. Have you been wondering whether to jump on the bandwagon and give it a try? Well I'm here to tell you I've tried it out for a few years ago and I liked it. But I did learn a few things along the way, so here are some tips to help you decide if flexible seating is right for you.
1. What is flexible seating?
Flexible seating is an alternative approach to seating in the traditional classroom. It basically means that your students have different options when it comes to seating.
No more conventional rows of desks or even tables. Flexible seating gives students the opportunity to station themselves in a place where they work the best.
Maybe that's sitting with a group of people or maybe it's sitting alone. Some students will want a traditional desk while others will enjoy sitting on the floor or a wobble stool. That's the thing about flexible seating – sometimes referred to as alternative seating – it's ever-changing.
2. Is flexible seating expensive?
Not at all! You don't have to go out and spend a ton of money buying all new seating and tables for your classroom! I implemented flexible seating for the first time a few years ago and I spent very little money to do it.
Sure, you can buy wobble stools and make crate chairs and buy yoga balls if you want to, but you'd be surprised how many things you already have in your classroom and home that you can use for flexible seating. When I made the decision to try flexible seating I knew I didn't want to break the bank to do it.
So, I did what every other teacher does – I started looking through my stash. If you're an elementary teacher you probably have one too. We never throw anything away!
I discovered two little red stools, an old red table that could seat two students, dragged a couple of desks out of the storage room, and hit up garage sales. A friend gave me an adorable purple table. I cut down the legs and voila! It was the perfect table for floor seating.
In total, I probably spent about $40 (2 yoga balls from Five Below, 4 cushions, a chair, and tiny table from a garage sale).
3. How do I introduce flexible seating?
First grade students need a “home base” on the first day of school. I wanted to explain how flexible seating worked and not have chaos from day one!
I made name tags and laid them around on different tables in the classroom for the first day. That was the only day my kids had assigned seats for the rest of the year.
What To Do First
After everyone had arrived, we met on the carpet and I set my expectations for flexible seating right away. I explained to them that they'd be able to choose a different seat each day and that everyone would get a chance to sit at the cool yoga balls, stools, and tiny tables. I told them if they didn't get the seat they wanted, it was ok because they'd have another chance.
Normally, I make all my anchor charts with my students, but this time I decided that I'd make the rules for flexible seating. I wanted them to know that, although they had choices every day, I was ultimately the one in control. They knew that if they made poor choices~ the teacher had the right to move anyone at any time for any reason.
We also had a pocket chart with all the flexible seating options. In the morning, each student would place their name next to the seating option that they chose for the day.
At the end of the day, we met together on the carpet to discuss where each child sat. I asked questions like “Did you like your seat today? Was it a good place for you to learn? Did it help you pay better attention or not?”
The students completed this simple reflection log at the end of each day for about a week. They thought about their choice and if it was the best spot for them.
Each day the kids would choose a new place to sit until they had tried out all the seats. After about a week, we stopped meeting and discussing it. They just simply came in and chose a seat for the day.
4. Did the students fight over where to sit?
Nope, they really didn't. I told them that they must choose a new seat every day until they had tried out all the different options. They could not go back to the yoga balls day after day. (You KNOW they were going to try to do that!)
Some days they would sit with several friends, some days they would sit with one friend, and some days they would be sitting alone. As the year progressed, kids sat with different people every day. They made friends with everyone in the classroom.
Sitting with different kids each day really kept the “cliques” from forming and for the most part, everyone got along very well.
5. Some kids sat alone? Didn't they feel punished or isolated?
I wanted to offer lots of different options when I decided to go with flexible seating. My firsties needed to have the option to sit in a group, with a friend, or alone.
I wondered how kids would feel about sitting alone. Would they feel sad or isolated? In the past, usually, only kids who had misbehaved had to sit alone, so would they feel punished sitting by themselves?
I soon found out that many children preferred to sit by themselves! My students trickle into the classroom, in the morning, for about 30 minutes. They don't all come in at the same time. I was surprised to see students actually choosing to sit at one of the tables by themselves when they walked in. Not all students, but many.
The kids picked different spots every day. Often the yoga balls or cool stools would be available….and yet students would choose a desk or table alone. I guess we all need our space now and then, right?
6. What kind of seating did you have?
My idea of flexible seating wasn't only “wobble stools, yoga balls, crate seats, carpet squares, etc”. In my mind, I wanted the kids to have OPTIONS of where they would sit.
My students needed to have some kind of base every day that had a table of some sort. I really didn't want them sprawled out all over the floor. I knew my control issues wouldn't be happy with that (although there were many times that they did do projects on the floor).
What To Keep And What To Toss
My solution was to get rid of three large tables in my room and a bunch of chairs. In replace of that I had several single desks with normal chairs, two tables of four with both chairs and stools, a low table for sitting on the floor, a couple of tables for two with yoga balls and regular chairs, a small table for one on its own carpet for sitting on the floor.
Everyone had a spot every day with a table. But, they also had the option of moving to the carpet and using a clipboard, sitting in lots of other spots (bean bag chairs, child size couch and comfy chairs) for independent reading and other work.
7. Where do students keep their supplies?
This was a dilemma for me at first. I was used to my firsties having seat sacks on the back of their chairs to hold all their books, etc. I also used to have totes on the top of the tables with their scissors, glue, crayons, etc.
None of that was going to work with flexible seating so I changed it up! (I had to learn to be flexible too!) We used a small shelf to hold all of their books, notebooks, interactive notebooks, etc.
I had the students use plastic supply boxes to store their personal supplies like crayons, pencils, scissors, etc. Every night we stacked the supply boxes on a small shelf and they would pick them up when they came in the next morning and take it to their new seat for the day. It worked great for us!
8. What did the parents think about flexible seating?
I honestly never had one parent complain or say much of anything. We have Meet The Teacher night before school begins and so everyone had a chance to see the room. This is when I explained to parents how flexible seating would work in our classroom.
I also gave each parent a letter that explained how flexible seating would work. Everyone seemed to think it was pretty cool, and that was the end of it.
If you don't have some kind of meet and greet before school, I would suggest sending home a letter to parents explaining what you will be doing, the rules, etc.
9. What did the administration and other teachers think about flexible seating?
They all thought I was CRAZY!! LOL. Well, sort of. I was the only teacher in my building who had implemented flexible seating, so it was new to everyone.
I had a lot of teachers coming to my room at the beginning of the year to check out the setup and seriously thought I had lost my mind. But, they were also intrigued. They basically said, “You be the guinea pig and let us know how it works out…then maybe I'll try it.”
As the year progressed, I had nothing but good things to say about it and some others added some wobble stools and yoga balls to their classrooms. Since implementing flexible seating in my classroom, several other teachers have jumped on board and are using it in their rooms too!
10. I'm still not sure….convince me!
Believe me when I tell you this was not an easy decision for me! First of all, taking those tables out of my room and putting them in storage gave me heart palpitations! I put big signs on them that said “Property of Room 12 – DO NOT TAKE!”
If your school is anything like mine….once a piece of furniture leaves your room, you KNOW somebody is going to snatch it up. I thought “Oh my gosh…what if I hate this and my tables are gone???” But I took a leap of faith and went for it. And I'm so glad it did.
What I Learned
My kiddos that needed to move around (you know the ones that you are always telling to sit down and stop wiggling???) picked the perfect spot for them. A place where they could move and not be a distraction to the class.
My quiet students who liked to have some alone time were able to find that in our classroom this year. My firsties made LOTS of friends….not just the few who sat beside them at the same table every day.
We learned how to wait our turn and be cooperative with each other. The students learned that it was ok if we had to wait another day to sit on the yoga ball because another friend was waiting for them at a table for two.
We learned how to be responsible for our own materials and how to put things away on the correct shelf so we could find them the next day.
In all, it has been a great experience. I'm excited to hit up the garage sales again this summer to see what other great seating options I may find! So why not give it a chance? What do you have to lose….other than maybe a table or two??
Are you ready to get started with flexible seating yourself? This start up kit has everything you need to get you started today. This bundle includes a choice board to help your students pick their seats for the day, a parent letter to explain the exciting news about flexible seating to families, a rules chart, a student log to keep track of their choices and a reflection log.
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It's sad to note that teachers like wants to do some initiatives and put new ideas like this in the classroom but I just can't because the average number of pupils in our class is 42 and regurar classroom size is approx 6x6m. With only 1 teacher with 7 subjects all academics from 7:30-11 & 1:00-4:00 actual contact with kids…. only in kinder that has play & nap time. May I know the standard size of your class & classroom please in your country?
Class size and classroom size differ all over the United States. I can tell you that the average class size in my district is around 16-18 students. I'm not sure of the size of my classroom, but it is rather large as you can see from the photos. Plenty of room for flexible seating.
Hi Molly – Great article! I have used flexible seating in my kindergarten classroom and my district has asked me to present at our August K-1 conference. May I share the link to this post as a reference? I have my own classroom photos and experiences to share, but want to provide others as well. Thanks for your consideration! Jenni
Hi Jenni – Absolutely! I'm glad to hear that flexible seating is working for you 🙂 I'd love to have you share this article at your conference. Send me a PM to my email address….I have a little something you might like to use at your conference. firstieland@gmail.com
Hi,
I’ve used flexible seating for a couple of years and really like it. Our school has the kids eating in our classrooms for two seperate nutrition breaks. Do your kids eat in your classroom? If so, do they all eat at tables?
Nice article. I agree with everything you said. I am the only teacher in my school who does flexible seating. I'll never go back to rows of desks! I teach second grade and have a maximum of 24 students. I've had as little as 19, which was awesome, but usually have 22. Parents and teachers comment on how "open" my classroom looks. It's a bit like a Pinterest explosion, but who doesn't love that? I make sure I use a lot of calm colors, like blue, green and purple. No red! I'm fortunate to have a large room (30×30, I think) and really high celings (16ft) with high windows. I use every square inch and I don't have a desk. I used dressers and chests of drawers for my storage and find sturdy wood furniture on Craigslist for the classroom rather than sterile school desks. Hubby cuts legs down to make tables shorter. I teach lessons on the carpet in front of the whiteboard and TV and then send them off to pick their seats. I have a helper everyday who dismisses rows based upon "readiness" or "quietness." It's so funny how kids will listen and be ready for their peers so much faster than for the teacher. Getting ready to start my fifth year teaching and my third year with flexible seating. Have a great year!
Thanks for this article. I half do flexible seating which means all the kids have desks, there are wobble stools, yoga balls and regular chair choices which switch each week, but lots of floor choices for independent work time- scoop rockers, large pillows, core cushions, clip boards, lap desks. I plan to retire within 5 years and don't want to take the time and expense to totally redo the room. I love the idea, but my room isn't big and I get 25-31 (last year) kids and not enough storage spaces much less support from admin. They don't care if I do it on my own, but getting anything from them would not happen.
I'm a 2nd grade teacher who began flexible seating last fall and I look forward to continuing this coming year! My students get assigned a number (i.e. 1-22) and each day, groups of students, such as 1-4, have "priority seating" for the day. As students arrive, the priority seaters enter first, to determine their seat for morning work. The remaining students make their selections afterward. However, every time students come to the large carpet for whole group instruction, seats can be changed. After the whole group lesson ends, the "priority seating" group leaves the carpet first to determine their seat for the next period of time, before another whole group lesson comes again. This process occurs each day, based on the student priority seating grouping, so students are allowed the flexibility to work at different options, based on the work/task. I found this method very helpful for the students and it truly allowed them to work in an area that was best for their focus and learning, based on the task at hand.
Donna