Tonya's Treats for Teachers: December 2016

WOW! I can't even believe I haven't blogged a single thing since this summer! Like many teachers, I felt super overwhelmed at the beginning of this year and poured all my focus into my classroom and students. Now that we are half way though the year, I have learned so much about my students, my classroom design and teaching practices. I am really excited to share so many things with you all in 2017!

One HUGE step I took this year was with Flexible Seating. If you follow me on Instagram, I am sure you have seen many pictures of my classroom. I did a lot of research this summer reading articles, applying for Donor's Choose grants, and going to GoodWill!

Kayla Delzer, of Top Dog Teaching, was my huge inspiration! Her article on Edutopia is a must read for anyone wanting to start flexible seating. I started pinning stuff on Pinterest and adding it to my Classroom Organization board.

After all this, I spoke with my principal and told her my plan. I asked her if I could get rid of desks and move my classroom toward flexible seating. My principal gave me the green light which was awesome! I went right into my classroom and got to work! I immediately started getting rid of desks. I can't believe it, but I ended up getting rid of 18 desks and found some tables no one was using!

All I could think about each day was my design and how I was going to make it work. I shopped a lot and tried to not spend every penny I had! After a few weeks, my classroom was perfect! I was super excited to share it with my students and their parents at meet the teacher.

The day had come for meet the teacher and my new students were super excited! The parents, on the other hand, had a lot of questions! "Where is their seat?" "Where do they keep their things?" "How does this work?" I made sure to answer each and every parent question and did my best to assure them that everything was going to be ok!

Over the first two weeks with the students we spent a lot of time on procedures, expectations, rules, and consequences. Together we moved furniture around to make sure it fit the needs of the classroom. This is one of the best things about flexible seating!

One of the biggest procedures I have is how to select a seat. To me, flexible seating is just that...flexible! My students do not select seats and stay in them the whole day, week, month of whatever time frame other teachers use. They pick a seat every time we move and do a lesson. Whenever I do a whole group lesson, students either sit on the rug in the front or the large rectangle table. When I move into small groups or partner activities they choose wherever they want to sit. For every time I do a whole group lesson we follow these same patterns. My students do not argue, fight, save seats or get mad if someone else is sitting where they want. With a lot of practice and setting expectations, this behavior was easy to set in place!

Taking a look:)

Since I took these pictures, I have moved a few things around! I also got one more Donor's Choose project funded and we will be getting 6 new chairs! I'll make sure to post another update soon!