Flexible Seating in K

My kindergarten students have a lot of energy and love to have the option of where they sit throughout the day! At any point, if you walk into my room you can find my class dispersed throughout the classroom on yoga mats, bungee chairs, scoop rockers, wiggle seats, on stools, in a tent or even in an empty pool! Flexible seating allows my students to succeed throughout the day, in a place that they choose for themselves! My students love to take ownership of their learning and love the fact that they get to move to a special spot in the classroom during reading and writing workshop, literacy and math centers, etc. We never sit still and are always looking for a fun way to complete our activities! All of this was made possible through my fully funded Donors Choose project! If you haven’t heard of or looked into Donors Choose, it is a great way to get things for your classroom without feeling like you need to spend more of your own money. If you are like me, you have probably spent hundreds of dollars of your own money to set up your classroom. Because of Donors Choose, I received $350 worth of items (for free) that I chose for flexible seating in my classroom! I have a couple tips for you if you are looking to start your own project. One tip is to not over shop. If your project does not get fully funded in a specific amount of time, you will not get any of your materials. In the summer I created a Donors Choose project that did not get fully funded because I had a lofty goal of $900. So, I did not receive any of the materials I chose. However, I did receive gift cards at the end of this project from family members and close friends that I then applied to my new project, Flexible Seating for the Active Kindergarten worth $350, and in no time my project was fully funded! Another tip is to advertise for your project! I felt really funny asking relatives and friends to help support my classroom so I just posted to Facebook and Twitter and donations were made without any begging from me. I also received 3 donations from donors whom I had never met who just stumbled across my page and liked my idea. When our first box arrived to the classroom, the kids were gathered around and so excited to see what was inside. A few kids jumped up and down when they saw the contents! They even said "we have the best classroom ever!" Since receiving the materials, my students have enjoyed yoga on indoor recess days, been more attentive and are more excited about reading, writing and math because they can pick their "just right" comfortable seating.

Flexible seating is great for any active classroom!

Guest Blogger,

Nicole O'Keefe

Kindergarten Teacher, Fairview Elementary