My students are a group of curious and independent learners who have opted to attend a school of International World Studies or IB. My students are a diverse group of boys and girls with equally diverse personalities, interests, abilities and socioeconomic statuses, yet we have built a classroom culture on kindness, respect, open-mindedness and belonging.
What I love about my class is they work as a community.
It doesn’t take much to trigger their curiosity and because of that they often team up to create action projects or turn their questions into research and an inquiry project. For example, a beginning of the year team building activity which tasked them with making the tallest tower out of spaghetti, marshmallows and tape in 20 minutes, brought peals of laughter and intense planning. In the end, it didn’t matter who had the tallest tower, the others wanted to know how they had built it.
My Project
The learning styles and learning behaviors in my class community are as diverse as my students. Flexible seating offers students choice. Choice to choose a seating option that works best for their engagement. It empowers my fourth graders to reflect and to choose what is best for them.
I have provided some-but limited choice-of flexible seating with carpet space, beach chairs and lap desks.
The addition of the bouncy balls would enhance and provide choice for my students who benefit from movement, and the comfy floor seats with the low table would begin to transform my classroom into the model of flexible seating I envision.
Being that my students are often involved in the inquiry process and discussions; I want my room to invite my students to move in order to collaborate and to engage in learning in their own space.
Flexible seating provides many benefits to the students: 1) It makes them feel empowered and have some degree of control over their environment and physical space. 2) Children need to move. Movement has been shown to increase oxygen flow to the brain and actually improves on alertness. 3) Flexible seating prepares students for "real world" situations. For example, collaboration. This type of seating allows students to move quickly into pairs or small groups without moving desks. 4) An enjoyable environment leads to more student participation.
I have implemented a few flexible seating options (like choice of seat and carpet areas) and already I have witnessed a difference. Students claim the room and space as ours, not as individual places. They are more engaged and prone to working in groups and pairs.
LA689 - Flex-Space Collaborative Floor Work Space Bundle
• Lakeshore Learning Materials
$436.01
1
$436.01
Gaiam Kids Stay-N-Play Children's Balance Ball - Flexible School Chair, Active Classroom Desk Seating with Stay-Put Stability Legs, Includes Air Pump, Blue, 52cm
• Amazon Business
$15.98
4
$63.92
Materials cost
$499.93
Vendor shipping charges
FREE
Sales tax
$0.00
3rd party payment processing fee
$7.50
Fulfillment labor & materials
$30.00
Total project cost
$537.43
Suggested donation to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
$94.84
Total project goal
$632.27
How we calculate what's needed
Total project goal
$632.27
9 Donors
-$494.04
Donations toward project cost
-$431.18
Donations to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
-$62.86
match offer
-$125.00
Match offer toward project cost
-$106.25
Match offer to help DonorsChoose reach more classrooms
DonorsChoose is the most trusted classroom funding site for teachers.
As a teacher-founded nonprofit, we're trusted by thousands of teachers and supporters across the country. This classroom request for funding was created by Mrs. Lehan and reviewed by the DonorsChoose team.
