My students need durable, flexible seating options that are comfortable and safe to sit and wiggle on while they collaborate in their best individualized learning environment.
In total, our elementary school houses grades pre-k through sixth with a total of around 350 willing learners who come to school ready to learn no matter their interest, abilities, aptitudes, and learning styles. A little over 50% of those students come from low income families making it challenging for all students to come to school with the resources they need. Our district is constantly striving to improve to ensure that we are providing our students with experiences that will prepare them to be productive students and citizens throughout their lives.
I have the privilege of teaching amazing, high-energy third graders in a school focused on student achievement.
Specifically, I teach third grade and it is important for me to always make sure they are provided with every opportunity and every resource they need to be able to learn, work, and grow as students. My classroom is the home of 40 eager learners. Their abilities range from students with disabilities to students identified as gifted learners. I teach the subject areas of language arts, and social studies.
My Project
My students have a huge range of learning needs and abilities. I teach students in a full inclusion room with about half of the students on individualized behavior and/or education plans. Many of these students accommodations include "frequent breaks" and "frequent movement." With that said, it is imperative that I create an environment that allows all of my students to be successful, including making sure I provide them with these accommodations.
By having wobble and stadium seats, my students will be comfortable and able to "move" while learning which meets their accommodation needs.
Wobble and stadium seats allow students to move without getting up which is amazing as it will not distract the rest of my students' learning. I obtained five exercise balls last school year to see how flexible seating would work and if the students really benefited from having the opportunity to move about in their seating. The students all begged to be the select few that could sit on the balls during every lesson and it truly did allow them to "move" without distracting others. In particular, during collaborative reading groups, they benefited from seating that provided movement while they learned.
I am a teacher who thinks learning is supposed to be fun! I believe that when students are comfortable and able to wiggle, they are more engaged and motivated.
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