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Five Flexible Seating Benefits

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I’m here today to let you on in a little secret! Yep! A secret. I did flexible seating……..before it was cool before it was the “in” thing to do. How is that possible you ask? How is it possible that for at least 10 years I have done “flexible seating” without expensive room transformations and seating options and anchor charts? That’s because flexible seating isn’t or shouldn’t be about any of that. It is about helping students be comfortable at school and about helping them do their best. Even if that means lying on the floor or pacing the back of the room or bouncing up and down even during standardize testing the flexible seating benefits are worth it! Wait what? Let’s start at the beginning of the story.

In the Beginning

Ten years ago I was moved from my dream job of teaching kindergarten to teaching 4th grade (that is a whole other story for another time). I had a very special student that first year of teaching 4th grade. His name was Max (and he’s currently a senior in high school).  Max was a super smart kid but had trouble focusing. In fact, he had been diagnosed ADHD since first grade. Before school started in 4th grade his father decided to take him off of the meds that had helped him up to this point.  I was concerned about this but was determined to make the best of it for Max. It was a rowdy but brilliant bunch of kids and I remembered them from kindergarten. 
Max could NOT sit in a chair at a table it just wasn’t going to happen.  So he paced the back of my room while I taught. He stood up during tests (even state testing) the other students reported back to me when a substitute made him sit in a chair. It was in my plans that he didn’t have to. But he wasn’t even the only one. My rule was you’re allowed to sit where you work best. In Max’s case stand/pace. Max was definitely an extreme case but this was how it was for all my students. They often used clipboards and laid on the floor. Max and other students like him are why flexible seating is my preferred room arrangement.
Let me tell you that took my principal awhile to accept. See we had 14 desktop computers (yes it was the dark ages. So desks were kinda a must but I didn’t make them sit there. Especially during independent reading and work time.

The floor was a favorite choice they would flip their chairs over and lay on the backs. They loved it. This was 2009 yall.
I actually added crate seats about 2 years later in 2011. Still not revolutionary. GREAT storage!

Fast Forward to the Now
Flash Forward to 2017 When I started teaching 1st (yay littles again) I knew I wanted full-on Flexible Seating it was now “a THING” and I hadn’t done it other than clipboards and reading time when I taught Kindergarten so I knew I was going to have to set it up very carefully.
So I created a plan.
Plan for Implementing Flexible Seating
  1.  an anchor chart for the expectations I wanted to make the flexible seating expectations very clear
  2.  a sheet to rate each choice as we tried them all the first few days
  3.  a graph for rating our favorites
  4.  a system to allow students enough space to sit and work (the clear picture frames with the pictures and dots) flexible seating management is key!
It worked great! The students loved trying all of the different options. It does take some time to have students spend a day trying each option with older students you could shorten the amount of time to an hour or 20 minutes whatever especially if you know they have experience with flexible seating.

I added bouncy bands to the chairs at my guided reading table to add movement for that time. This was also where students who were struggling with following the expectations got to sit for a time. The proximity to the teacher helped and then they could be free to make a choice again.

The main flexible seating benefits that I have found are:
  1. student voice and choice
  2. classroom community
  3. classroom coziness
  4.  less talking
  5. less moving about the room

I know that those last two may be hard to believe but I took flexible seating away from my class one time for an entire week and by Wednesday I was ready to go back! They wouldn’t stay in their spots they kept shouting across the room! It was worse for me than them!

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  1. Pingback: Simple Classroom Anchor Charts - The Krafty Teacher
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I’m Tess.the owner of The Krafty Teacher!

I love creating K-2 literacy resources for busy teachers that are low-prep and engaging so that all students can learn to read.

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