Flexible seating is a great way to add student choice into your classroom and to help your students find their best learning spot. However, a true flexible seating classroom can be quite chaotic if you don't first work to establish the rules that go along with the seating choices. The best way to do this is to add the Flexible Seating Rules into your beginning of the year procedures.
There are five main rules that I always recommend including on your flexible seating rules list. These rules are the most important to establish a safe and respectful environment. If you would like to simply print a flexible seating rules poster for your classroom, I have a set of three designs in my TpT store.
Choose a working spot that helps you do your best.
If a spot is not working, move to a better spot.
Use each seat the right way and clean up your space.
Walk to your seat and do not argue with others.
The teacher can move anyone at any time.
The other flexible seating rules posters included in my classroom are do's and don'ts posters for each flexible seating option that we have. I highly recommend not making these prior to the school year but rather having your students help you to create it. In my classroom, during the first week of school, my students and I would choose one seat and then I would let the students come up with the ways that you should use that seat and ways you should not. Students love getting to create the rules themselves and are more likely to follow them. We do one flexible seating option at a time until we have created a poster for each seating type. These posters are then hung around the room so that the students have a visual reminder throughout the year.
Laying out the rules at the beginning of the year is a great way to establish the correct use of flexible seating. Flexible seating is very beneficial but only if it is used correctly. These rules will help lead to a successful and safe classroom environment.
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