Flexible Seating: All of our Packages Came!

We are ready!

The packages came, tables lowered and expectations have been taught.  

On Wednesday, we started getting the deliveries from our Donors Choose project. The first items were the exercise balls. It took a while to get them all pumped up, but minutes after they were, students were asking for one and ready to try it out. 

I should have prepared for the exercise balls rolling all over when students stood up or walked away from them, but I didn't.  I came up with what I feel is a rather clever solution to that problem. I popped into Hobby Lobby and found the wreath forms. They work perfectly! Students can get up and grab supplies without the exercise ball rolling away.  

On Thursday, our stools and stability cushions came.  Both, like the exercise balls, are a hit! Students who are sitting in a chair or on the floor can take a stability cushion and bring it to where they are woking.  

Our journey with flexible seating was now off and running.  It was time for setting up the expectations (ground rules).  Thanks to an Instagram user I follow (@luckylittlelearners), I knew what expectations I wanted to set.  

1. Choose a working spot that allows you to do your best fifth grade work. 

2. Use seating options appropriately. 

3. If a spot isn't working for you, move so you can be successful. 

4. Mrs. Kangas has that right to move anyone at anytime. 

Friday morning, I decided to lower one of my front tables. This really sealed the deal for students that we were going for it! As soon as the first table was down, a swarm of 5th graders came over to try it out. 

They were excited and were ready to start working on the low surface.  There were so many students interested, I ended up lowering another table. Good thing I did! During our morning Writing time, students were drawn to the low tables and worked very well there. 

When students left on Friday, I stood at the front of my room and took in the current arrangement.  It would have worked - two low tables in the front and four tall tables in the back in two rows - but I felt like something was missing. I couldn't picture students really using flexible seating to it's full potential with the tables in rows. I wanted students to lay on the floor if interested, grab a big pillow and have space to spread out and work. The two rows of tables just didn't quite allow for that. I needed more space in the middle of the room and smaller working areas. So off I went and started moving things around.

 (Just for a reference, this is how things were set up before I re-arranged.  It worked well for traditional seating, but as you can see, not a lot of space to spread out. )

Here is what I ended up with! 

I like the different areas, how students have a lot of floor space to work, and that I can still easily see everyone. 

I will post again this week describing each area specifically and all of our flexible seating options. 

Cold Weather, Inquiry, and Flexible Seating...oh my!

We have been very busy the last three weeks of school.  After some reteaching of expectations and practicing our routines, we are back in the swing of things after break.  We are moving along smoothly despite a lot of indoor time due to extra chilly weather.  I am incorporating many movement breaks into our day to help increase or activity levels. We use gonoodle.com regularly and the 5th graders LOVE it! Check it out at home and create an account to help stay active during the winter months .

We wrapped up our Memoir unit by presenting our picture books.  I am in the process of scoring and returning them to students to bring home to show their families.

We have transitioned into our next reading/writing unit.  We are conducting a research project and using multiple sources to collect our information. This is my first experience using an inquiry model of teaching and it is starting off excellent.  Inquiry is a project based learning experience where student are exposed to a topic and then choose their research area.  For our projects, I have given students complete freedom in choosing their topic.  There were no boundaries at all.  This a little daunting for me, giving up a lot of control, but can already see how attached to their topics my students are. Below is information about Appleton Area School District's shared belief on Inquiry and what I referred to when implementing it.

I am beyond excited to see where our inquiry unit leads our research and end product.  Some students asked about doing extra work at home after school or on weekends - of course! Students are welcome to do any research outside of the school day, but it absolutely not necessary.  I will be giving more than enough time in class for students to complete all research and to work on/complete a final project.  If you are interested in helping your child even more outside of school for this project, using the public library as a resource is a great way to help students find materials and explore their topic.


Something else I am very excited about is a new project I'm working on. I have created a Donors Choose project and it was accepted! Donors Choose is an organization that help teachers receive donations for classroom improvement.  My project is focused on flexible seating and adding more seating to my classroom - exercise balls, stability cushions, stools, and floor pillows.  If you are interested, click the link below and take a look at my page.  Any donations would be wonderful and greatly appreciated.  If you are willing/able, please consider helping out to enhance our learning environment.  Use code LIFTOFF and Donors Choose will match your donation.

http://www.donorschoose.org/project/flexible-seating/1854765/?rf=page-siteshare-2016-01-proposal-teacher_3418180

Thanks for taking the time to check out our classroom blog! Stop back to learn more about how our inquiry research project is going! 

Welcome 2016!

Hello 2016! 

Can you believe it?! 2016 is here and know I'm ready for it.  I have a lot of fun things planned for my students and am excited to see them continue to grow and develop into strong leaders during the second half of the school year (semester two starts January 18). 

I have added the newsletter below to our classroom newsletter tab. Take a look for new information, classroom updates, and dates to remember. 

We are starting a new 50 point challenge tomorrow.  The last round (40 points because of our lessened number of December school days) went quite well.  There were only a handful of students that did not reach the goal, but the majority of our class continued to display leadership skills and followed expectations all the way up until they left me at 3:16 for Winter Break.  I was incredibly impressed.  Be on the look out for a note home about the reward chosen by those who completed the challenge with success.