Y’all know I’m flying to Kentucky soon, right? Well, when I made my seat selections, it got me thinking about classroom seating charts. While making a seating chart for back-to-school isn’t rocket science, I do recall learning a few things throughout my teaching years. Here are the steps I took to arrange (and rearrange!) my students’ desks.
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• Make a name tag for every student desk; then personalize a name tag for every youngster on your class list.
• Attach the name tags to the desks.
• Check IEPs for required preferential seating. Make these placements first.
• Position the remaining desks as desired, including the desks with blank nametags. (Unexpected students are instantly part of the class!)
• Observe your students for a week or two. Is a child squinting to see the board? Is an easily distracted child sitting in a high-traffic area? Do any behavior-related issues need to be addressed?
• Remove unused desks and rearrange your seating chart based on your observations.
• Periodically rearrange student desks throughout the year. Change is good for everyone! |
Please share what you do!
Diane
For the first week of school I have kids make their own nametags and decorate them. I can see what their handwriting is like and what their interests are. Once I know who is really going to be in my class then I make the real nametags. This way I’m not wasting nametags on students that never show up and I have enough nametags for any new students that might come. When I make a seating chart I draw the layout on paper and I use sticky notes so I can move students as needed throughout the year. It is also great because I can easily make a copy and have an updated seating chart for when I have a sub.
I make nametage for each of my students on sentence strips. These name tage give the students reference in forming their letters correctly and are legible in the event a sub is in my room. The first day of school the desks are arranged alphabetically by first name. I leave them that way for the first calendar month which is usually only two weeks at the most. Every month we move desks to give the students a change. In May or June, I allow the students to make the seating chart for the end of the school year. By then those who haven’t earned the right to sit together will pick appropriate positions for their desk and the children have fun sitting by their friends for the final weeks of the year.
Please remember to leave a seating chart for your Substitutes. Most elementary teachers do not leave seating charts, but it really is helpful. Thank you Jennifer Rudnick for doing just that.
I write the students’ names on inexpensive name tags from the dollar store, and I glue on two of those teeny paper hands you can buy in packages of 100 or so, I label the hands L for left and R for right. Then I laminate the name tags, then attach them to desks with contac paper. When kids peel the name tags off of their desks, the lamination protects them, and I can re-attach them with frest contac paper.
I set desks up in rows going across the room; after a week or two I rearrange, then every 2-3 weeks after that, to encourage making more friends, and to separate those who get off-task together.
I stumbled upon a great way to arrange…or not arrange desks. I brought in my own children to view the desk arrangement and would get comments like…ew, I wouldn’t want to sit here because____, or oh,no…if I sat here I would be______, and so on. Very insightful and eye opening for me!!
Where will you be visiting in Kentucky??? That’s where I live!!!
I take pictures of the children on the first day of school. After the nametags are put on the tables, I put a picture seating chart in my lesson plan book along with the student seating chart. This helps me and substitutes to quickly identify my students. However, I do not stop there. I assign each student a square on the carpet, and create a picture seating chart for the carpet. This seating chart has been laminated and I just put a picture of each child in the appropriate square. A magnet is on the back and it is attached to the whiteboard so that it is visible for the students and any concerned adults.
I use my yearbook from the year before to make sure I don’t have a lot of students from one class right beside each other. I use my computer and make a map of my class with the student’s name. Doing it on the computer makes it easy to move things around as I see fit and when I am finished making changes I can just print it off for subs and for me.
At Meet the Teacher I have the Children make their own name mat after I laminate them I use them to create a seating arrangemnt for circle.
I use nametages to assign seating at tables. We also include on the name tag back a number for the table and a letter for the seat. This way anyone can see where the child should sit but basically the Children know shortly after school starts. For snacks they sit wherever they would like.
I teach Kindergarten. My students do not have desks. Their home base is the carpet. I have the one with five colors and six boxes in each row. I sit the smallest/shortest students in the front row and the largest/tallest students in the back row. A lot of learning happens on the carpet so I like the students to be able to see. I do change them around from time to time however usually it is to make them more or less surrounded by others. I have a partner teacher in the class for half the day so a seating chart isn’t a necesssity. I do have one though.