Flexible Seating - A Journey

Many teachers in LPS have talking about changing their rooms around to include flexible furniture. Kelly Almer, a 5th grade teacher at Centennial Elementary has been on this journey for a few years. Listen to why Kelly moved to flexible furniture. 

 Why go with flexible seating? (Kelly Almer) 
The idea of flexible seating was worth the plunge. This is my fourth year with this teaching style and philosophy. I won't go back and I can say I have learned much in my four years. The classroom design and furniture has evolved along with my thinking. When I decided to change, four years ago, I approached my principal first. I needed her support and backing. She was all for it. We started SLOWLY. I knew this would be a process for me as well as my students, to adjust to. Every step I took was worth the effort and the time. Slower is better, I think. My first goal was to provide choice and options for seating to maximize the ability to learn and collaborate. I wanted my students to be able to choose where they wanted to sit, based on their individual comfort and learning mode. I also knew there would be times I would assign seating, based on the academic task, needs of students and myself. This is where the flexibility comes in, which does allow for freedom and takes pressure off me and my students. Here are a series of photos of the "before" I changed the classroom, so you can get an idea of what it looked like to what it looks like now. 

2014-2015 Traditional desks and chairs. I made saddle bags for the students, to help with storage. Not much space to move.       

    

2015-2016

Tall standing desks added ( right of picture ) 

2016-2017

2017-2018

Interested in flexible furniture. Feel free to reach out to Kelly Almer at Centennial. (kalmer@lps.k12.co.us) We will continue to follow Kelly as her classroom next year will once again have even more changes.