Classroom Reveal (With Flexible Seating!)

Hi all! I hope you have had a great start to your school years! Boy, I forgot how busy the beginning of the year was! I have been rearranging my classroom about everyday since my students have started! I think I finally found something that works for us, but I'm always open to change! I thought I'd take a moment to share my classroom with you all to show what works for me! I hope you can get some good ideas from it!

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I want to start by saying my classroom is large. Even for my building, it is large. I'm very fortunate. This is a new room for me this year and I completely love it! At first I thought it was "too big" (LOL). Even if your room is not this size I hope you can get some good ideas from it!

One thing I decided to do completely different this year is get rid of my teacher desk. Boy, do I love it. I bought lots of baskets, organized drawers, shelves, etc. My desk often became a big mess, as it was my "catch all." Now I have a spot for everything! And if I don't, it's garbage :)

This has become my teacher corner. I put my laptop on the table when I'm not working with small groups, and when I am, the laptop goes on the window sill! I have cute little home-made crate chairs for students to sit on when I have small groups!

I have so much storage in this corner! I grabbed these labels from this wonderful succulent themed classroom decoration pack. They. Are. Editable. Yep, that's right, you can organize however you want! 10/10 would recommend this beautiful classroom pack!

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I also have this wonderful bookshelf that fits perfectly in this corner! I have my binders on it as well as cute decorations. I'm sure I'll have more to add to this shelf, but for now this is all I have on it!

I find it important to have some separation of space. I have their tables that are their "home base" in one area of my room. These are their assigned seats where they sit when we're doing whole-group lessons. They share supplies in the basket in the middle of their tables. There are books and their calendar binders at the end of the table. On the other side of their table is a small blue basket for students to put their trash! This has been a huge help, as we frequently cut and tear items and have lots of trash! This keeps them in their work space and not all over the room!

I'm currently having them stack their pencil boxes on the floor beside their tables, but I'm searching for a better spot for them! We only use them when they need to "pack up" their supplies to go to the carpet or an alternative seating option. If you have any ideas, let me know!

We have our carpet area for reading books, calendar time, brain breaks, whole group lessons...The usual! I pull my anchor chart out whenever we need it and move it back out of the way when we are not using it! I also got this cute table to put my Elmo on!

My classroom library is in the back of my room. It's a cozy little nook, and I hang student work in this area! I got these cute labels for my leveled readers from the succulent packet that you can buy yourself here. In my library is also some storage for math games and items to play with.

Now on to the fun stuff! My flexible seating! I found this awesome flexible seating pack that ROCKS. I put my student numbers (from that succulent pack) next to the option they want to sit at. At firs I assigned their flexible seating option so they could try them all, but now they choose for themselves during our morning meeting!

And (drum roll please!) here are my flexible seating options! I have yoga balls (they LOVE them), a low table, stools, lap desks, clip boards (for at the carpet), a standing table, and of course, they can still work at a normal table with chairs. If they talk, they simply are uninvited from that flexible seating option! I also included some pictures of my kiddos working at the different work spaces. They love choice and are so responsible with the options!

Yes, I did move the location of my yoga ball table in the past week. They take up so much more space than I thought! You need to give these kiddos plenty of space so I moved the table. Get these awesome yoga balls here. I ordered the smaller size for our kindergarten size bodies! They're perfect! (& they also come in other fun colors!)

All I did to make my low table was take the legs off it! Voila, it's low! I got the smallest, cheapest bath mats I could find at Target!

These stools are from Family Dollar. I think they're technically outdoor patio tables. But they hold the weight of an adult without feeling weak, so I find it a win. Let me tell ya, these suckers were hard to find. I went to 3 different stores to get 6...but they're so worth it because they're only $5!!!

I got 3 lap desks from Hobby Lobby, but I may get more! The kids love them! I store them on top of my center drawers and that's out of the way enough. The kids love these and can pick anywhere to sit with them!

The standing table isn't the most thrilling-looking but it is SO helpful. These kiddos need to move, and this table gives them the best chance to! They work so well here and are very mobile. It amazes me how opening myself up to movement in the classroom has led my students to becoming more aware of their work habits. They are learning how to help themselves focus and work hard, which is great!

I have a few other places in my room that I'm really excited about! First, my behavior plan! We use these animals in kindergarten as our clip chart. When a student clips all the way up (to marvelous monkey) or off the chart, they get a rhinestone! Once a child has 3 rhinestones, their clip moves to our wall of fame and they get a new clip! Also, right next to the clip chart are our rules we say everyday. You can download these here (spoiler alert: they're free!). Please ignore the fact that my behavior chart is completely crooked and has no hope of being straight ever again.

Something I've done as a whole-class incentive is an apple tree! I have velcro dots on apples. Whenever we have a quick and quiet center clean up, get a compliment from another teacher, or we are well behaved during an observation from our principal! I even give them apples for a good fire drill! When the tree is full we get some sort of reward (we decide them as a class when we start filling it again). We are currently working towards a yummy treat!

Also included in that succulent pack is this "How we travel home" pack! I put student names on magnets so I can move them around and put notes under their name! It seriously helps with dismissal!

Rather than assigning a bunch of different classroom jobs, I just have one special helper a day. I change it daily and this student does everything I need for the day! Yes, these signs are in the succulent pack because it is editable!

I'm trying something new with my centers this year! In the colorful drawers are our fine motor centers that we do for the first 20 minutes of school everyday. Then, in the afternoon we do our academic centers. I labeled each drawer with a number and will put all the center items in the drawer! Then they can take the contents to a spot around the classroom to work with everyone who is at that center with them.

And finally, one final little spot in my class! I love it! I organized any of the supplies we don't have at our tables or the extras they brought. The students can still find these supplies easily so I don't have to replace all the glue sticks they go through! You can snag these supply labels here. The baskets are from Big Lots. Our district is fortunate enough to have gone one-to-one so I have a Chromebook cart and a few iPads that charge on the bottom. I placed it right on the end of my shelves.

I apologize about the length of this post! I hope you can get some ideas from this classroom tour! Give me your feedback, I'd love to hear it! Send me some pictures of your room, too! I am always looking for more ideas!

~Tiara