I have many things I'd like to write about, but because I don't seem to ever sit down and write for long periods of time, I'm going to start with one change in my room this year.
This year all of the desks are gone, replaced by round tables. I have 4 seats at each table. They can potentially seat 6, according to the site they were ordered from, but 4 gives us plenty of room.
There are no assigned seats in the class. When a student enters in the morning, they take their nametag out of a pile and choose any empty seat in the room. If you arrive later than others, then you have less seats to choose from.
I wasn't exactly sure how this would play out. Would I regret having the students sitting with their friends? So far, so good. At least in this class, the students work well wherever they are sitting, and they love the freedom and choice.
Some students are together more than others, but there is always the potential for change due to whatever time the students arrive each morning.
As for using tables, it is fabulous. I can pull together a group to work with on a particular subject without having to move desks. We are working in groups for many of our projects and tables naturally lend themselves to a group working environment. The students have room to spread out their materials. There are no messy desks!
On top of each table I have two caddies that hold supplies for four students - glue, scissors, colored pencils, thick and thin markers, erasers, pencils, and crayons. They all work together to keep these looking good. All papers, books, etc. are kept in bookshelf cubbies with each child having their own. I'll have to take a picture of our gorgeous handmade cubbies.
There you have it, one of the big physical changes in our room.
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