Placement of Materials
I had no clue how little I thought of placement in my classroom, until I started teaching moderate/severe students. Last year, I realized how much more appropriate it was to have students sit or stand at a wall to work on a whiteboard instead of at their desk. So today I am going to give you 3 tips on what I learned that I wish I had known before!
Can they see it?
Luckily, I have terrible eye sight so I can test this out on my own before students do. But sometimes I still forget that the small printed poster is way too hard for anyone to read. You want to make sure anything you are putting up has a large enough print and colors that allow students to easily read and see. Trust me, you have a student in your class at one point who can’t see because I was that kid who needed glasses and no one knew about it for about half a year. If a student does have a serious eye problem though you may want to consider making a personal copy of the items and giving it to them in a folder or on a binder ring to keep in their desk. This way they have access to the same materials but can see them much better.
Is this creating independence?
Ever put the pencils up where you can reach but not your students? The whole point of school for littles from time to time is to create independent students who can wash their hands, sharpen their pencil, and throw their trash away. This can get hard if the students can’t reach what it is you are asking of them. Make sure that whatever task you are asking students of, you have all of the tools they need to do it independently. For instance, if you are asking them to wash their hands, make sure the sink they are using has all of the items they need to wash their hands and they can access the sink. So many times I have lost my patience with a kid I thought was playing in the sink but really they were spending 5 minutes trying to reach the soap or even the faucet handle just to even use the sink. This picture below actually is a great example of how to ensure that all students are able to access the classroom structure:
Posted by Deborah Taub
3. Is it promoting movement?
Is your classroom structure set up to promote students to move. Brain breaks are needed and young students need a lot so you’ll want stations/groups set up that promotes movement. Maybe at one station they are sitting and the next they are standing. It’s also a great idea to have one station where they are laying on their stomachs and working to promote core strength or sitting criss cross apple sauce (more core=better handwriting). All of these positions allow students to try different things out and ultimately lead them to learn about what they like. I know that I can’t sit at a desk all day and my husband prefers to stand and work at a tall desk, so you may have students who need to get up and walk around and stand instead of sit to learn best. Offering them these different areas can allow them to truly find out what they like to become a lifelong learner. An example of this is putting a whiteboard low to the ground for a letter station where students sit criss cross applesauce to work while at another station you have a whiteboard much higher where students have to stand to access it. This is also great for your students who may struggle with certain locomotor disabilities and allow them to try different ways of learning while not having to sit all day (think of students in a wheelchair or still learning to walk confidentally).
I hope this gave you some ideas of how to set up your classroom and there are many more detailed posts to come but until next time,
Happy Teaching :)