Day 2: The Furniture

Welcome to Day 2 of my series of posts on setting up your classroom for the new school year.  On Day 1 we cleaned our classroom of all of the stuff that we inherited from the previous owner of the classroom and that we wouldn't be needing.  Today, we are going to look at arranging the furniture.

Now that you’ve got the rid of all of the unnecessary mess from the room, your next step should be to arrange the furniture in the room the way that you want it.

There is no right or wrong way of doing this.  It really depends on the size of your classroom, the age of your students (older kids take up more space, generally!) and the special needs of your students (Are there a lot who wear glasses or need to be close to the board?)  Ultimately, your arrangement is aiming to maximise student learning and provide a safe, comfortable environment for students to work in.

You can read more about this image here

It is popular in education at the moment to have the tables arranged in ‘islands’, with groups of 4 or 6 children sitting together.  This provides opportunity for collaboration, discussion and group work and is an arrangement that I like using.  Having said that, I’ve worked at schools with some students who needed to be sitting in rows or pairs, facing the front to avoid conflicts and distractions at every turn. 

You might end up with a mixture of different arrangements to suit the needs of both you and your students.

To begin 2013, I've got 1/3 of the desks with students sitting in pairs - great for those students who need to be facing forward and are easily distracted. I've got another 1/3 in two groups of four (with students facing each other - which is a great spot for collaboration) and the last 1/3 of desks are in an L shape.  My desk is positioned at the back of the classroom, which means that it gives me a better view of all of the students and I can see easily what they are up to when using their laptops. You can sort of get the idea from this picture.

You could try ClassroomArrangement.com as a way to try out your ideas or Classroom Architect.

Before you settle for your final arrangement, you should:

-       Check that all of the chairs are in a position that won’t hit another chair or table when they are being sat upon or slid in and out.

-       Make sure you can walk around between the tables (with the chairs out, as if someone is sitting in them) easily.

-       Sit in each chair and make sure that the student can see the board without too much fuss.

-       Stand near the board and ensure that you can see all of the chairs easily.

-       Check and make sure that all of the doorways and emergencies exits are clear.

-       Make sure that your arrangement fits with the school philosophy on education, which you will hopefully find in the school handbook and possibly on their website.  I know this one sounds a little odd, but if your school ethos is all about collaboration and group work, but you arrange your class desks in rows, you might end up with some funny looks and questions coming your way.

More information here

TOP TIP: Use cable ties to join the legs of your desks together.  This stops them moving around and getting all messy by the end of the day.  You can also use cable ties to attach plastic crates to the side of the desks to use as storage.

More information here

Easy, huh?  And now all of the cleaning and moving is complete, tomorrow we are going to get onto the fun part - Day 3: Decorating!