Have you wanted to incorporate flexible seating into your classroom? As far as research goes, ‘flexible seating’ has become one of the many educational buzz words over the last few years. There is a lot of research behind flexible seating that claims it helps with student focus and provides students with ownership over their own learning. I absolutely love this shift in education and I have tried providing spaces for my students in my classroom that give them choice when they are working.
Although my classroom is not 100% flexible seating, I have spaces in my room that provide students with a place to work during group work or during reading workshop. These spaces include two large area rugs (one was bought from amazon and the other from IKEA). Area rugs can be expensive and I have added these into my room over two separate teaching years so I wasn’t breaking my bank in August trying to prep my classroom. I also have a pub table and two counter height chairs that were given to me as a gift for my classroom. These, along with other flexible seating, can be expensive on a teacher budget. What I’ve come to realize after purchasing these items, is that the best flexible seating comes from reusing and recycling materials!
Out of all of my flexible seating options (including the ones that I purchased that were close to $100!), my students love my painted tires the most. I originally got this idea from Jessi from Cooties & Cuties! She created these for her elementary students and after seeing them, I knew I had to do the same for my seventh graders. I went to a local tire place near my house, explained that I was a teacher, and asked if I could take three tires they were planning on getting rid of. They said I could, and they met me in their garage where they kept all of their old tires. I picked out three of the largest ones and took them home.
I spent about an hour washing them off with dish soap and a hose and scrubbed each of them down twice (once just wasn’t enough to remove all of the grease and dirt from them). Once I cleaned them, I let them dry overnight to make sure they were ready to be painted. I picked out three bright spray paint colors and painted them. I used between 2-3 coats for each of the tires (each tire took one full can of spray paint). I let them dry over night again and took them into my classroom the next day. To ensure they didn’t rub any paint on any of my students, I wiped them down with a dry paper towel and set them up in my room.
This was a super easy and cheap way to incorporate flexible seating into my classroom. The total cost was under $25 because the only thing I had to pay for was the spray paint cans. The tires were free and I used dish soap and an old wash that I had in my house to clean them. If you are looking for an easy and fun way to incorporate flexible seating, I definitely recommend using the tires! They can add a pop of color into your room and it feels great to reuse and create something for your students.
Enjoy!
HipHopHoorayForELA 