Saturday, July 23, 2011

Feedback Please!.....Ideas for Classroom Circle Time Seating

During the past 8 years I have tried many different types of seating set ups in my circle time area.  When I taught Prek, my classroom was provided with a beautiful and colorful rug purchased from a classroom supply company.  Since then the two KG classrooms I have taught in have not included rugs.  So I became very creative.  Here is what I have used so far....

Individual carpet squares donated from a local flooring store.
Price:   Free!
+:  Each child has a clear boundary of where they need to sit.
-:   It takes a few minutes for students to get a carpet square from a stack, put it on the floor, and actually sit on it.
Two indoor/outdoor carpet pieces taped together with colorful duct tape.  I even used spray paint to add numbers (1-24) to the rugs. 
Price:  $50
+:  Provides the same use as expensive rugs purchased from classroom supply companies.
-:  These carpets last about one school year before they are worn out.


No carpet at all
Price:  Free!
+:  Students have the freedom to sit where they want to in the circle time area and there is no need to worry about keeping the carpet clean.
-: Students have no boundaries of where to sit during circle time.  This works great for a class of students who are more mature and have great awareness of personal space.  Not so much for a class of "younger" KG students.



......So what do I do this year?   What have you used in your classroom?  Help!

7 comments:

Plants seeds of knowledge...for our future! said...

I saw many blogs that were using the plastic crates for seating. Sorry I do not remember which blogs. Maybe do a google search for circle time crate seats and see what pops up.

Sheri said...

I'm guess I'm just boring and old fashioned. We have assigned seats on an alphabet/number carpet that my school provides. I change them around every once in a while so that it's not always the same people sitting in the back or front. The very last week of school we let them sit anywhere on the carpet. They thought that was great fun!

kindergarten-roundup

poulingail said...

I've had little space on the floor and I just let them sit where they are comfortable at first.
After a while, I remind them to sit away from the folks they might get into trouble with.
Finally I resort to boy - girl seating.
One other thing though is the kind of gatherings. I might ask them to sit in a circle, or a horseshoe, or in rows called "movie theater seating." I also have to tell them which direction the action will be in as I move around the room sometimes.

Plants seeds of knowledge...for our future! said...

www.thekindergartencorral.blogspot.com has a post of the milk crate seats if you are interested.

DebbieKsews said...

I tried one year without our area rug because it was so dirty and the underneath of it was solid dirt(I guess the vacuum cleaners are not good) but the kids kept picking on the carpet squares and trying to get the best square (fuzzier carpet) I think I would try the crates or put duct tape around the edges of the carpet squares. With the newer duct tape designs it would look good. You could even do colored rows. Good luck deciding.

DebbieKsews said...

Target has the crates on sale this week for $3.00 each!

Marie W said...

I have these pockets (Playful Pocket variety pack by Trend) that I write the kids names on, laminate them, and put velcro on the back. I use the colors to call them to the carpet or the line. I remind them to "put your pockets on the pocket" and that once I sit I should not see their pocket. This idea came from some great teachers website but I did not write it down so I can't give credit-sorry.