"You learn something every day when you pay attention."- Ray LeBlond. I have a wonderful class of Kindergarten & 1st grade boys who are anxious to learn but need help with paying attention while seated.
We are a Title I public elementary school in a large urban community in Missouri, the Show Me State.
Our Kindergarten & 1st grade split classroom is composed of all boys. Our school is comprised of gender-specific classrooms to maximize gender based learning and teaching strategies. One of the most prominent themes in teaching strategies for boys is to get them up & away from their desks while learning. Our physical classroom space allows for and is set up to encourage out of seat student movement, however, our classroom resources are limited to support this approach. We use carpet time often for a variety of learning activities throughout each day including read alouds, vocabulary intro and review, phonics instruction, "Share Time", and "Turn and Talk" discussions. The challenge in doing these is that the boys tend to get restless after sitting for just minutes on the hard floor with only a thin carpet padding their bottoms. They are constantly readjusting their sitting positions.
My Project
Having a dedicated comfy cushion for each student to use at carpet time will naturally and subtly encourage longer, sustained focus during educational activities as their subconscious movements seeking more comfortable sitting positions are anticipated to greatly subside with the introduction of these seat cushions. Students will also be encouraged to use the cushions at their desks during seat work because their student chairs are made of hard plastic and, honestly, are not very comfortable for sitting for long periods. Students may carry their cushions with them to carpet time activities and remain comfortable. The cushions will allow for whole class seated instruction to be more engaging, as all students will be be able to concentrate more intently as they and their classmates will be fidgeting less which will lead to greater lesson understanding and content retention.
These cushions are anticipated to make a world of difference in encouraging sustained concentration and comfort to my little learners in different seating areas in our classroom, when sitting while learning is called for.
My students are constantly moving & fidgeting while seated and their active bodies often distract their minds during lessons, leading to the possibility of ongoing learning loss. Having these seat cushions is anticipated to minimize their fidgeting & maximize their learning!!
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