Classroom environment

This afternoon in my room we moved all the desks against the walls in preparation for Drama tomorrow and wow the transformation was huge! My children were buzzing with how much space there was in the room and how much they liked the feeling of the room. This led to a very interesting discussion about the layout of our classroom and resulted in the children designing their own classroom layouts to trial this term. I also asked the children to write a sentence stating where their favourite working spot in the classroom was. After discussing this with the children we will be trialling a combination of the favourite few layouts from the children’s designs. Interestingly some children liked the idea of all working in rows, some liked groups and several wanted to try working by themselves. We will trial this newest layout until the end of the term and then reflect on how we have found it.

30/3/14 - weekly reflection

We have now had one full week with our new desk arrangement and Room 25 are loving it! The larger mat space is great for whole class activities and I have found it promotes collaboration as the children can now work together more easily. I have had great feedback from the children and parents about how the room feels now and the children seem to be taking more ownership over the space in our room. I think this process and class layout have been a great stepping stone to a modern learning environment as the children have had input into the classroom layout and are beginning to see how a more modern learning environment might work. The students have given me feedback that they like to have their own individual desks and a few children have expressed concerns about where they would work and keep their belongings if they didn't have a desk. I will have to think about this carefully if we decide to move to a modern learning environment. I would definitely consult with the children again as it was a very powerful process and created a great physical environment for us all to work in.