Welcome Room 9 of 2015... with fancy furniture!

It's been a great start to the year.  The children are enthusiastic and keen learners and getting into the swing of things as a new class.

The exciting part has been testing out the new colourful MLE furniture.  With low tables, high table, study carrels, soft ottomans, cookie pads and a high back couch, we have plenty of flexible seating options that are ergonomically designed.  We know children learn in different ways and we can see how our physical classroom environment complements this more.  The children enjoy being able to move to an area of the room that suits what they are doing.

Everyone seems to have their favourite spot, after-all we are creatures of habit.  In response to a few observable issues in the beginning, our class talked about the importance of moving around the room, working with different people and also ensuring that we don't have segregated areas where there are just all boys or all girls.  Problems solved?  Not really!  Plan B?  Absolutely!  Time for some enforced encouragement aka rules.   Now I know MLE furniture is all about choice and I was torn about establishing enforced encouragement around having mixed groupings at each table.  However I'm happy to report that the children only need tiny whisperings of reminders and they are encouraging other children to sit with them, even if it is just to make up the gender balance for now! I envision our class moving around our space like this naturally as the year progresses.

Now we learnt fairly quickly how to treat our new furniture (or not!).  Excitement does funny things to you. So yes initially there were incidences of surfing on the cookie pads and flips over the back of the couch.  I guess that was part of testing out how really multi-purpose and sturdy this furniture is!


A few words from the students:
"I like the high tables because they're next to the window and I like the couch because it's comfy.  I try not to stare out the window too much" Olly

"The cookie pads are cool and so are the circle chairs (ottomans) by the teaching table".  Kate

"I like the high tables too.  The whiteboard table means we can write on the table, except it's not just for drawing pictures!"   Katie

"The stools are high and there are great window views at the high tables".  Anika

"I like how the chairs move back and forward, so even though you're sitting in the same spot on the chair, it's like moving around".  Alex