Q: What would your ideal classroom layout look like?

​A: The grade I chose to draw up a plan for was 1st grade with seating for
twenty-four students. With 1st graders, I needed to keep in mind that they are
still learning appropriate school behaviors. Classroom rules are posted at the
front for all to see to help manage behaviors and set up the classroom
expectations. My goal was that the rest of the classroom set-up would help
with encouraging these expectations by reducing distractions and keeping age
in mind.
For student seating, I created four groups of six students. I wanted
everyone to be able to have a desk partner for certain activities in the class.
There are also four groups for potential stations. Any more than four would be
too many stations during a lesson. I also provided some flexible seating in the
classroom. There are two stand-up desks that allow students to get up for a
little bit while still completing their work. There is also a round table with a few
wobble chairs for children to get their wiggles out if they need to. These
seating options can help students with ADHD, and other students when they
need to get some energy out while remaining on-task. This is a good example
of Universal Design for Learning within the classroom.
On each desk are the student supplies, such as pencils, erasers, pencil
sharpeners, etc. I wanted to avoid desks with storage inside because these
often get cluttered by students. Therefore, in this class all supplies are in the
middle of each table group and students have a chair pocket to store
classroom notebooks and folders. Completed papers are put in the student
cubbies in the room. All these factors contribute to better organization and
avoid distractions.
The student desks also all face the whiteboard and interactive TV. This
is where most instruction takes place, so I wanted to ensure that all students
could easily see the boards. Next to the interactive TV is the document
camera on a small desk with a teacher chair. This is so the teacher can be at
the front of the room while using the document camera. Most of the time the
teacher would be in this area. The teacher's desk is at the back of the room
because it is not being used during much of the day. The document camera
teacher chair is close to the carpet space, as well, so that it can be used when
the kids come to the carpet for story time or calendar work.
There is another carpet space in one corner of the room, too. This is the
reading corner. It is enclosed by bookshelves so students can have a relaxing
and quiet space to read. Pillows and bean bag chairs are also provided so
students get into a calm mood to read. In this reading corner the students get
a good view of their work on the bulletin board, too. There are two places in
the classroom where students’ work is shown, and it easily seen in the
classroom. I wanted to ensure that student work was posted so that all the
students could see it and feel proud of it.
Lastly, storage was probably the hardest for me because I feel you don’t
really realize how much storage you’ll need until you get into a class. I tried to
make specific areas for storage, such as a cabinet for games and
manipulatives, a shelf for art supplies, a counter for basic supplies like the
pencil sharpener and stapler, and one corner that is general paper and supply
Storage.
Throughout this design process, I wanted to keep flow in mind. I have
been in classrooms where everything feels cluttered and overwhelming. I did
not want my class to feel this way. I wanted students to feel like they could
easily move throughout the room. This helps create a calm learning
environment where all students can be successful.