GRANT Spotlight: sps flexible seating

“We have already seen a positive impact on student focus and behavior. These types of seating options have been found to increase attention and reduce off-task distractions,” says Kristine Sheahan, 4th grade teacher at Hatherly.

Remember those days when you just couldn’t sit still at your desk and focus on your assignment? (Many of us still feel this way!) Thanks to a Scituate Education Foundation (SEF) grant that has funded Flexible Seating, students at Hatherly and Jenkins Elementary School now have alternative seating options in every classroom that allow them to move while learning.

FLEXIBLE SEATING AT HATHERLY & JENKINS

The SEF grant has funded the purchase of stand-up desks for older students, active learning stools with convex bases that swivel and allow for lots of movement, and for very young students, stationary ball chairs with sturdy legs that help develop the core and let kids gently bounce. Frequently associated with the 21st-century classroom, flexible seating refers to seating choices that are best suited to each student’s individual learning style, as well as the ability for students and teachers to easily reconfigure seating for project work and small group collaboration.

Kacey Semchenko, Occupational Therapist at Jenkins Elementary School says, “We found that children who are given seating options enjoy many benefits, including more on-task behavior, greater productivity, increased motivation and engagement and an increased sense of responsibility and cooperation in the classroom.”How about the students? “They love selecting to sit or stand using the flexible seating options, and they use them for both individual and group work,” reports Sheahan. “They wish we had more!”SEF is proud to partner with our school district and teachers that saw a previously unmet need and took action to fill that need.