St. Cletus kindergartners’ alternative seating sits just fine with them

By BETH DONZE
Clarion Herald

At the beginning of lockdown last March, St. Cletus kindergarten teacher Nicole Evans sized up her classroom and realized that its traditional set-up of seven tables seating four students each wasn’t going to cut it for the new COVID-19 spacing protocols.

But instead of seeing it as a hurdle, Evans saw the quandary as an opportunity to execute an idea she had been mulling over while scrolling through classroom furniture options on Amazon.

“Once we knew the classrooms had to look different – that we had to take out some of the tables, chairs and desks to accommodate spacing – I decided I really wanted alternative seating,” Evans said.

After getting the green light from her principal, Jill Grabert, Evans began looking for alternative seating options that would enable her to make use of the floor space she would gain from removing half of the tables in her classroom.

As a result, this school year, kindergartners who wish to sit on the floor can choose from the following seating options in Evans’ classroom: a scoop-shaped, ground-level rocker that enables a child to “sit” in a semi-lying position; a saucer-shaped “balance disc” that allows the sitter to wobble in all directions and which can be turned to create either a bumpy or smooth sitting surface; a cushion seat, similar to the ones used by adults to make bleacher seating more comfortable during ball games; and a soft, ringed seat that resembles a small hula hoop.

Portable lap trays provide the young floor sitters with a flat workspace and built-in cubbies for water bottles and school supplies.

Kindergartners who prefer to sit at a table – now shared with only one other student rather than three, due to the pandemic’s spacing protocols – can now choose a traditional chair or one of their classroom’s more novel seating options: a spindle-shaped “rocking stool”; a child-size stability ball (also known as an exercise ball); or an inner tube-like “doughnut seat,” available in two sizes.

Evans said her kindergartners love the movement afforded by the new seats and credits them for an increase in their attention span and productivity.

“Five-year-olds have a hard time sitting still all day long in one spot, sitting perfectly. They need to move!” Evans said, noting that she did build structure into her alternative seating scheme, so it wouldn’t become a literal game of musical chairs. 

Every Monday, her students may choose between sitting at a table or on the floor, but they must live with their decision for a full week (although they can choose a different seat model  each day). Despite being given a choice in the matter, Evans said most of her students have become either floor sitters or table sitters.

Kindergartner Bryce Johnson said he enjoys sitting on the floor in the comfort of his lime-green rocker, set inside a square marked out on the floor with orange duct tape – a color-coded method Evans uses to keep her floor-sitting students spaced apart.

“I tried all of (the seats), and the rockers are my favorite because you can rock in it,” said Bryce, who also likes his seat’s matching lap tray. “You can put your pencil case, a mask and your bears in there,” he said.

bdonze@clarionherald.org