Seating Plan

By Natalie Dowse Age Range: 5 to 11 I used this classroom management strategy while I was in my last year of placement. I would constantly ask the children to come and sit on the carpet quietly, instead it would take them ages to decide who to sit next to, where their friend was sitting, they didnt like who they were sitting next to etc. After wasting the est part of a !iteracy or "umeracy lesson I decided to make a seating plan #sounds a it formal ut it actually works.$ I drew a plan and decided who could sit next to whom. % &iously this was the perfect chance to separate Billy and Bo ' I had fi&e lines each consisting of six children. (he children were told what line they were in and to look at the person next to them and remem er that this was their carpet space' )ow it was a different class' (hey lo&ed competing against the other lines, who could e the straightest line, who was the quietest. I then used the lines to send children to lunch etc. #I can see line * is the quietest, they can go for lunch first'$. (ips: put the noisy+ disrupti&e children at the ack, here they gain least attention as all of the children are looking to the front.

,ere-s a related suggestion from a &isitor: I ha&e used this y placing children in a ility group lines for the carpet times. It helps me to focus questions at the different lines. Also, when I ha&e supply teachers in, they can do the same as they know the children-s rough a ility quickly.