I know it’s Saturday skip but just gotta say a few things. The beginning of the year is just so full of stuff happening. This post addresses seating charts again.
In my traditional trained 3/4 class – 40 juniors and seniors – I allowed them to sit anywhere on the first day and by the third day a group of sparklers, stars and just plain really cool kids kind of drifted into the front six seats, two deep.
So then with the rest of the kids I just strictly alphabetized where they sat (it is so helpful when calling roll!) and then I had this core group front and center. Maybe it’s just me but I don’t like dullards right in front of me when doing a story.
I do believe in alphabetizing to start the year. I can always move kids later if they are too chatty. But doing that just makes calling roll so easy. I did walk by a colleague’s class this week and she was still calling roll 15 minutes into class.
And the traditional rows is really working too. Love it. Last year the room was divided in half with kids facing each other. I just don’t see how that can work in a CI classroom where I am the only one who knows the language and in which interaction with me determines half their grade.
