5 Seating Chart Classroom Management Templates
Why do teachers do seating charts?
Seating charts are the first item of effective ❤️ behavior management ❤️ so many teachers start the school year with a seating chart classroom grid.
All teachers are getting to know their students when classes first begin.
They need a guide to help them with the students’ first and last names to learn as quicly as possible.
Not only does a seating chart classroom page help with this but it makes attendance really easy.
Every principal that I’ve ever worked for has required classroom seating charts.
This is because it lets any adult who walks in the room quickly be able to identify the students present.
This is a great tool for classroom assistants, school therapists, administrators, and substitute teachers.
Seating chart classroom grids 🚌 are also an important part for emergency preparedness.
Along with a class roster, many experienced teachers include their seating charts in the safety kits.
This let’s them quickly grab essentials during a drill or actual emergency.
While a teaching roster might seem like the right and only choice, I highly encourage you to take your seating chart classroom pages.
If a student turns up missing, you can use the seating chart to determine what students might be able to help identify where the student is.
Peers who sit next to each other often know if another student went to the nurse, restroom, therapy, or any other location.
How do I make a seating plan for my class?
The number one reason to make a seating plan for your class is to structure the group in a way that adheres to learning.
So, first analyze your class list. 🔎
Then, look at the needs your students have and the space you have available to work with.
Your space includes whether you have desks or tables or carpet space.
This determines how you’re going to make your plan.
Also, consider your room size and the exits along with the windows in your classroom stop.
Make sure to place responsible students and those who aren’t likely to be distracted near windows and doors.
Next, consider 🤔 the medical needs of students.
I once had a student with high needs diabetes. Because of her medical condition, she required frequent visits to the nurse.
While she was wonderful about taking care of her physical needs she was a little shy about leaving the classroom frequently.
Because of her lack of desire to draw attention to herself, I let her pick her spot in the seating chart classroom grid.
The seating chart classroom grid allows teachers to separate students who are discipline issues.
Teachers are able to place appropriately behaved students in between more challenging students.
Also, there are times that certain pupils need extra support.
Adding a friend next to these students can dramatically help decrease anxiety during instruction and, therefore, allow the student to learn with greater ease.
Sometimes students with IEPs are provided with the notes that are taken in class instead of being held responsible for taking the notes of class.
It’s a great idea to have the typical student who is sharing their classroom notes placed in the seating chart classroom spot next to the student who requires this accommodation.
What is the best seating arrangement for a classroom?
The best seating arrangement for the classroom is one that promotes learning. 👩🏽🎓
While as ambiguous as it sounds, the more teachers experiment with seating changes the more this holds true.
Many teachers use groupings of desks clustered together often called pods.
Typically no more than 5 students are within a group of desks.
Use the number of students in your class to determine how many students are in a pod.
So let’s say that you have a large number of students and a large classroom.
You have 28 students and can divide those into 7 pods of 4 students each.
Now, let’s say that you have a large class roster but a smaller classroom.
Each pod requires a walk space 🚶♀️ around it.
Since your classroom is smaller you might want to do only five groups having four groups of five and two groups of four.
This will give you a little more walkway room.
While most teachers don’t use the traditional straight rows of desks, if this works for your group go for it.
I vividly remember being told in college that this was not best practice.
I completely disagree with this. Best practice for seating arrangement is always what promotes learning.
And by the way, the college class that I was told never do straight rows in classes was, in fact, arranged in straight rows of desk. Irony.
When I taught a special education resource room in middle school, there were three other teachers with similar classes to mine.
All four of us used straight rows for students.
Our students needed their own spaces and most didn’t have the ability to work responsibly in a pod to effectively learn.
Straight rows were the easiest for the special education resource room teachers to manage our students’ academic progress and behaviors.
Seating chart classroom template
I like to change my seating chart classroom layouts at the beginning of each grading period.
It closes out one part of the school year and gets me ready to start the next grading.
This allows me to move kids who have been in the back up to the front and vice versa.
Also, if I’ve had what I consider a buffer student which is a student who is calm and controlled and sitting next to a behavior problem, I’ll move them.
This gives my positve role models a break and time to relax in a calmer 😎 spot in the classroom.
Click here for more.There are three main classroom seating chart templates that I use regularly.
- Desk layouts
- Carpet spots
- Table spots
Desk grids out are probably the most common seating chart classroom template.
What I like about desks is all the different ways you can arrange the kids.
You can put the desks in pods, rows, and an interesting designs.
Moving chairs and desks around to make all of the desks form a heart on Valentine’s Day is fun, creative, and inspiring for the kids.
This can be done with most holidays and once the kids get used to it requires very little directing on the teacher’s part.
The kids start coming up with the most interesting shapes to represent certain holidays and events!
When I work with little children and students with special needs, we’ve always had carpet time.
Carpet time is an absolutely essential learning moment where many math and language arts concepts are taught, reinforced, and promoted daily.
Using a seating chart classroom template allows me to make sure that all of the students are in optimal spots for learning and safety.
The different classrooms that I’ve been placed in have had both circular and rectangular rugs.
I don’t really mind the shape of the rugs but they have to have identifying spots.
My favorite rugs have images on them so students can identify their spot for sitting.
Of course I have this recorded in my seating chart classroom for carpet time.
Many kindergarten and early childhood classrooms have tables instead of desks.
Having an easy to view seating chart classroom grid for kids’ table spots is essential.
Even if you label their spots with their names it’s still best practice to have a grid with the entire class laid out on it.
How to make a seating chart classroom
I recommend having an editable grid on your computer.
This allows you to move desks, tables, and carpet spots quickly and easily to match whatever room you’re placed in.
The seating chart classroom grids need to be able to the edited quickly because teaching is a fast-paced job. I prefer to make mine in Microsoft PowerPoint. 💻
First, I open a blank slide and change the design size to 8.5” by 11”.
I usually print mine out in horizontal mode. However, I have used vertical before my if this matches my classroom space better.
Next, I add in desks or tables based what I’ve been given along add a text box for students’ names.
Adding a color of pink and blue can also be helpful for distributing students evenly in the seating char classroom grid.
Then, I can shuffle them around and move students from place to place when I need to.
I also like saving each classroom grid when I make a new one.
Going off of the old seating chart classroom pages can remind me what worked well and what didn’t.
Alright, it’s your turn!
