All At Once
Maybe it’s the start of a school year, or maybe you just really stocked up, or that Donor’s Choose project got funded, and you have everything and want the students to try it out! Last year, this is how I did it. I went over (briefly) the guidelines (ie rules) for the seating options, let students try it out and tweaked things, gave reminders, and yes, sometimes told certain students they couldn’t use a certain seat because they were not using it safely (my number one rule). Last year, I also had a rule the first week of school that students needed to try a different type of seat each day. I kept a little checklist on my clipboard to help me make sure kids were doing so. This also helped if someone said “I don’t know where I can sit” especially on the fourth or fifth day. I could say “Okay, you tried wobble stools, IKEA stools and scoop rockers. How about the carpet seats, a stability ball, or camp chair today?”
One Option at a Time
Perhaps you are just more comfortable introducing and having students try out one option at a time…It’s pretty easy if you are bringing just one option out, like the first year I tried it when I brought in two camp chairs from home. I let a couple kids try them out each day and then after a few weeks I rounded up a stability ball chair and we tried that, too. However, if you do this, you need desks or an alternative for most of the students to sit at at first when you only have introduced one or two options. That year, I was adding them in to a classroom full of desks. You could have everyone else sit at carpet seats if you have no desks. If that won’t work for you, scroll down for an in between option!
A Few Options at a Time
Sharing a few options at a time is another way to go, too! You could bring out 2-3 options, have the rest of students at desks or carpet seats, make sure you go over guidelines in details, and then after a day or two, introduce another option or two (this actually reminds me of how I roll out classroom jobs several at a time over the course of the first week of school).
What is your favorite way of introducing flexible seating options to your class? Let me know in the comments? And if you want to see some of my students focus and comfortable in some flexible seating, check out the images below!
. 
