I love CHAMPS

I watched the Randy Sprick video on positive physical space in the classroom. He opens up by saying that the most important thing is that you have access to every student in your classroom. How you arrange your desks really depends on what you want from your students. If you want them to do a lot of collaborative work, clusters work best. If you want less talking, everyone facing forward works better. When you have the space and the numbers for it, have a u shape around the room gives the least amount of talking, because you have access to every student. When possible, have room that has individual desks to provide flexibility.

Randy Sprick goes on to say that it is important to have physical and visual access to all parts of the room, and to activity and energetically supervise it. Some other things he says to consider are to move desks away from high traffic areas, use some bulletin board space to post student work, and to have the time out area in an area where it is not on visual display.

When setting up my room I made sure that all teaching areas had visual access to the room. All teaching stations have visual access to the center of the room, where the reading/puzzle area is. The cool down area is also located in the center of the room, next to the wall and behind the reading area. This gives all the teachers visual access to the cool down spot, but it also is in a secluded area. The least used teaching station is next to the door and the pencil sharpener, making it so students are learning away from the high traffic areas the majority of the time. The students sit at u shaped tables, which gives the teacher access to every student, but also allows them to work cooperatively when needed. There is enough area in the room for any adult to circulate when needed.

Something could do better at is ensuring that I am continuing to post student work. I made sure to have a place designated for the students to hang up their work, and they did initially. The students lost interest in it after the first month or so though. I need to get them re-engaged in showing off work that they are proud of. Another thing I need to consider is how to minimize traffic around teaching areas. Right now I have the sensory table next to one of the teaching stations. This is not an issue for the majority of the day, as the sensory table is closed the majority of the time. The only time it is open is when some of my kindergarten and 1^st graders use it for reward time, mainly at the end of the day. When it does get used, it becomes a distraction for the students.