Flexible seating for English Language Arts (ELA)

Fifth-grade students can be very persuasive! Last spring, as part of the persuasive writing unit, students researched flexible seating in learning environments and wrote a collaborative persuasive letter to the Haverford Education Foundation. With support from their teachers, the grant was approved. The current fifth grade Language Arts classrooms at Chatham Park Elementary now have communal workspaces with various seating options around the classroom. Students can choose a workspace with alternative seating options such as stools, cushions, raised tables, yoga balls, and mats. This flexible seating offers students the freedom to choose a communal area or work alone.

Pictured are some of the persuasive writers visiting the new classrooms.

“I loved the classroom, and it was nice to see how our hard work paid off!! When I saw the classroom for the first time, I was amazed to see all of the items that we had gotten. I was so surprised that we had flexible seating and I couldn’t believe my eyes!! It’s hard to think that two 5th grade classes could do such a big thing for all of the 5th graders to come,” said Maura Gilroy, HMS 6th Grade student, about their work.