Flexible furniture can make an excellent addition to any classroom space. Whether your students are working collaboratively or just need a break from standard desk seating, flexible seating options can provide additional versatility and comfort. There are many different types of flexible seating, but these must-haves are a great place to start exploring your options.

Choosing the Right Flexible Seating Options for Your Classroom

Not every classroom has the space or need for specific types of flexible furniture. Choosing the right fit for your space and your students is important. There are three groupings of Teacher Favorite seating options to consider.

Soft Seating

Soft seating should be cozy and comfortable. It makes a great option for collaboration areas or the classroom library space.

Active Seating

Active seating can be a good fit for students who want to be moving while they focus. This can serve as a substitute for a standard desk chair for fidgety students.

Mobile Seating

Some soft and active seating options are mobile, but truly mobile furniture can be moved around and used all over the classroom. These options are either light for easy transport or on wheels.

More on Classroom Flexibility & Collaboration

If you’re looking for more ways to engage your students in collaborative work, or to make your classroom a more flexible learning space, be sure to visit the learning spaces topic page. Not only will you find case studies and examples of modern learning environments, but tips and ideas for creating a more 21^st century learning experience.

We know that parent involvement is directly connected to academic achievement as well as helps to support the development of Social & Emotional Learning (SEL) skills. In addition to just reading to children, parents are also encouraged to take an active role in making story time more interactive.  These include suggestions such as pointing to each word as it is read, asking, and identifying more details in illustrations (what color is the bird, where is the cat hiding? etc.). Modeling fluency when reading helps children develop what is termed affective or emotional prosody i.e. understanding the verbal and nonverbal cues of emotions such as happy, angry, sad, etc.  Great storytellers use this skill effectively to keep readers/listeners engaged and on task.

For students with special needs, eliciting participation and engagement may take a bit more creativity. Here are a few ideas:

1.) Use a low-tech Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) or Speech Generating Device (SGD) for students that are non-verbal or have more severe cognitive/expressive language skills.

• Bluebee Pals are Bluetooth enabled and can be paired with any iOS and Android app that has a narrative. Patented technology allows Bluebee’s mouth and head to move while reading stories, teaching through educational games, communicating through speech/AAC apps, learning a language, and singing songs. The plush and loveable characters like Sammy the Bear or Hudson the Puppy are sure to keep children engaged while building language and cognitive cause/effect skills.

• GoTalk is a group of programmable devices that operate from battery power. The GoTalk4 may be a good option for younger children and/or those with more severe intellectual disabilities. It includes 4.25 total minutes of recording time. Be sure to get the corresponding software to create the picture communication symbols or customize and add your own images or pictures to support a current story.

• More portable and super budget friendly options include the Go Talk Light Weight Slim Message Talker with a 10 second record time or the TickiT Sound Bank Mirror with 30 seconds of record time. Have one of the child’s peers pre-record the sentence and/or a page from a favorite book, then when it is the child’s turn to read part of the story the device can be activated with the push of a button to “speak” the lines. This keeps the activity age appropriate with voice modulation and promotes inclusive peer activity.

2.) If focus, attention and/or engagement are an issue, try using a visual timer to designate the allotted story time.  For younger children and/or those with special needs, start with shorter reads (a.k.a. more pictures vs. words!) then increase time, length, and complexity as the child progresses. The Time Timer Mod is a durable and portable option that features a visual display of the time elapsing/remaining.  This is beneficial for students who struggle with analog or digital time clocks or are too sound sensitive to use a standard kitchen timer.

3.) For children with visual and/or cognitive impairments, big books may be helpful.  Large print books may help a child with mild to moderate vision loss discover the world of books and make tracking the words easier.  Adding additional support tools like hand puppets, may enhance the story line and promote better engagement.

4.) Create a sensory quiet space or reading corner. The Abilitations Reading Canopy hung over a corner bean bag chair or the Childcraft Corner Reading Nook with pillows, a weighted lap pad or weighted stuffed animal like Mia the Monkey are good options. These sensory tools help promote spatial boundary definition and deep touch pressure input for calming which can contribute to a relaxing enjoyable reading experience.

With just a few adaptations, children with special needs can be included in story time, an important support tool for family engagement. Visit our website for more products to help support children of all abilities.

Families play an essential role in raising awareness of the value of science and STEM as they can encourage participation in activities that build interest and skills in science. The research has supported this idea for over 20 years. The report A New Wave of Evidence: The Impact of School, Family, and Community Connections on Student Achievement states, “…when families of all backgrounds are engaged in their children’s learning, their children tend to do better in school, stay in school longer, and pursue higher education.”

Schools can host events like science fairs and science/STEM nights that encourage families to participate in science learning. There are organizations in some communities that will introduce professionals in fields relating to science and STEM with students from their local high schools and even allow the students to shadow them for a day. In addition, some organizations host  career fairs or special events where families can bring their children to meet scientists and trades folk and learn about their careers. Local colleges, museums, and libraries will put on events that bring families together to connect with science and STEM topics. Schools could even send home science or STEM kits that encourage families to participate in science learning together.

Here are a few of our favorite products to support families nurturing science learning at home.

There are many ways families can be involved and engaged in science learning. When schools create a partnership with families, they can help cultivate the necessary skills in our youth to become scientifically literate and informed citizens, leading them to choose a career path in science and STEM.

Family engagement in a child’s education is critical to their development and future success.  Regardless of background and income, children with engaged families are more likely to have better attendance, earn overall higher student achievement, develop better social skills, have better behavior, and are more likely to graduate from high school and continue to higher education. As a school administrator who worked at various schools, all of which were drastically different from one another, I saw time and again the unique forms and levels of family engagement with one commonality: my families have cared about education and their child’s future. Contrary to common stereotypes and assumptions, my experience was further evidence that family engagement most closely reflects a campus’ climate and culture. I learned to never assume to know, or understand the complexities and burdens present in the individuals’ lives that I encountered. It is my belief that almost all parents are doing the best they know how to do. Granted, this looks very different based on their personal history, but regardless, it is still their personal best, their individual capacity given their current circumstances. More importantly, what makes a school a haven and community support for families?  Family engagement with schools should not be a burden or responsibility, it should be an exciting partnership that benefits both parties.

What Is Family Engagement?

Family engagement is a partnership between families and the school created through mutual trust and respect in the shared effort to benefit the students. A few important points to note: families all look different and contain different key members, meaning that schools should welcome and embrace these differences knowing our students’ lives are all unique. Also, the benefit is to the student, as opposed to the school and educators. Family engagement is important because of the positive impact created for a child as a result.  The definition of “engagement” is far more comprehensive then is commonly recognized, so let’s take a look at the different areas:

• Parenting: Expectations, supervision, knowledge of life, and interest, involvement & engagement
• Communicating: Two-way communication with the school
  • Newsletters
  • Communication folders/agendas
  • Communication apps: updates, pictures, notes, reminders (ex. ClassTag, Remind, TalkingPoints, Seesaw, SchoolMessenger)
  • Social media/websites
• Supporting School: Volunteering & attending
• Learning at Home: Expressing the importance and value of education, encouraging dedication to learning, assisting as appropriate
  • Homework
• Decision Making: Serving on parent and/or school/district organizations
• Collaborating with Community: Providing life and educational experiences for their child, communicating with other parents

What Are the Common Barriers to Family Engagement?

Schools, and academic work, can be intimidating for families.  To help families overcome this barrier, educators need to create a welcoming, accepting, positive environment that celebrates their involvement, no matter how big or small, and makes they feel valued and worthy. When families are not engaging, it is important to ask questions to determine why. There seems to always be a reason. Is the parent literate? Do they speak and read the language reflected in the materials and school-home communication? What life circumstances are at play? Are they working multiple jobs? Are they taking care of a sick relative or are they suffering from illness themselves? Are they a single parent? What could be happening that I don’t know, and do not need to know? The list goes on and on and whether it is a good reason for us as educators, does not change whether it is a valid reason for that family. Family engagement should not be expected to look the same for everyone, an inevitability that we must value and respect. The benefit of an engaged family is not the support that could potentially be provided to the school, but the long-term impact family’s involvement has on their child’s achievement. The type, quality, and amount of engagement is far less important than the fact that they are engaged.

These are some of the top barriers to family engagement:

• Lack of awareness/communication regarding opportunities
• Connection/relationship with the school is lacking
• Time limitations
• Work conflicts
• Childcare needs

How Can Schools Improve Their Family Engagement?

Schools can establish a shared vision for family engagement that includes the values of trust, relationships, partnership, collaboration, inclusion, and equity. From this, expectations and goals should be created.  Some of the most effective strategies for increasing your family engagement include:

• Communicate positives (not just concerns)
• Create a positive and welcoming environment for ALL families
• Utilize all forms of communication
• Have a clear vision and goals that guide; be transparent in school operations
• Build relationships through fun and exciting celebrations and experiences
• Be consistent with communication and efforts to communicate
• Keep things simple—activities, dates, workload! Create a situation that generates feelings of confidence in your students and for their families
• Be supportive by offering help, solutions, ideas, and empathy

One interesting data point to show the effectiveness of these strategies is that when the school and educators are active and consistent about reaching out to parents, research has proven that reading scores improve 50% faster and math scores improve 40% faster—simply because the educators were passionate in their pursuit of family engagement! Even when we sometimes believe that our efforts are not making an impact, they are!

When looking more specifically, the most impactful, targeted actions by the school include:

• In-person family-educator meetings
• Phone calls and home visits
• Sending home materials on ways to help their child at home
• Routine phone communication regarding celebrations as well as concerns
• Updates on progress
• Math and reading learning packets with specific instructions
• Training and parenting support information

Family Engagement Essentials for Success

Quality family engagement in a child’s education is critical and possible when the definition, expectations, and vision are clearly established in a way that encouraged and inspire participation and enthusiasm. Remember…

• Make families feel welcomed
• Focus on the school’s mindset and paradigm surrounding family engagement
• Recognize, respect, and factor in the unique characteristics of your families to include educational level, culture, language, socio-economic level, and personal circumstances
• Ensure that family engagement is strategically planned for by the school employees
• Recognize the variations in what a family’s engagement may, or may not include, celebrating all involvement
• Provide a variety of family engagement options and opportunities to appeal to the different needs of your families

As stated by children’s author Emilie Buchwald, “Children are made readers on the laps of their parents.”  What families are doing, or how well they are doing it, is far less important than the fact that families are engaged in some capacity with their children’s education. This engagement generates academic and future success for the child and makes our jobs easier and more rewarding as educators. By being mindful of the different components of family engagement, aware of the diversity and complexities within our families, and by being excepting, encouraging, and positive we can create a climate and culture of love and acceptance that manifests into academic achievement for students.

School Specialty Has the Solutions to Your Family Engagement Needs

School Specialty offers a wide selection of products that support family engagement. Our collection of engaging resources is a one-stop-shop for your school community needs.