Submitted by Suzanne Knutzen, Washington
Idea posted September 8, 2003
I teach K-3 music, with my students sitting on benches on the edge of my classroom. I have found that assigned seating works well, but it takes a lot of precious classroom time away. So I developed a system called "Rainbow Seating."
I painted the benches a neutral color. Then, I divided the benches into six 15-inch segments. I painted each bench the six colors of the rainbow: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, purple. Since I taped off each segment, the neutral color is between each color.
When the day comes to assign seats, I pass out cards with the colors on them and students find their color. They can also remember their seat much better because they not only remember where the bench was, but what their color was, as well. It works especially well for kindergartners, because without it they would all love to clump together on one bench, and a few would be thinking about starting a tussle.