I have 4 classes rotating in and out of my classroom each day and I find myself constantly straightening up rows/groups. If not, by the end of the day, every group is smooshed up to the front of the room, the rows are all wiggle-wormy, etc. I've tried wrapping tape around the legs (it breaks). I thought I saw some velcro wraps at Really Good Stuff but I've never been able to find them since. I've considered having my husband buy some pipe big enough to fit the legs and cutting it into circles and placing the legs in those. I'm open to any ideas! The biggest challenge is that I rearrange the room a lot, depending on needs. Sometimes, rows work best, sometimes groups of 4/5, so I need something that I can change easily.
What about tape on the floor lining up the edges of the desks? That way at the end of your classes you can just have the kinds line them up really quick according to those lines.
you could use zip ties. they are cheap. Doesn't solve your problem of being able to move them. The above idea sounds pretty good.
I use painter's tape on my carpet. It comes up without leaving a sticky residue but stays down pretty well. I just put it in a few places, make those people put their desks on the tape and then everyone else knows where their desks belong.
I have tables, but they also tend to migrate throughout the day. It absolutely drives me nuts! I swear I'm thinking of nailing them into my floor LOL!
I put an L shape of blue painters tape around the back two legs (the ones closest to the student) on EVERY day, kids don't ever leave the room unless desks are straight. It works perfectly! I didn't have it for summer school, and it was awful! It's not real fun to put down, but the kids will pull it up at the end of the year, and like goopp said, nothing is left behind on the carpet, and it lasts all year!
on my tile floor last year i used small permanent marker marks on two legs. it rubs off after a while. however, the ones i put down towards the end of the year didn't come off! oops. so i think this year i'm going to try overhead markers. the wet erase kind. i'm going to try it on my table for a while to see if it works just as good and comes up after a while. have to try, right? i've used tape on tile and it gets all screwed up and i end up using a lot of it. however i like the L shape that someone mentioned...might try that too. dunno. anyway...just my two cents!
I use white shoe polish on the floor where the front desk legs go. Every day they have to align their desks with the polish. I usually have to replenish it mid-year.
does the shoe polish come off easily if i want to move the desks? like with water or whatever. that's a great idea! also...do you notice if it rubs off easily?
It doesn't come up that easily - it will come up with water. I didn't move the desks often, so it worked perfectly for me.
I use tape on the floor and have the kids put the desks back on the tape before they leave. If I notice it is getting hairy looking during the day I will randomly say "Desk check!" The kids know that means the desk fairy is comming to check for neat desks and this includes staying on the lines. I have a little coupon that says "Congratulations from the desk fairy" that I made which gives them an extra privilege.
For those of you who use the shoe polish, do you have carpet? I'm thinking I may go ahead with the pipe idea. I'm thinking that bits of paper trash will wind up there but I move the desks frequently (and the kids...new seats every 2-3 weeks) depending on what we're doing in class, so I'm thinking tape may be hard unless I use 2 different colors of electrical tape.
I like the zip tie idea. I think I will try that. My P said no tape on the floors and I think she would mess her pants if there was a dark spot on the tile for desks. LOL
When I had desks I used tape strips and zip ties. I zip tied desks together and then marked where the front leg of the desk should sit with tape. All I had to do with my 1st graders was tell them to straigthened up and they easily placed desks back to where they belonged. Some even did without me saying anything.
what the desks or the students??????????? Because I'm telling ya what I think nailing to the floor and it isn't desks!!!!!!!!!!!! just kidding........
the first grade teacher across the hall uses masking tape on the floor, and she calls it an island, my kids always talk about their islands, so it seems to have worked. I guess they have to keep the legs of their chairs on the island.
Try writing over the permanent marker with white board marker. Somehow it clings to it when it is dry and it helps take the permanent marker off.
yeah...they already waxed over it. they couldn't even scrape it up tho. i found some spots where they literally used a razor blade to get it up and it still didn't work. must've been pourous tile.
