SitSpots!

I have had this topic on my bloggy to-do list for a while now, but when I read Kristin's post yesterday, I knew that I just HAD to blog about it now!

Have you heard of SitSpots???  

I first read about them on Growing Kinders' blog.  She uses them as a tool for lining her students up to leave the classroom.  I loved this idea, but I already have a black line on my floor where carpet meets tile, so it's sort-of like a built-in line for lining my kiddos up in a nice, straight, orderly way.

When I was at Kim Adsit's conference last Spring, she talked about having assigned seats for students the the carpet.  I had never done this before, but it was one of those tips from the day that stuck with me and when I saw the SitSpots, I knew that they would be the perfect tool to make it happen.  It didn't hurt that my teaching partner made the jump before I did and she RAVED about the SitSpots for her students.

There are oodles of colors and shapes available, but I chose to go with a variety so that each student at the carpet has a shape partner and a color partner.  Their shape partners are similar ability level, and their color partners are mixed.  They know how to turn and face their partner for discussions, and that when I begin counting down from 5, they finish their conversations and turn back to face me.

Our Kindergarten friends have to be able to name circle, square, triangle, rectangle, and hexagon.  That silly hexagon trips so many of them up, so I made sure to choose a hexagon as one of my shapes.

See that open space?  That space is where a SitSpot USED to be.  Sadly, on a day when we had a guest teacher, one of my little guys decided to color and scribble all over his spot, so he lost it.  For now, his spot is empty. :(  A serious punishment because my students LOVE their spots so much!

 Here's a close-up of a SitSpot.  They are super thin, they stay put on the carpet so well, and they can be vacuumed over!

 I love, love, love them.  They have saved me from a million headaches during whole-group lessons at the carpet when students don't make smart choices or want to wiggle their little bodies all over the place.

You MUST HAVE these for your classroom!  They are inexpensive and can be used in so many ways!  Head on over to Kristin's blog for a chance to win a class set OR for a coupon code for 25% off an order!  And here is the link to their website. Such a genius idea!