Monday Made It :: Washi Tape Name Sticks

Happy Monday, friends.  I'm so happy to be back again today with another Monday Made It!  This one is super simple, but such a big part of each day in my classroom.

If you're like me, your name sticks are in a prominent location in your classroom.  They get used every single day, over and over again to call on students, put partners or groups together, etc.  They are a small, simple thing....but they make my life as a teacher so much easier!

I've tried several different types of name sticks over the years.  Most recently, I've painted one end....

...and used star stickers.

I LOVED the look of the spray-painted name sticks, but the reality of me painting sticks each summer just isn't going to happen.  Why?  I don't know.  I'm lazy in the summer.  Admitting that I'm too lazy to spend a few minutes spray-painting the ends of craft sticks is a little embarrassing, but it's the truth.  Grace, please.  

The star stickers didn't stay put.  Most of them fell off by the end of last year.  Also, I tried numbers on the sticks last year instead of names.  It was the first time I'd tried that, and I realized that I like having names on the sticks better.  Numbers would allow the sticks to be used from year to year, but made it less convenient to call on kids (especially early in the year when I was still trying to learn their numbers or when guest teachers were there).  I'll do names from now on.

Anyway, as I was brainstorming what I could use this year (planning to go back to the spray-paint), my stash of washi tape came to mind.  Washi tape is fabulous -- so easy to work with and so super cute!!  I had these three options in my collection that are wider - more the size of masking tape.  I knew that they would be a cute and easy solution, so I decided to give it a try for this year.

 I had these three colors to choose from.

 I thought that the orange didn't stand out enough against the wood of the stick.  I liked the pink and blue, so I tried them both in my name stick cup to see which I preferred.

This is the cup I keep my name sticks in.

I loved the way the pink tape looked, so I wrapped one end of 30 sticks. 

(Always make extras at the start of the year for those newbies that will come in throughout the year!)

 Pretty adorable in the cup, huh???

My student names will go on one end once my class list is finalized.

And that's that!  Easy (simple, actually), but they will be used SO MUCH this year!

Thanks to Tara for hosting this fun linky each week.  I love being inspired by all of the other teachers that link up.

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!