Happy Holidays!
Have you heard of Sit Spots? I’ve seen a bunch of primary teachers using them to mark spots for students to sit. One day I jokingly said to my coteacher, “I think WE need Sit Spots!”. I decided to snoop around their website a little bit and then my brain started working overtime. I learned that they work on classroom carpet without damaging it (note…they do NOT work on area rugs) and come in a zillion shapes and colors.
I started to think–would having some of these portable “spots” help me with transitions and organization? Would they help my students stay focused and know what to do? In the intermediate grades, we don’t necessarily need our students to “stay put” in one spot, but I had some ideas for how to use these in intermediate classrooms…and the Sit Spot people wanted me to test them out!
Here are a few things I am using my spots for! See what you think!
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| The first thing I did was to order my dots…I got 6 dots in 5 colors because I thought it would offer me lots of options. Notice how I put two of the same colored dots next to each other. Those are their “turn and talk” partners! No more wasted time trying to make partners and no more kids being left out! |
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| I even started having students go stand on a dot and then move to a new color…that kept them from always finding the same dot. In fact, sometimes I would tell them to find a dot they had never sat on before to use! It was a great way to shake up routine and get students sitting by new friends. |
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| Although I bought circles (seemed the most “intermediate” and flexible), I did buy a few long strips. I have one area in my room where traffic crosses my small group work. I put the stripe up as a sort of “boundary” for my group area. It worked! |
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| Another great use of these dots was to help with organization. I do a lot of small group work so I started experimenting with using my dots to mark the places I wanted groups to meet. It was an easy way for students to find a spot, pass out supplies, etc. |
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| I also tried putting spots in a semicircle for a reading group…I am NOT a table person and this did keep my students right where I wanted them! |
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| This was another use…if you are like me, you have your desks in groups–but those groups keep moving around the room–and creeping forward into our large group space. The spots really helped desk groups know right where to line up their desks at the end of the day! |
So I have some great news! The Sit Spot people are so excited about the thought of extending their reach into more intermediate classrooms that they have agreed to give a FIFTY DOLLAR gift certificate to one of you! It’s super easy to enter the giveaway…they want to reward my followers! If you are interested, just enter below! You could get a set of Sit Spots of your own for the holidays!
