I’ve got some wiggly little ones. I bet you do too! Several of my students have a hard time keeping their pockets down on the chair and not moving all over the place. After a lot of research into alternative seating, I decided to give it a try and see if it helps my distracted students.
These are Hokki stools and so far I am loving them. They are curved on the bottom, which allows for some movement while sitting. I will say the very first day my most wiggliest students were moving on these stools like crazy. I wasn’t sure that I had made a good decision. I wanted to help my distracted students, not make the distractions worse! Now as the new is wearing off, I think it is going to be a good fit. Everyone but the most wiggly is doing well with them. For those that just cannot sit still and want to spin, guidelines will have to be set.
These seats are going to give students more room at my table, help them to sit tall and not lean on the table, and provide an appropriate way for them to still get in some movement while staying in their area and continuing to learn!
Our new alternative seating will be getting a good work out during RTI. A new resource for RTI time is this Blends & Digraphs Intervention Binder.
I love to use sounds linking charts with my students, whether it is an ABC chart, cvc charts or this blends & digraphs chart. We read it forwards, backwards, row by row, I call out a sound, etc… Readers who have difficulty often need to go over these sounds daily for them to become automatic.
My goal is to move students from individual sounds to chunks of sounds.
I want the students to put the sounds together in chunks and for some that takes practice.
During RTI, some students need to practice these sounds everyday.
Moving students from practicing words right into sentence reading is important. I want them reading in context.
Then students can get in some practice with their fluency and comprehension.
The Blends and Digraphs Interventions Binder is a companion to this CVC Intervention Binder. Just click the pictures or colored words to be taken to see them.
You can get the whole bundle or see each binder individually by clicking here or on the picture above!
Fluency Intervention Binders! Fun and engaging activities to improve reading in phrases. Click here to see.
Did your school purchase these? Did you apply for a grant? They are pretty pricey!
Nicole, the school did purchase these. I am in a Title 1 position so there was some funds for that. I think they are going to really help my students to be able to concentrate better for the most part. I do know that a lot of teachers do donor's choose projects to help with purchases like this. Thank you for coming by!
Those are really cool stools, Lori. I've never even heard of them. My chairs are starting to get pretty old. I'll have to remember these when it's time to replace them.
The Hokki stools are great, Barb! The kids love them. Definitely have to set guidelines for using them though.
I've been on and off wondering about flexible seating in my room and what that would look like. Of course, things like this add up monetarily, so it's sure nice you have a budget that takes care of that for you.
Tammy, you are so right. It helps incredibly to have the budget to be able to get some of the extras for my room.
Yeah we have them at our school and every day we have students fall off of them. Can't say I'm a fan!!! Not safe if you ask me.
Abi, I have had a few fall too. We go over procedures and make an anchor chart to help with that. I didn't have that chart posted here so I added that. For the ones that just cannot handle them, they get to go back to a regular chair. 🙂
Thanks for visiting!
What size did you use in your classroom?
Under the Umbrella, I am so sorry, but I cannot remember the size that I ordered. But I know that I read the measurements of the ones available and compared that to the size of the chairs the students were using to be sure they were the right size. Thank you!
Awesome! I am a homeschooling mom and I have 2 children. One of my children does well on her schoolwork when she has the freedom to move around a bit. I have been considering getting two of the adjustable height ones, but have been waiting to read independent reviews from teachers. Does the movement seem to distract your other students at all? I’m concerned that my more wiggly child will distract my less wiggly child.
I don’t really think the extra movements bother the other kids. Sometimes if they are super wiggly, it bothers me more than them. Lol. But I am really pretty firm about the no spinning and feet anchored to the floor. Otherwise, the spinning or the tipping over and falling on the floor might be distracting.