Taking Attendance & Classroom Jobs

Firstly, I just want to say THANK GOD I found this forum.. you all are amazing and making this first year teacher feel a little less panicked!

I have two questions....
1) I was reading through Harry Wong's First Days of School last night and he had a couple of suggestions for time-saving ways to take attendance. One suggestion is... (excuse my paraphrasing. lol) to have a chart near the classroom door... every student in the class has a clothes-pin with their name on it. When the students come in to the classroom each morning, they are to move their clothes-pin from the "absent" side to the "present" side. As the students get to work on their first assignment, the teacher just looks to see whose clothes-pin is left on the "absent" side of the chart and marks their attendance sheet accordingly.
I really like this idea, but was wondering if anyone has actually used it, and if the answer is yes, did you encounter any issues with it? Does anyone take attendance in any other creative way?

2) What classroom jobs to you assign your students? (ie: door holder, pencil sharpener, line leader, ect.). Do you assign these jobs every day?

:thanks:

 

I don't take attendance in a creative way. I just look for empty seats when the bell rings .

 

Hey... Whatever works, right?

 

An extension of the Harry Wong idea-- When I taught 3rd grade, I taped 2 different colored sentence strips together and hung them (the long way) on the chalkboard with a magnet. Every morning, I wrote a question with 2 possible answers on the board above the sentence strips. I wrote one answer on one side of the strip and one on the other. Some of the questions were "How did you get to school today?"/"on foot", "on wheels"; "What part of a birthday party do you like more?"/"cake", "ice cream"; "What weather do you prefer?"/"cool", "warm", etc.
When the students come in, they read the question and put their clothespin on the answer they choose. Clothespins left in the clothespin storage space (I used another strip with the bottom taped horizontally across the bottom of the board-they could still clip on the top) are absent!

 

That's me Just look for those empty seats!

For jobs, I have: Line leader, Door Holder, Lights, Paper passer, Board Eraser, Librarian, and Sweeper (looking for more creative names, if you got 'em!)

I change them every Monday.

 

I use posterboard and library card pockets. The pockets have each child's name. When they come in, they put a strip of paper in their pocket for lunch count. White for milk only, red for hot lunch, and some other color for home lunch. I just glance at the lunch chart and know who is absent AND how many hot lunches to order. Very time saving. IF they remember to do it.

One of the classroom jobs is cleaning up the lunch count chart after lunch. other jobs: line leader, paper passer, teacher helper (Can you please find my cup of coffee while I pass out these papers????!!), calendar person, lights, flag. In the past I had pet caretaker, waterer of plants, office person (to run errands to the office). Anything you can think of that the kids can do themselves, teach them to do it and make it a job. The kids love to have a job! And it means one more job you don't have to do. It also promotes a sense of community. I had to keep an eye on the pet person, but each week when the new pet person was assigned, the one from the previous week would teach the new person. It was neat to see.

 

Also, I assign every child a number according to alphabetical order. So the job chart rotates by number - I again use poster board and library card pockets, write the job on each pocket, and have an index card w/each child's name and # on it. My first year I had a cute but wacky chart shaped like overalls. I could not read it from across the room, and I had no way to remember who had done what. So I went to plain Jane chart and it keeps everything running smoothly, and kids know what job is coming up for them.

 

The mornings are sooooooo crazy. I just look for empty desk, too.

 

each chid is responsible for taking down their own chair...i look for "up chairs" and go from there...

I did a whole pocket chart thing for attendance last year...I spent more time telling the kids to move the card than I cared to...it was just not worth it!

jobs:
Teachers helper (morning meeting, other special jobs) door holder, line leaders, enders, materials, I dont have plants, but I know some have plant helpers

 

knittingbec -- That's a really neat idea... I'm going to have to write it down in my idea notebook!

bonneb -- I never would've thought of the library pocket idea. We don't have to order hot lunches... but if we did, that would be such a great idea! I like the idea of assigning jobs for the same reasons that you listed.... I think it's a great way to learn responsibility, and promote a sense of community. Plus as a new teacher, I'm sure I'll be up to my eyeballs in tasks of my own!

Thank you all for your suggestions!!

 

I use a duck tape box for attendance. It is a small box (with one end open) covered in blue duck tape to keep it sturdy. Then I write everyones name on a clothespin and clip it to the box. As the kids come into the room, they unclip their name and throw it inside the box. Then I scan the room for any unclipped names (to double check anyone who forgot) and send in my attendance.

It also provides a classroom job...reclipping the names. Sometimes I also use it instead of my popsicle sticks to draw names from.

 

I use clothes pins for attendance and lunch count. I have a file tray that is labeled with "hot lunch" "pb&j" "meat sandwich" and "lunch from home" on each side. When the students come in they put their clothes pin on their lunch choice for the day and once they're settled working on the morning seat work I'm able to call them up to hand in their lunch money based on where they've placed their clothes pins.

 

I do a similar attendance/lunch count method. I put all the kids names on popsicle sticks and glued a magnet to the back of each one. I created a space on the board for lunch count. Each day, the kids come in and move their stick to whichever lunch they are having (we usually have 5 options for lunch buyers at my school- crazy!) I also have a place for packers to move their sticks to. I drilled this routine into the kids at the beginning of the year, so they are very good about it. With a glance, I can see who is not here by any lunch sticks still left. I also line my kids up by lunch choice when we go to lunch so that the line goes that much faster. I can just glance at the board and call them by choice. The lunch ladies like it!

 

I do the same thing!

 

In my district we aren't allowed to let the kids take attendance, and I think that would include moving a clip around. I wish it could be that easy for me!

I take attendance by glancing at faces and doing a head count. I have extra desks in my room so I can't go by empty desks. Anyway, I compare the head count to the number of students who are supposed to be present according to our attendance software.

 

But...if you're counting the clothes pins/clips that are up isn't that the same as counting the heads just easier because all the clips are in the same area and the kids are spread out around the room?

I guess I should add that I always double-check to make sure that the clothes pins that are still on the tray (not put up) are actually kids that aren't in the room. There are some students who need to be reminded to put up their clothespins.

 

Yeah, technically we can't even do that. If an administrator walked in and we were letting the kids have anything to do with attendance, we'd get into trouble because of all the legal issues I guess.

I'm not saying I agree... I'm just saying how it is.

 

Jobs

These are the jobs I am going to have for the upcoming school year
1. Line Leader 2. Door Holder 3. Lights Manager 4. Teacher's Helper 5. Substitute 6. Sign Out Manager 7. Computer/Listening Center Manager 8. Center Materials Manger 9. Table Managers (4) 10. Police (2) 11. Librarians (2) 12. Attendance Manager 13. Behavior Manager

I try to make sure that each of my students has a job to do.

 

I just look for empty seats for attendance. They are usually busy doing morning work or listening to morning announcements so I have time.

My jobs are:
Floor Sweeper (cafe)
Table Washer (cafe)
Line Leader
Door Holder
Caboose (turns off lights,changes outside sign that says where we are)
Paper Passer
Office Helpers (2)
Mail Person
Techie (new one so I am working on name)

 

I pray that I haven't missed anyone... and ask the kids if their neighbor is at their seat lol. I had the worst problem with tardies this year, and with our school starting right away with the reading block attendance was really hurried for me.

I also feel weird having my kids do attendance. I do let them take it to the office though.

 

In our class we assign the jobs on Monday of every week.

 

I have a zoo theme, the chart is titled Zookeepers and the jobs are:
Line leader
Homework Helper (collect homework folders)
Caboose (turn off lights and close door)
Neat Nut (checks for trash, or goes around with trashcan when needed)
Paper Passer
Folder Finder (passes out or collects, WW folders, Behavior folder, etc)
Stamper(places stamps or stickers on groups chart)
Pencil Person (passes out pencils in the morning and collects them at the end of the day, for me to sharpen)
Chart Changer (changes the chart at the end of the day)
Library Lamp (turns on and off the lamp in the library)

 

My first year I had clothepins with student's names. I put them around a can, and the students clipped them on a pocket chart labeled, "hot lunch" and "cold lunch." This year I had magnetic tape on my kid's name tags. They were put on a side of a cabinet every afternoon. In the morning they would get their nametag and put them on their tables (magnetic tape on the tables). I could glance at the nametags to see who was absent. Then, the magnetic tape kept coming off the tables, so I gave that up. I ended up just doing it as I was checking homework. For next year I bought a question of the day chart from Lakeshore, so I can glance at the names who have not been moved. It was expensive, but I used school money.

 

Be VERY careful about any attendance method which doesn't require you to visually check that each child you mark present is actually in the room.

It's possible that school attendance could be the subject of a supoena, for anything from child abuse to a child's alibi to a custody hearing. Your name on the attendance means YOU verify that the child was there. I think you need to see each face, not a clothespin or anything else.

 

I take attendance on my Smartboard. I just bring up the screen that I take attendance on from my computer and the kids come up as the come in the room and draw a line through their picture. Then I know who is there and who is not. On our attendance program when I bring up the daily attendance screen is hows all the kids pictures.

 

I interned in a classroom that did this, and it worked very well.

 

I really like all of these ideas! I think I'm going to have to invest insome clothes pins.

I would definitely double check to make sure the kids were all in attendance.

 

Normally I just count empty desks. My students are usually too busy in the mornings to help with attendance. This year we had to stand at our doors. I stood there with my gradebook in hand, and checked off names as they came in the door.

 

I just count heads....If I have them all I know...We have to put attendence cards in our door AND do attendence on the computer (I'm terrible at remembering to do them both) so if I don't count all heads then I just flip through the cards and look to see who it is out.

 

Attendance and Jobs

1) I use clothespins that students clip beside one of three sections on a pizza pan ~~ brought lunch, need a tray, or milk only. If a clolthespin is still up, I double-check to see if that student is truly absent or forgot to put his/her clothespin down. I LOVE this method and can quickly take attendance and lunchcount while students are working.

2) I have a helper of the day that completes all jobs for the day. If more than one person is needed, I let the helper pick someone to help or I randomly draw a name "stick." The helper job occurs in # order or reverse # order.

 

I have a boy and girl helper for the week. They complete all of the jobs. My jobs are: line leader, caboose, bathroom monitor, errand runner, and computer technician. I employ a personal assistant once I get to know my students. My assistant can handle my personal things (purse/lunch bag) as well as the room keys. My PA may only changes once a year if ever.

 

Oh, at my current school, I have a fridge in my room and use magnets with their names on them-kids move them to the "hot lunch" or "lunch from home" columns.

 

I use the clips you mentioned. At our school kids have 2 lunch choices or, of course, can bring their lunch. So, my clips started each day clipped to the 'absent' chart and then the kids moved their clip to their lunch choice so this doubled as my daily lunch count (which we have to report each morning) and attendance. Yes, I ran into issues with it ;-)
In 2nd grade, this year, all year I had to remind kids to move their clips in the morning. Most of the kids did it with no problem, and toward the end of the year I had a kid or 2 that were self proclaimed reminder kids and would help remind the others. I guess that really wouldn't have been much of an issue, but we had to leave for resource classes shortly after arriving in the morning and that is when I was supposed to report my absences/lunch count. So, if they took off for resource and I realized THEN that a couple clips hadn't been moved, I wasn't always certain if that child was actually absent, or had just forgotten.
One of my classroom jobs is the clip manager. They are supposed to move the clips back at the end of each day.

 

Morning routine

For the first 20 minutes of the morning is my student's familiar reading time. They each have a browsing box. They are to pu their backpacks away and go to their seat with their browsing box. In the meantime I am at my table taking attendance, giving dibels, and taking running records. Students are to read at least one book from their box before going to the restroom. That way, they are in their seat. I look up for browsing boxes still on the shelf. Those are the one who are absent.
I have two bags. I randomly pick a name from one bag and move it to the other bag. That is my leader for the day. The leader does any job that I need done. I choose from the bag until they are all gone and start over.

 

I know where each child sits, so I check to see whose desk is empty to check attendance.

I usually have one (Student of the Week) to do the jobs for the week, line leader, paper passer, errand runner, etc. I try to choose a boy one week then a girl the next week. I like Shasa's idea of a boy and a girl for the week. I think I will implement this next year.

 

For jobs I used to have a boy and a girl helper. I write their names on sentence strips, cut them up, (pink and blue) and put the girls on a ring and the boys on a ring. I put a tack on the calendar wall and put the rings up on the wall. Every day the helper turned the cards to see who would be helpers the next day. I really loved it, but I found that I had so many little things I wanted them to do, I found myself reminding the new kids every day. So I decided to give each student a job, and in order for them to get really good at it, they had the job for a month. I couldn't think of any great system to do this so they thought of three jobs they really want to do, I called the jobs and they raised their hands and I picked one. Now there were usually like three jobs that EVERYONE wanted so I got rid of those first. I just had written them down on a list, but the kids kept forgetting, so I typed it up with just their name and their job. Next year I think I am going to make a chart with clothepins.

 

I call out their names one by one and they have to answer repetition questions to get their brains moving. The kids know they'll all be asked a question each and are prepared for it. This way, all kids are heard at least one time that day -the minimum.

 

This past year I bought a Who's Here Today? board. The kids move their name with their picture from at home to at school and then vice versa in the afternoon. Next year I'm at a different school, so i'm going to make a simple chart with one side saying school and the other saying home. The kids will move their name to the right spot. By the way I teach preschool sped.

 

lunch count and attendance

For lunch count, I have two containers that read Hot Lunch and Cold Lunch. Each child has a small wooden star with their name on it. After reading Harry Wong's book part of their morning procedure was to do their lunch count. They simply put their star in either the hot lunch or cold lunch container. Whoever's star is left out, I know that they are absent. Then I simply look at the cold lunch names in the container and write them down. It is very simple and the kids really seem to enjoy it. Then at the end of the day, one of the kids will lay out the stars for the next school day.

Nicole

 

Raise your hand if your partner/student next to you is absent.