Optimum Organization: A Simple Way to Take Attendance

Happy Wacky Wednesday fellow bloggers and followers!  It has been a wild week of weather, and weird student behavior!  I was so happy to find Kristen and Elizabeth were trying to put a little bit of organization back into my life after the chaos.
We didn't experience anything nearly as bad as Oklahoma, but there was a lot of RAIN and WIND and THUNDER.. and it made my smarties CRAZY!
Today I'm sharing a quick way that I take attendance in my classroom.

We have to report attendance electronically through our SchoolTools account.  So I don't have to send envelopes to the office etc... but I still like to shake it up and make it interesting.  When I got my Smartboard many years ago I had the custodians move my dry erase board to the back of my room.  Lucky me, ALL of my walls are magnetic... I am the MAGNET QUEEN!!  This year I found these cool magnetic Tshirts from Really Good Stuff.

Sorry they are blurry.. protecting names and all that fun stuff..

Do you evey buy anything from them?   They do have REALLY good stuff!  Every day I ask my students a question to take attendance.  At the beginning of the year I ask them things about their families or homework.. or getting to know you style questions.  As the year progresses I let them begin to write the question for the next day.  I teach them to move their magnets as they enter my classroom.  The board is literally right next to the door.  Easy Peasy.. This really helps when I have a sub.  With so many other things going on in the morning, attendance is difficult for a sub.  With my board, it has become a habit with my smarties and it is easy to take attendance.  It is also helpful when I have a student who is absent.  As work is returned or collected for the day, I place the absent student's magnet on the back wall.  Everything that is that student's gets placed under the magnet, and they know to collect it the next day when they move their attendace magnet.  No more folders or keeping track of whether a missing student got the worksheet.  It is all under their magnet, waiting for them to return.

Next year we are going to use these...



Aren't they cute!!... I think I may have a tiny obsession with my CHUCKS!  But my smarties this year think they are great...it is definatly something that defines me.......that and coffee cups! :)  I'm going to write each student's name in NEON SHARPIE.. I love that I found those at Staples this year.  I ordered the business magnets from Vistaprint with a great Groupon deal.  I also got a stamp that looks similar for stamping Agendas at the beginning of the year.


When I was teaching lower grades I did the same type of attendance, except I had to provide a lunch count to the cafeteria, so I didn't get to ask any fun questions.  We just did hot, cold, home lunches.  I used wooden stars from Hobby Lobby that I painted and attached a magnet to the back of.  I mounted a magnetic baking sheet to the wall, and it served the same purpose.

Do you have any great organizational tricks of the trade?  I am always looking for ways to become more efficient.  If so, be sure to stop by and see Kristen at Ladybug's Teacher Files, or Elizabeth at Fun in Room 4B and share your tips!

I'm looking forward to hearing about them!

9 comments

  1. I love your magnets - what a great idea! I just saw the neon sharpie markers last night while hunting for new markers - very tempting.

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  2. What a fantastic idea! I've used similar magnets from Really Good Stuff before and loved them. I'm thinking that next year I'm going to try out your attendance idea. I love it :) Thanks for linking up!

    Elizabeth

    Fun in Room 4B

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  3. So much fun! Wonder how I could make that work in middle school where we have to take lunch count and I have three different sections...

    Diane
    Fifth in the Middle

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  4. We've been having a lot of that weather too Michele! I think this is such and cute way to take care of attendance...I absolutely love it! Thanks so much for linking up my friend!

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  5. I love it! I am pinning so that I don't forget. So simple, yet so effective! :)
    Brandee @ Creating Lifelong Learners

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  6. I LOVE really good stuff! It was great when I lived in the US, but now they don't ship overseas!

    The t-shirts are adorable!

    Alison
    Teaching Maths with Meaning

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  7. I love really good stuff! I'm a huge fan of their payment plan...gotta love that on a teacher's salary! I found you through the linky and your blog is just adorable!
    ~Courtney
    Polka Dot Lesson Plans

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