Attendence

[katie]

What is a good way to take attendence in the classroom without wasting a lot of class time?

Katie

[Terri Chjiles]

Arrange kids in alpabetic order seating wise. After about a week, you'll look at the empty seats and be able to pick out who's out in seconds.

[BigDaddyTeacher]

Arrange the desks in groups - this encourages the kids to work together, and they'll be able to tell you who's absent!

[Unregistered]

While students are doing morning work I quickly enter absent students on attendance forms. I also have a student whose job it is to record students present, absent and tardy each day.

[Nan]

In my fifth grade classroom, as the students come in, they go over to our white board which is magnetic and "apple" themselves in. There is an apple cutout (from a bulletin board border) with a magnet glued to the back and their name on the front. They simply move their name to the hot lunch column or the cold lunch column on the board. During the morning announcements a helper fills out the lunch count slip and takes it to the office. I can easily see the names left for absent students and record them on the computer. They like, and need, the responsibility. (Last year I used clip clothespins with their name on it and they clipped their name to a board that had hot lunch and cold lunch on the sides.)

[Unregistered]

On their way in ,each child picks his name from a chart which has little hooks on it with each students name .They turn the name over and place it back on the chart .Each card has a picture of an apple on the back.By the time class begins,the teacher has only to see the names of those who are absent among the apple cards on the chart.If the chart is made of tack board and the name cards are laminated, it will keep nicely for the year.Only the names need be changed for the next year.

[Unregistered]

I assign seats for a two months at a time. I quickly scan the room to see which seats are empty, then note on the seating chart who is absent.

[Unregistered]

If your studnets automatically meet at the carpet/rocking chair for a morning meeting of some kind this will work very well. Have the students put their chairs up each afternoon. Then when they come in they will take down their chair and you can easily see by looking at the desks if anyone is absent.

[Unregistered]

I teach five periods of eleventh grade English; my total student enrollment is 127 students. I spend the first two weeks of school just observing my students. I plan activities like reversed introductions to make the kids listen to each other and get the kids up in front of the class. At the end of that class, I look at each student, recite their name, and explain why it is so important for me as a teacher to be able to do this. I use controversial reading comps. and then do whole class debates to see which kids are willing to express their views and determine who can read beyond the text. I get a writing sample in addition to various other activities. Once I feel like I know my students, I put them into a seating chart that can easily transition into copperative learning groups of four. In each group I try to put a good writer, an articulate speaker (or "hambone"), a kid with great insight, and a student that I feel would be reliable to organize and keep information. Every day I talk to students as they enter class, and try to call on each one during my lesson. I try to put attendance in the school's computer system in between classes or whenever I have time. Like myself, I'm sure it's not always perfect...oh well.

[Unregistered]

As several mentioned, the easiest way is some sort of seating chart that you can use to just glance around the room though i dont think it has to be in alpabetical order as someone suggested. I also found it easiest to have a prepared list that i could just check off and then use to enter the info in the computer.

The reason i am writing though is that some of the teachers on the blog seemed to consider accurate attendance sort of insignificant--ITS NOT. You are responsible to be sure the kids are accounted for BY LAW. Its one of the few things a tenured teacher CAN BE FIRED FOR. Imagine the kid who cuts class, goes for a joy ride, wraps himself around a tree, and you have never reported him absent OR the second grader who is abducted on the playground by his dad at nine in the morning and isnt reported missing until he doesnt show up at home in the afternoon, when it is discovered dad has taken him out of state. EXTREME EXAMPLES--NOT!!

So, be careful about the attendance issue. Even though it doesnt seem so, its important and it is YOUR LEGAL OBLIGATION.

[Unregistered]

I give each student a popsicle stick the first day of school and they need to write their name on it. They may also deorate it as long as it is appropriate. I then place them in a baby food jar labeled with their class and each day when the students arrive, they take their stick out of the class jar and put it in a coffee mug on my desk. The sticks left behind are those who are absent. I use this method with grades 5-8.

[Unregistered]

I also use the popsicle sticks to assign partners/groups, reading out loud, answering questions and determining order for presentations. This way, students are not left out when choosing partners/groups and the same students are not always chosen for reading or answering questions (this also means that all students have to pay attention at all times). When it comes to presentations, all students must be prepared at the same time.

[stutes]

As an eighth grade teacher, I choose to keep my students in assigned seats. This helps when taking attendance. Additionally, during the first 5 minutes of class, students are checking their homework with the answers placed up on the overhead projector. During this time, I can take attendance and return graded papers.

[Unregistered]

I walk around the room to check homework to see if its done. (I give checks, check minus,or zeroes.) Anyone who has no mark next to their name gets marked with an X for absent. I get to see who's done their homework and take attendance at the same time.

[Unregistered]

Hi! I always have some sort of a warm up for students to be working on in their notebooks while I take attendance. Somedays it is notes on a "famous american," things that happened on that date in history, a "mind bender," or a thought provoking question on the topic we are studying. Whatever it is, students are held responsible for it, as I collect their notebooks at least once a marking period. It buys me time to do housekeeping things at the beginning of the class, and gets their attention right away.

[Unregistered]

Have a coffee can sitting near the door. Clipped to the coffee can is a clothes pin for every student in the classroom. As they come in the students take their clothes pin and drop it in the can leaving only those clothes pins of the students who are absent that day. At the end of the day have one of your students remove the clothes pins from the can and put them back around the rim of the can. In Texas, attendance is very important not only for safety reasons as someone else stated but for monetary reasons.

[ConnieSemler@aol.com]

I use an easal and the students make their lunch selection with a clothespin for the day. Any clothespins that are not on the lunch selection chart is a student that is absent.

[Unregistered]

Make a seating chat to match your room. Assign seats and write in the student's name for each seat in pencil so you can change seats as you need throughout the school year or semester. Place the chart in a plastic cover or page protector for each class section (I work in middle school and this works great). Use either a dry marker or an overhead transparency marker and mark your absences daily. At the end of the day you can wipe the plastic cover clean with a paper towel and water and start again another day.

[Unregistered]

The best way I have ever witnessed is to keep a clipboard by the door and have kids sign in daily. I learned this from a first grade teacher and I used it w/ HS students. It puts the responsibility on the children and if you have a class w/ the same # of students every day, the teacher can # the sign in page, then glance at it before starting to class to make sure all #s are filled in. Teacher adds any absent child to the bottom of the list and you have a permanent record.

[Unregistered]

I teach Chorus with very large classes. To save time... I assign a number to each student. It's also the same number they use for their choral folder. I then call roll by having them count off. This works anywhere....during a fire drill, on a field trip, on a bus, etc. After a few weeks all the students know most everyone's number so I have an entire class of helpers - it's great.

I have contests between classes to see who's faster, if they begin dragging the tempo... The students love the small reward for winning, and they work really hard to do it quickly as a team. It's amazing how this simple activity gets everyone on task, listening and focused. Try it! : )

For those rare "sneaky" ones who want to cover for a missing friend, I can also easily scan assigned seats on my seating charts for those I need to double-check. Since I open each class with students copying the Essential Question of the day into their notebooks, I'm multi-tasking while they work silently. Good luck!

[Unregistered]

I teach high school mathematics. All my classes have a 5-minute warm-up at the beginning of the period. During this time I take attendance. It helps that my classes are seated at round tables, basically in groups. I can see at a glance any "missing bodies" and note who is absent.

[Unregistered]

Our 5th graders love the game we play for attendance! I begin by giving them a topic, such as favorite ice cream flavor, last movie you watched, etc. I give them a ten second countdown to think of an answer. When each name is called an answer must be given as quickly as possible. The "leader of the day" keeps track of how many seconds it takes from start to finish. On days when we have students absent, we simply subtract one second for each one missing. They love it, and it gets them thinking right off the bat.

[Unregistered]

Hello! I am an Elementary Music teacher with 400 students. Attendance can be a real hassle with students from 5th down to Pre-K. At some point in every lesson, however, I do a singing activity where I sing and each student responds. When a student does not respond, I can easily mark the student absent. Hope this helps. As my Summer Teaching Instructor says, "Don't stand around admiring the problem. Find a solution!"

[Unregistered]

I have grade 6. A student does my attendance and shows me the report each morning. My motto for survival is "Why should I do it if a student can do it!"

[Alex]

In one of my education classes our professor who taught high school for about 20 years used this method: in the first few days of class the students made name tags which were set out on a desk and as the students came in they took their name tag and placed it on their own desk. My professor would then quickly jot down the date on the inside of the name tag so he could keep track of how many days you were absent and could quickly tell you which days.

[Unregistered]

I am a high school math teacher. I put a warm up activity that will take at least 5 minutes either on the board or overhead each day for students to begin as soon as they enter class. I require students to come to class on time with 5 things - a binder, their textbook, their homework, a pencil, and a well rested brain that is ready to learn. I will know that they have brought their brain if they are working on the warm up activity and have the other things on their desk when I take attendance at the beginning of class. I record 0 - 5 points in my record book depending on how many of the required things they have brought. Because homework is the most difficult to get kids to bring and because it is the most important, I give them an additional 5 points added to their original points for completing their homework. Thus if students don't do their homework the most they can earn is 4 points. If they do their homework they earn between 5 and 10 points.

I keep this attendance, homework and preparedness record on a separate page from other grades which I find makes it easier to use at the beginning of class. Every student who is present will have a number betweem 0 and 10 in the box for their name. I put a diagonal line in the box for absent students. If a student comes in late, I have a box for late slips near the door. I later use the late slips to record students who came in late by putting a half diagonal going the other way under the first diagonal - and if they are late enough to have missed more than 10 minutes of the class, I note the time on their late slip in the upper half. Students who arrive late are not eligible for any of the 10 points, although I will place a check in the upper part of the box if they leave their homework with their late slip.

This sounds like a difficult to maintain procedure, but I have found that students learn quite quickly what they need to do to earn the beginning of class points. Many students who have difficulty in math appreciate the opportunity to earn what they see as easy points - and it gets them to come on time, bring what they need to class and do their homework. Within the first five minutes of class I can glance around the room to check whether students have homework and other materials while I take attendance. Additionally students come to class prepared. For those who have forgotten something essential to starting class - like a piece of paper or pencil, I keep pencils that I can identify as mine near the door. You can order pencils from many places with your name on them so you will know whether a student has come prepared and earned the point or borrowed a teacher pencil. I also keep a cart stocked right inside the door with paper and other things students might need for a particular assignment and they know that the materials on the cart are there for their use during class. Because it is near the door, it is also an easy place to drop things off at the end of class.

I find that when I need to discuss a problem with a parent, most of the information I need to share with them is recorded on this page. At a glance, I know whether their child has been absent, coming to class late or unprepared, doing homework, etc.

[Unregistered]

At the school where I teach, the principal requires the teachers to greet their students at the door in the morning and as they come in after each recess. In the morning, the line up and as they enter, I greet them with a good morning, and then they tell me if they are having hot lunch or cold lunch. As they are getting settled, I do a final check of the classroom.

[Unregistered]

I teach middle school and have 5 classes. I put each seating chart in a sheet protector. As I call on students I put a check mark by their name so that I can see if I am calling on everyone and not one person 4 times. I also mark an A or a T on the chart for absent and tardy students. At the end of the day (or whenever I have time), I use my seating charts to enter roll on the computer.