Everyone Sign-in Please!

Every day before class starts I have the children sign-in their name as part of their daily routine.  The kids' names are put on the sign-in sheet in random order but I do write their names according to skill level. So some are in all caps and some are in standard name form.  I try to get all their names in standard form by the end of the year since in kindergarten they will be in standard form.  This is a great way to scaffold the children in their name writing skills!

This is also a great way to assess their pencil grip level too.

And because the names are numbered they also begin to understand which number has their name for number recognition skills.

Classroom Management Problem Solved!

Problem: I was noticing that my students had a hard time understanding how many could be in a center at a time.  
Solution: So to help with this I came up with our "Monkey" system.   

Each center has monkeys that represent  the amount of children that can be at that particular center.

 There is velcro on both monkeys so a student just places their monkey on the spot and it shows who is in that center.

 Then the students each have their own matching monkey with their name on it. If there is no room for their monkey then the center is full.  When a child moves, they move their monkey to a new "open" center.
At the end of choice time all the monkeys go back to their home on a black homing board.

 Problem Solved!  It only took a few days for the kids get the concept down.  Now they walk around saying "don't forget your monkey" and "is it monkey time?"  So cute!