Book Drawing Countdown
Posted by Diane Badden on 17 Jun 2010 | Posted in: Classroom Routines
Happy Thursday to you! How’s it goin’? My day got off to a bit of a shaky start. I overslept, jumped out of bed, and immediately stepped on my cat’s tail. Not a great way to start the morning. However, all is fine and dandy now. Smiles all around—and, Theo, if you’re on the computer, sorry about your tail! 
Remember, there are only four more days to participate in our free book giveaway. If you missed out on the details, you’ll find them in “Scoop Alert!”
Arrival time is on my mind today. (Gee, I wonder why!) I’d love to hear your tips and strategies for keeping early arrivers actively engaged until school officially starts. Also, how do you handle late arrivers? You know, the children who dawdle on the way to school or whose rides are regularly delayed. (Or the child who tells you she’s late because she stepped on her cat’s tail!)
Cheerfully,
Diane
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21 Responses to “Book Drawing Countdown”
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My students do a table activity when they come in. Each student has a tray at their place with a sentence strip with their name on it and an activity, which is geared toward things that can be done independently and on their level. When they have finished, they put their tray away and then they put their name tag in their mailbox. In their mailbox, I keep another name tag with their name on it for them to put on our attendance board. For this, I often use the clip art from the Mailbox magazines that they can color. I put their names on it and a magnetic strip on the back. When all of this is put away, they go to the block center or housekeeping.
the early ones get free play with class activities and may help me with whatever i am setting up. sometimes it may be an art activity etc.
as for the late ones…io try to discourage it as it is always catch up time for them..
My third graders have journals they write in daily. Each day I welcome them with a new topic…sometimes it’s something to draw or diagram, sometimes it’s writing. Latecomers usually don’t get as much time to write, which means they don’t get as much time to share later in the day either!
My early birds get extra playtime in centers. They love being able to explore and have time to talk to their friends before having to do any kind of work. Late arrivals are greated but we continue with the lesson or task at hand. I do have several parents that do not seem to care that we are in the middle of lessons and have walked right into the middle of circle time. I handled it by addressing the issue at open house in general I compared classtime disruption to me walking into a meeting in their office. They got the message and from then on it was a push into the door and a wave goodbye.
Our earlys wait in the cafeteria until the bell rings. When they come to the room, after they have put up their backpacks, lunches, etc. They have 15 minutes of Read to Self time where they choose a book among levelled readers. Late-comers come in quietly and put up their stuff and then go get a book also.
I have a set morning routine,after they have visited the bye bye window to say their goodbyes.Everyone must get their names and sign in then replace them. They may visit centers and play, then I have a short learning activity for them to do which pertains to our theme.
The late arrivals must follow our routine also.
Hmmmm… I usually try to do something a little more active than a coloring page or worksheet — usually a math manipulative activity (sort, pattern block designs, patterns), playdoh or clay, or free choice book time. On Thursdays and Mondays we’re resetting the classroom, as we share with a church, so early-early arrivers usually enjoy helping to set up the library books, putting chair pockets in place, and redistributing school supply boxes. OH — and sharpening your pencil BEFORE class begins is a MUST!
As for late arrivals, I encourage students to step in and take care of their bookbags, etc. with minimal disruption, and for the most part we just keep going on with whatever activity we are doing at the time.
I really, really want to win some new books!!
Early-usually are held in the cafeteria with whomever is on breakfast duty but Morning work, reading AR books or even helping me set up for the day. Late I try to catch them up with what we are doing sometimes the work has to be sent home if it’s something that a parent can help with or they complete sometime during the day. To be honest sometimes we just might not get to it.
Our students get dropped off at our school playground. They have fifteen minutes of free play to get all of their “wiggles” out. Because they know that they will get free time with their friends, there usually is no trouble with students being late to school - they’re all there early!