Attendance Charts

I was recently asked what I thought about attendance charts being used in the Bible classroom. The answer, "I don't know." I go back and forth on this so much. At times I don't like them because the kids really are not in charge of when they come to class, but, then, I think they might inspire the kids to beg Mom and Dad to bring them to class. I do use attendance or motivation charts in most of my classrooms. Here are examples of some: My friend, Kim, teaches the 4 year olds and she has them add a small die cut fish to their "pond" each time they come to class. These are easy to make if you have access to a die cut machine.

My friend, Sasha, and I taught 2nd grade last year and she modified their attendance charts to this idea - which I think is great for older kids. Each child has a bag labeled with his/her name and they "catch" fish for doing different things.

This picture shows how many fish they get for doing different things in the classroom.
In my classroom, my friend, Sandy, and I have a circus theme (more coming on that later). For our attendance charts, we have popcorn bags. Each time a child comes to class they get to put a scoop of real popcorn seeds in the bag. They also get a scoop of popcorn seeds if they bring their Bible to class. At the end of a determined time, we will replace the unpopped popcorn seeds with bags of microwave popcorn for them to take home.

So, should you use attendance charts, that is for you to decide, but if you do make sure your attendance charts are

1. kid friendly
2. interactive
3. colorful
4. motivational

Have fun!