Every morning my students sign in as part of their morning routine. Student are learning and doing right when they get in the classroom! YEAH! Their morning routine is put their items in their cubby, say bye to their family. answer the question of the day, sign in, and do the morning activity on the table. You can read more about how I do Question of the Day HERE.
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In August, my sign in sheets are blank. We are just practicing our morning routine and building confidence writing or scribbling our names. I want students (and parents) to be proud of however they are writing their name even if it is a scribble. Scribbles are meaningful!
It is also a way for me to collect their first name sample for their portfolios and assess where each student is at in regards to writing their name.
Once I have assessed where each student is, I can create a daily sign that is at each students’ own individual level. Here is a sample of how sign in sheets might look in August. I have a multi age class with 3, 4, and 5 year olds. Kids are tracing the first letter in their name, tracing their name in uppercase or lowercase, and writing their name with a model.
What do you do if a child doesn’t recognize their name? My favorite trick is to make their name a different color or put a sticker by it (they would need to have the same sticker by their name everyday). Levi and Declan are an example of kids who do not recognize their names yet. Just so you know, these are not my real sign in sheet from my class. I made up these sign in sheets for this post.
I know that everyone has different opinions about the order to teach a child how write their name. Above is the order I teach students to write their names based on current research and my own teaching experiences. And yes, I teach students to write their name in all capital letters first. A quick bit why…the world they see is mostly in all capital letters (aka environmental print), and capital letters are easier to write and require less fine motor strength. I do teach my students to write their names in lowercase when they are ready.
At the end of each month, I put out blank sign in pages for a few days to see what students can do without a model or support. For example, on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday I will put out blank sign in sheets. Then on Thursday and Friday I will put out the sign in sheets I created for them with their names and various supports. I save the blank pages and the sign in pages I made with supports for the whole week. Typically I toss the pages from the previous day each morning. Then I look over the name samples to reassess students and keep one name sample for their portfolios. I make adjustments to the sign in sheets based on the each students growth and print them off for the next month. I print and/or copy a month of sign in sheets at a time. I staple them together making it easy to rip off the one from the previous day and have a new one ready to go each morning.
I add pencils grips to the pencils I use for signing in after about a month or so. These pencil grips are from The Pencil Grip and they are my favorite! The grips are squishy and comfortable to hold for students. They have three different kind of grips. My kids favorite was the The Crossover Grip becasue they pretended the top was a super hero cape and it helped them place their fingers on the pencil. They would say, “I’m using my super hero grip”. Grips provide training kids to use a solid tripod grasp. It guides them to hold their pencil in the correct position and stops fingers from crossing over. I’m super excited be giving away a set to one of you! Don’t forget to enter at the bottom of the post!
Sign in sheets can get boring for some students. Make it fun by putting out various writing tools for them to use. Skinny markers, pipsqueak markers, pens, or glitter crayons will add some spark to your sign in table. The pencil grips work great on skinny markers too!
Sign is sheets are NOT just for signing in the morning! Use them all over your classroom to provide students with meaningful reasons to write their name all day long. Do you have a new activity, game, center that everyone want to play? Keep a stack of blank sign in sheets to use as a wait list for any popular activity or game in your classroom.
I always have a sign in sheet at the computer with pencil grip.
My tablet has a sign in sheet next to it too. They won’t even realize they are practicing their name! If a child is scribbling, you can write their name tiny after they walk away. It usually only takes me a week or so to be able to “read” their scribbles. Each child has their own way to make their name scribble. I have had kids just make circles, make zigzags, and make just a line for their name scribble.
Grab your FREE Editable & Blank Sign In Sheets here! Don’t forget to pin this for later too!
Great post! I used the "fat" pencils this year with my pre-kinders but am thinking I want to switch to regular pencils with the pencil grippers this year! Your sign in sheets are a great resource. Thanks for sharing.Tammy WathenThe Resourceful Apple
I love these. Am I correct? The whole class signs one sign-in sheet, at their level? Or do you have a sign-in sheet for each student…he/she signs on the first line on Monday, signs on the next line the next day, etc.? I have done it both ways…but I really like these sheets. Thanks, in advance.
The whole class signs in each day at their own level. It usually takes about four pages to fit everyone's name. My sign in table looks exactly like the picture with the words "daily sign in at each students level" but with different names.
I’m viewing on my phone so sorry if any of this is addressed already… Once a student is past needing a model, do they just know to do it in a blank spot? What cues do you use to distinguish between tracing and using it as a model? When they move on to last name, do you put it beside their first?
What do you do when you have Nick names?
And finally, our school uses letter links and I’m trying to figure out how to make it about the text still so those that need the picture have it but they all don’t forget about the text.
All of this information is very helpful, thank you so much for providing it.
Tracing is when they trace over letters already written on the page. A model would be if they had a name card next to the paper for them to use as a reference and they write the letters independently.
So do you have only the name cards of those who need models out, and then the rest find their name to trace or a blank box?
When you move onto last names is their first name in the box as well?
These sign in sheets are exactly what I need. I plan to have my K's sign in daily. The sign in sheet will be clipped to a dry erase board and placed at each table in my class. Students select a writing utensil (e.g., crayon, marker, or colored pen) and sign in. Thanks a lot!
What font do you use for these?