I'm thankful for...

Time Savers!If you teach, or have ever taught Kindergarten, you know that even the simplest task can take FOREVER!!! As a Kindergarten teacher, you HAVE to go home at the end of the day and ask yourself "how can I make that go better, run smoother and take less time?"

Well, a couple of years ago, my district decided that we weren't going to have one item for lunch. We wouldn't even have 2 choices, or 3 or even 4. We would have FIVE, yes, 5 lunch choices!!!! These people obviously have NEVER taught 5-year-olds before!!!! I mean, are you kidding me??? So, I went home and thought to myself...how am I going to make this work?? Here's what I came up with. Over the next couple of weeks, I brought my camera to lunch everyday and took pictures of what we were having. I labeled the pictures, printed them on cardstock, laminated them and slapped a magnet on the back.

We are down to 4 lunch choices now...but I still hang the pictures up everyday. Lunch is a BIG deal for Kinders. If they don't know what "chili fritos" are and they take a chance and order it-there could be major tears and melt downs when lunch time comes around. Having pictures of the food eliminates this problem!! They see the picture, they know exactly what they will be getting!

My students pick their lunch as soon as they come in in the morning. It's part of their routine and is listed on the "morning jobs" chart.

So, when everyone is in, the bell has rung and all of their names are up, I can look at the lunch count and any names that are still at the bottom are my absent kids. So, the minute the bell rings, lunch count and attendance are already taken care of.

Easy as that!! So, preparing this takes a little bit of time and ink in the beginning-but it's totally worth it! HUGE time saver!!!

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