ab - absent - missed work

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ab - absent - missed work
By Sharon D. W-L

I have always worked at a school where attendance is low, low, low. There is no "excused" on my official register. A student is either present or absent. I take attendance in the AM at 9:15 AM and again in the PM at 1:10
PM. I also have to double check my attendance after each recess to make sure no one is missing - this is a huge pain! I'd rather not bother with the two recess breaks or at least for go the one in the afternoon.
Anyways. I have NYFF - Not Yet Finished Folders for each child with their name in the top right hand corner. These are placed in a box daily. This year I used pocket

folders. Each morning the children know to get their chairs and get their folder. We have 15-30 minutes each AM where they work quietly on unfinished work or silent read Inside the folder is their work that is not yet complete. If a child is absent I or my EA place the missing assignments in the folder. I teach grade 1. I don't use notebooks or scribblers very much because attendance is such a problem and I also take a lot of things home to mark and I hate taking all those notebooks! On Day 4 (We are on a six day cycle) I check the folders and if a child has more then 2-3 things I send it home with a pre-printed slip of paper explaining that it is Day 4 homework - that is work not completed during class time. The the note explains that the child has until Day 6 to complete and return his/her assignments for marking. I do accept it one day late but deduct 10%. If it is not returned I record it as "missing".

I'm lucky that if a child misses a Test/Quiz I am not responsible for having them do a "make up". I do so many each week especially in Spellings that missing one or two doesn't make a huge difference but missing more then 5 will. My grade book program allows for a "bad" grade to be removed. I usually give two chance for each assignment type and the computer does it for me automatically! YIPPEE!

On Day 6 I review the folders and pull all incomplete assignments. These papers are stapled together and I date stamp the top page. I file it under the student's "archive" (file fodler). We try and pull samples once every two weeks for our portfolios and the rest goes home. These incomplete assignments aren't placed in the portfolio but are sent home. I do my major marking and grading every Day 5 and Day 6.

I also have a spot on my attendance check list for conduct points. (I made this up myself on my computer using a grid/table.) Each child earns 3 points a day in Social Studies. I have a 3 strike policy and for each infraction they loose one point. Once they recieve a zero they earn a 10 minute detention. I keep track of these points each day/week and at the end of the week each child has a conduct mark out of 15 (3x5). If a child is absent they loose all 3 points. This is how I place value on attendance. I can't evaluate conduct if you never come...

I hope this helps. I look forward to reading other ideas. sdwl