The reason for my question relates to giving students daily opportunities to sign their name, to follow an “I Can” regimen and become responsible for their learning time during morning arrival time.

Each day, students arrive, sign-in and go to breakfast right away.  They can see the steps on our first I-Can chart that is located on the end of my closet by the door. (click on the pick to grab it).

This is the sign-in book sheet I will be using this year.  You can click on a picture to grab a free copy for yourself if you like this idea. 🙂  The sign-in sheet itself is not themed, but the poster for the wall is from my sports theme for the coming year.  Student photos can go in the little boxes, and you can edit the numbers if you have a larger class and need two sheets of paper per day.  

When they return during the first few months of school, the very first task is to practice making and writing their names at least 5x before putting the activity away.  I have “toolkits” ready in half-gallon size zipper-seal bags.  Students grab the bags from their reading tub (where we store the bags), and go to tables to begin work.  

Name kits include:

1.  Sheet protector page with dotted font first/last

     name.

2.  In the back of the same sheet protector, a 

     card stock template with spaces for the letter

     tiles that make their names to be placed in

     sequential order.  

3.  A piece of felt and a dry erase marker.

Students are to trace their name on the front of the

sheet protector page (5 names to trace), then they are to flip it over, dump the letter tiles that make their names and begin practice ordering the letters in their first and last name.  They are to rearrange the letters and make the names 5x, then the entire name toolkit can be put away.  They grab our morning work and get started on it after name work is finished.  These are various things I have made and use daily throughout the year for our name toolkit (all are in my TpT shop).

And here is a freebie I posted earlier this week:

This all happens from 7:45-8:45 each morning.  Students have time to complete work after breakfast, and I have time to listen to readers or help writers during our work time.  We begin our reading block at 8:45.