Creating Classroom Community... while taking attendance!

Hello readers! Today I want to share one of the things I do in my class to try to develop a classroom community, where the students really get to know one another. There are a million ways to do this, and one of the things I love to do is make calling attendance fun.

Now, after the first few days of school, you probably know all the students’ names, and you don’t really need to “call” roll; rather, you can just look around the room and see who is/isn’t there. I say that’s no fun. So what I do instead is I call roll every morning, and instead of having students raise their hands, say “here” or “present,” I ask the students to answer a question about themselves for me.

The first few days it’s always something simple, like “What is your favorite color?” and “what is your favorite food?” But after a few days, it takes a bit more creativity. Things like “Would you rather be a lion or an elephant?” or “Would you rather be able to turn invisible, or be able to fly?” After a week, my students start shouting out questions they want to answer. It makes taking attendance much more interesting, and it’s one of the little ways I try to get to know my students and help them get to know one another! It’s also great for calling roll as a sub.

Have any of you tried this for calling attendance? Any good recommendations for questions to ask the kiddos? Feel free to leave a comment!