Helpful "How Do I Get Home?" Name Tags

One of the things that can sometimes be a stress-filled moment for me is the time when I’m getting my children ready to go home.

When you are dealing with little ones who are also anxious and a bit nervous and worried about that too, it is very important that they see you cheerful, calm and in control.

If you have things organized this will run smoothly.

Children are exhausted by now, it’s hot and everyone’s  beyond spent at this point in the day.

I always try and enlist a few adults to help me so that things run smoothly. Having them hold up a sign works wonders.

Here’s an easy way to manage who goes where via pictures.

Print off the clipart of the various options:

Students are riding the bus: They line up in the order that they will board their specific bus numbers, behind the bus picture.

Their nametags all have a matching picture of a bus on them so you know at a glance that these children are in the correct line.  Their tags also say what NUMBER bus they are on.

Students are walking: They line up in the walking line, behind the picture of a pair of tennis shoes.  Their name tags all have a matching picture of the tennis shoes on them. Their tags also say whom they are walking with.

Students are getting picked up: They line up in the pick up line, behind the picture of a van.  Their name tags all have a matching picture of a van on them.  Their tags also say who is picking them up.

Students are going to after-school care: They line up in the after-school care line, behind the picture of a group of children. Their name tags all have a matching picture of a group of children on them.  Their tags also have that room number on it.

On the back of the card is their address and phone number.  This has saved me a lot of time when a bus driver has told me: “They're not on my bus.  Where do they live?”
or “I don’t think he rides today.  You better call his parents.” Or for whatever else I need to know an address or phone number quickly.  I don’t have to go back to my room or search for a file, I simply flip over their name tag and all the info is there.

My name tags are also YELLOW which is a different color from the other kindergarten teachers (everyone has their own color) so everyone knows that these are Y5 students.  I include Teacher: and write my name after that heading. It helps staff if one of my students wanders out of line.

I laminate my name tags and ask parents to safety pin them to their child for the entire month.

I also make an extra set to keep at school incase they lose them or forget to wear them.

I tell parents to simply take them off as soon as they get home and pin them to their backpack, that way they are always handy and if they forget to pin it on in the morning, I’ll still have it.

I walk the bus children to their buses.  The other adults take the rest of the students to our designated “pick up room” where all the kindergarten children are “deposited” for safety reasons.

Parents who are picking up their children can go here and sign them out.  Older children who are walking with these young ones can find them there, and the teacher in charge of the after school care program can get the K’s here as well, or send an assistant if she is busy.

Having a designated “pick-up room” has kept children safe and eliminated little ones running all over the hallways unattended.

Our librarian watches the room until the teachers get done boarding children on buses, then we stay with our students ‘til everyone is picked up.

Click on the link to view/print the back-to-school posters and name tags

I've also included a graph of "Where do I go after school?" This is a great math extension as well as a way to review with children before they line up at the end of the day.  Click on the link to view/print the back-to-school line up graph.

These back-to-school-name tags, posters and graph came from this August's 78-page Apple Bytes, our newsletter packet, which goes out each month.

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