Attendance is the time of the day I say half the students’ names wrong and everyone else laughs. It can also be an activity I use to build relationship with the students and gain their trust. Trust can be built through play and laughter. I sometimes ask a question at the beginning of attendance and when I call the students’ names, they have to answer the question (instead of saying, “here”). Here are some examples of questions.

1. What is your favourite food?
2. When was the last time you brushed your teeth?
3. Who talks the most in your family?
4. Who snores the loudest in your family?
5. What would you teach a parrot to say? (Help – they made me a parrot!)

This works best with kindergarten to grade 5. Students often need a couple of minutes to think about it first. I sometimes have to ask the question a few times before students remember to answer and not to just say, “here”.