Self-registration - why bother?!

So it's the end of the first week (and I'm happily exhausted)! It being the weekend, my mind has turned to the jobs I've still got to finish. One of them is my class self-registration - I've left it because with the children not being in full time yet I convinced myself it was one job I could put off for a while! Every time it came to making the new class registration I couldn't help but wonder if it was worth the time and effort?!

For the last few years my class self-registration has been done through names, printed onto Velcro and the children move them onto a board when they arrive. This worked and there was nothing wrong with it but it had been the same for the last couple of years and I fancied a change - maybe something a little more exciting or creative. 

​While trying to decide what to use, my team and I chatted about what had worked and why. One of the obvious benefits of having just the child's name was that the children came to recognise their name and by the end of the year all of the children could recognise their own name, We also chatted about how we had encouraged the children to use their self-registration cards to help them when they were writing their names on their work etc. This also worked really well and meant that by the end of the year, all of the children were writing their own name - although some were a bit more wibbly wobbly than others! We considered not having names but we felt that this was a missed opportunity and decided that whatever system we created would have their name on it somewhere. 

​While trying to work out what we were going to use, I asked our lovely Ace family (that's YOU out there!) and had some fab ideas! 
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Emily:
​"I have a picture of each child in a plastic fridge magnet (I covered the magnet with Velcro) by their peg. When they come in they put their frame on a number line. We can then count how many are here and look at the numeral. We have a whiteboard and pen by the display to have a go if they want to. The photos are before I put the photos into the frames and the board next to the number line is a lunch self-registration!" 

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Emma ​uses their interactive white board. They create images with children's names in and once they are in, they press their name and it disappears or flies up! The pictures are changed topically throughout the year! 

Jess
"I have a dinner plate and a lunchbox and the children register by moving their name on the IWB to the type of lunch they are having. I also have another one with emotions on it."

There are some lovely whiteboard self-registration resources are available from Communication4all and also from twinkl. 

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Beryl told us she was using an idea from Tishy Lishy! The photo shows it empty and also used! The spaces are set out in ten-frames to develop number knowledge and there are also questions relating to how many children are here or away.
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Click the photo to visit Tishy Lishy's amazing Facebook page - if you haven't already liked it, go ahead - you'll be glad you did because it's stuffed full of fab Early Years ideas!

Tishy Lishy also sent us a picture of her new self-registration method. Check it out! 

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Helen uses a similar idea...

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Suzanne:
​"I have stuck their names on pieces of Duplo before and had a base. The children add their names to create a different construction each morning!"

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Jenny:
​"This is ours and I've made a sign saying 'Who is here today?'. The children then put their pebble in the basket."

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Danielle:
​"We've done stones but also stuck a mini photo of the child underneath if they are unable to confidently recognise their name. It also allowed other children to check who hasn't put their name in the basket and find them."

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Here's Topanga's
self-registration that they use at Roseville Nursery. Click on the photo to visit their Facebook page to check out more of their wonderful ideas! 

This is Helen's self-registration idea using twinkl.co.uk questions to prompt the children to reflect on themselves and lovely quotes to inspire everyone during the day!

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Karen uses name cards in her nursery. Each one is on an animal that match their group flamingo, turtle and parrot! Ten later on in the term they start writing the first letter on a sign in sheet. This moves onto their whole name when they are ready. Karen says this gives them a lot more confidence as they are doing it every day!

Anna
​"In our reception the children come in and find their name (laminated and tacky backed!) and copy write it underneath so they are writing their name daily. They then stick it to the self-registration board. Parents are encouraged to stay and support this before they leave."

Nicola:
​"We are called Friendly Frogs Nursery and each child has a photo on a frog. The children have to find the first lily pad which have numbers 1-26 on."

Mandy
​"My new class are the Elephants and they all have their names on an elephant Velcro'd onto the wall. When they come in they find their name and put their elephant in a basket before starting their early morning activities." 

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Rebecca
I link mine to British values with democracy. The children have an angelfish with their name on (we are angelfish class) and they vote for a story. The one with the most votes we read before home time.

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SO..... after seeing this post on Facebook by Alistair @ ABCDoes:

I was hit by inspiration. Or a crazy idea... What if we asked the children to decorate a peg and then when they come in they find their peg and place it into a holder? And we'll stick their name through the peg bit so that they can learn to recognise and spell their name...

My plan is to get the children to decorate their peg next week. On the worktop I'm going to have 30 spaces with a peg holder stuck in each one. Underneath there will be number shape pictures and then a space for the children to write the digit.

Want to read about how my self-registration is getting on?! Click 'Read More' to find out! 

​Mark x

I've now spent time cutting out pictures of Numicon pieces to make the numbers from 1 to 30. I've also used some pieces of black paper to create the spaces. I used black to make everything stand out!

Here are the Numicon pieces stuck in order with the numerals written underneath.