Daily Sign-In

What You Do

The Creative Curriculum

for Preschool Intentional Teaching Experiences

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Questions to Guide

Your Observations

• How accurately was the child able to write

her name? (19a)

• Did the child understand and follow the

procedures for signing in? (1b)

• How did the child hold and manipulate the

writing tool? (7b)

• How persistent was the child while signing

in? (11b)

• Did the child informally identify any letters

or their corresponding sounds? (16b)

Materials: daily sign-in sheet (not ruled handwriting

paper); name cards printed with each child’s name;

variety of writing tools, e.g., chubby and regular

pencils and markers; date stamp

1. Ask the children to sign in when they arrive at

school each morning. Explain the procedure to the

children and family members, and show them the

daily sign-in sheet.

“One of your jobs each morning is to sign in on this

piece of paper so we can remember who came to

school on this day.”

2. Accept any attempt the child makes to sign in.

This should be a relaxed, routine experience.

Encourage children to refer to their name cards, if

needed. Place a date stamp at the sign-in table, and

encourage children to use the date stamp as well.

Additional Ideas

Collect name-writing samples from

the daily sign-in sheet, date them, and

place them in the children’s portfolios.

This activity is a great way to collect

what you’ll need to assess the “writes

name” dimension of Objective 19,

“Demonstrates writing skills.”

English-Language Learners

• Give all children time to express

themselves.

• Show pictures or point to objects that

illustrate or explain unfamiliar words.

• Be sure to include children’s names

written in their rst language. Ask families

to help you make copies of children’s

names if you cannot write the characters

of the names.

Including All Children

• Provide thick, chunky markers or crayons;

use foam grips.

• Provide a slant board or easel for a child.

• Provide name cards with raised, textured

letters for a child to feel.

LL42

Library

Objective 19

Demonstrates writing skills

a. Writes name

Related Objectives: 1b, 7b, 8b, 11b, 16b

Daily Sign-In

YELLOW

Encourage the child to scribble on the paper to represent his name. Point out his name on the

name card and identify the letters.

“omas, it looks like you chose a red marker to sign your name today.”

“Here is your name on this card, too. It says T-h-o-m-a-s. omas.”

GREEN

Ask the child to identify the rst letter of her name. Encourage her to look at her name card

for help as she writes.

“Mary Beth, can you show me the rst letter in your name? What is that letter? I see that you

have written straight lines like the lines in the letter M on the sign-in sheet.”

GREEN

Look for some correctly formed letters. Ask the child to point to the individual letters in his

name. The letters the child writes may not be written in the correct order.

“I see the E for Eddie here on the sign-in sheet. What letter did you write after the E?”

BLUE

Encourage the child to write her name without referring to the name card. Encourage her to

use uppercase and lowercase letters when writing her name. Talk about the letters the child

chooses.

“Ronnie, it looks like you used an uppercase R to begin your name.”

“Did you use uppercase or lowercase for the other letters?”

PURPLE

Encourage the child to write her name using the correct sequence, form, and orientation.

Discuss with the child the dierences between uppercase and lowercase letters.

“Deirdra, I see you have an uppercase D and a lowercase d in your name. What’s the dierence?”

Teaching Sequence