Sunday 15 July 2012

Morning rush hour

How do you go on school mornings?

Is it a rush to get everyone up, dressed, fed, clean, groomed and with all necessary accoutrements and out the door on time?

It is around here!

I don't like to be late - I like the girls to feel 'relaxed' when they arrive at school so we generally arrive before the first of two bells sounds.

Easy to make and easy to use.
One of our little chicks is a bit of a day-dreamer when it comes to getting ready.

She can be found sitting on her bed in her knickers reading a book when I assume she is dressed and almost ready for school  *sigh*

So I decided to make a visual chart to help remind her of what she needs to do before she picks up a book or a pencil in the mornings.

This is a basic magnetic board - I got mine from Officeworks but you can pick them up almost anywhere.

I took photos of the basic daily tasks to be completed;
Get dressed, brush your teeth, brush your hair (I do the hair 'fancywork'!), pack your lunch in your bag...


Make sure you have your school reader packed, Put your shoes on and be ready to walk out the door.
THEN you can read or draw or build Lego!



Simple circles created in Pages (this is a Mac program - you can do it in Word too), are colour-coded for each girl and attached to a small adhesive magnet.

They just move the magnet across to "I've done this" each time they complete a task and Hey Presto - we are out the door before you know it, with a lot less nagging from me.

Win win I say.

Back to school tomorrow, see how your first week goes then give it a try if you think it will help!

12 comments:

Brenda @ 13 Acres said...

ohhh i have only one that needs to go to school (and is a day dreamer like your girl) and he would definitly love this idea!!! thanks for sharing and hope it works a treat tomorrow!!!

thornberry said...

I SO need to do this for my two. You'd think that we'd have figured it all out by grade four but we are usually there just on the second bell - and we're less than five minutes walk away! Not good for any of us. I've talked about a chart like this SO many times - now we ned to just DO it!

Jane said...

Brilliant idea! One more term and I will have three to get to school each day as well so I just might have to do this too. I love that the photos show the girls doing everything happily... one can only hope :)

Little Munchkins said...

Ah yes, back to school tomorrow :(

I too like to arrive before the first bell, usually about 5 - 10 mins before so the kids can run around a little before school starts.

We are usually ok with dressing up, etc but it's the eating breakfast part which takes forever!

Jenny from Ohjoh said...

I love this idea.
2 of mine have lists in frames in their rooms (which they made) but this is much more fun and would help the smallest as she too is a dreamer.
Anything that helps make a smoother, nag-free morning would be GREAT!

Tanya said...

I think i'd like one of these for ME! Looks great Kazz,

Dianne said...

Love it! You would think that by gr 6 & gr 4 we should have it all down pat by now, but I have been talking about a chart like this for ages (I think we need it to make some major improvements before high school next year, because it won't be a 5 min walk around the corner!)

Annie said...

Great work Karen.

donna said...

What a great idea!

sweet emmelie said...

Love it! I might just have to try this. I love the photo idea of each task. Wonderful!!!

Seaweed and Raine said...

That's a terrific idea. My eldest is due to start school next year - I think I might have to start the training now ;)
Thanks Karen!

rachelmp said...

It looks great Karen! We have one child and one husband daydreamer here but after years of practice and planning its like clockwork here.