225 Daily Attendance Questions for your Classroom

Taking attendance is an essential part of classroom management, but it doesn’t have to be boring or routine. Here is an idea for making attendance more engaging and interactive, all while building relationships.

Daily attendance questions

Questions can cover a wide range of questions. It is easier to start with simple questions at the beginning of the year or semester. It allows for students to get an idea of the questions and build trust. It takes a few days for students to realize their answer is equivalent to stating “Here/Present” when taking attendance in a traditional way.

Classroom guidelines

There are a few guidelines to cover before you begin, with the occasional reminder throughout the year. Everyone has an opinion and should be free of judgment. For example, one question that always brings great debate is how you eat your mac and cheese- fork or spoon? There are passionate believers for each. Sometimes you will have students who try to justify their preference for the thickness of cheese or where it’s from. There is always an occasional student who says “Spork” and then the classroom usually erupts in the discussion.

I would suggest posting your question in the same location each day. This makes it easy for students to enter and be prepared to answer as soon as attendance begins. In my classroom, the daily question is posted on my Daily Slide, similar to a morning meeting slide or agenda list.

Students are always willing to offer suggestions for future questions. I love when they feel ownership in the classroom.

What about students arriving late?

Remembering to update attendance for late arrivals can also be a challenging task. Leave a writing utensil and sticky notes next to your computer and train students to write their name, and class hour if necessary, along with the answer on the sticky note. This allows you to continue teaching and also provides a reminder to change attendance when you have a chance.

Why building relationships in the classroom is important:

Of course, I love daily attendance questions. I don’t forget to take attendance because there is always someone who will let me know we haven’t taken attendance. Without prompting from former students, they provided valuable feedback about attendance questions. These reviews come from 8th graders, who can be a tough crowd!

Helpful Hints

One of the more recent attendance questions. On a scale of 1-10, rate your spice level. Students in the first hour wondered what exactly we were referring to for the question, so for the rest of the day, I would also add, “Your preference on the food, but if you need a specific, choose wings”.

One final thing, I do not allow “I don’t know” as an answer option. If the question was “Chicken- fried, baked, grilled?” You could respond with, “I don’t eat chicken”, but you cannot say “I don’t know” to a question. I do require students to have some idea. It can take a bit of prompting and reminders at the beginning of the year or semester. Some students prefer to remain quiet and unseen, but this small, daily activity gives them a presence in the classroom.

Who can use attendance questions?

These questions are great for all ages and grades. They are not specific for littles or bigs. You don’t have to wait for a new school year to start. Don’t even wait until Monday. Spend a few minutes during the next school day and give daily attendance questions a try in your classroom!

Here are 225 Daily Attendance Question prompts to get you through the school year.

You can also purchase the same questions in the Taco Bout FACS TPT store.

Before you go, comment below- Are you team “Sock, sock, shoe, shoe” or “Sock, shoe, sock shoe”