With that in mind, let's ask ourselves something else. Why does a third grader need a hall pass? The student and their buddy walk 10 or 20 yards to the restroom. Are bathroom passes necessary?
I know your thinking that I'm being ridiculous. Who cares about bathroom passes? This is the stuff I think about when I am driving to school or going for a healthy run. True story. Can't help it!
So with this question in mind, I did what any other curious person would do in the world of technology.....I googled it. Surprisingly, there isn't much out there on the study of hall passes. Maybe I found a topic for my next dissertation. Sure does sound like a scholarly topic. However, I did find this one interesting......Click Here! The author of this article, a student, shares some my opinions. If students do not see the value, then why?
I originally started thinking about restroom passes after I thought about the first week of school procedures that I have to teach. The first one is how to use the restroom appropriately including how to wash our hands! It is our hope that we can trust our students to wash their hands throughly after using the restroom. But think about if they don't, or don't do it well. They have to carry that restroom pass in their hand all the way back to the classroom and then pass it along to the next student. Not good, not clean.
Since it seems like the "traditional" thing to do, I will hop on the Hall Pass Train. Except, I will use hall passes that require very little touching by little hands!
Below is a picture of what I use. I purchased Vertical ID Badge Holders and Lanyards from Staples. I then printed labels to fit inside. I hung the passes on my bulletin board by the door with a thumb tack. Simply put, students take the hall pass, place it around their neck, use the restroom, wash their hands, and hang it back up.
You can download the printable here for free! Hope this helps make your classroom run a little more smoothly and helps keep everything clean!
No, I do not understand the purpose of the hallway pass. Yes, I do use them in my classroom. My third graders love them! When they wear that hallway pass around their neck, you would think they were wearing a gold medal! Even more interesting, my students were learning responsibility. They loved these passes so much that they really took care of them. They hung them up neatly, they reminded each other when they forgot to take it off and put it back, and if it broke, they fixed it.
But of course, I knew that's what my students were going to learn......
I use bathroom passes in my second grade classroom for 2 reasons. A. so that there is only one boy/girl from my class at the bathroom at a time. They would congregate there to hang out and chat if I didn't and B. so I know who is out of the room and where they are if there is an emergency drill or real emergency. My students do not take the passes with them when they leave the room. The children lay the appropriate pass on their desk before they exit the room. With a glance, I can tell who is out of the room and where they went. I don't see the point of hallway passes that leave the room with the students, but I love having passes that provide me with information in case of an emergency and prevent goofing off.
ReplyDeleteI have heard of teachers using your system before and they have also liked how it works. I think I may try your system this year. Students are always being pulled for different reasons and it would allow for a better tracking system. No more worrying about who is in the room and who isn't.
DeleteDo your children leave the room in pairs?
I start the year with students traveling in pairs, but as they become more comfortable with the building- most of what we need is on the first floor- we allow the kids to go on their own. Specialists come to the room to take students to speech or ESL or OT, so there is really no worry of kids wandering around lost. It has worked well for us so far.
DeleteWell in our school students are stopped and asked for a pass. No pass and you get written up.
ReplyDelete