Submitted by Cathleen Bonville, Malone, New York
Idea posted August 20, 2003
I wish I had thought of this ages ago. I have volunteer choruses for grades 4 and 5. Each year I have a sign-up and have to organize over 100 students by height and occasionally voice range. I used to write the students who wanted to be in chorus on one sheet of paper per class, and then I would spend hours compiling the height orders into a list. NOT ANY MORE.
I have discovered 3x5 cards. I give a 3x5 card and a pencil to each student who wants to join chorus. I have each student write his or her name and classroom teacher's name on the top of the card. Afterward, the students line up next to my height chart. One at a time they hand me their 3x5 cards, and I write their heights on the card in big numbers. When I have the cards from all classes, I spend very little time reading the heights and quickly putting them in order. The cards become my list and also my attendance.
It has saved me so much time. I hope it will help someone else. As I said, I can't believe I didn't think of it ages ago.