PreKinders

Ideas for Pre-K & Preschool Teachers

Ideas for Lining Up Your Class

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Here are some ideas and printable cards for transitioning your class to line up.

Lining Up Your Class

I typically line kids up by calling girls first then boys, or vice versa, just to avoid a stampede. A few times, I’ve had a volunteer parent or newbie substitute … or one time a middle school teacher… call my class to “line up!” All I could do at that point was get out of the way. Not that I’m making fun, but when it happens, that’s my entertainment for the day. So, for all of you teachers out there who just found out you will be teaching Pre-K for the first time this coming year… HINT: never call “line up!” to a group of preschoolers. Unless you like watching train wrecks and wrestling matches.

For some reason, my group last year had issues with lining up. I’d call the girls and then some would hang back and fight over who is the last person in line. Or sometimes everyone just wants to stand behind the cute girl rocking the Georgia Bulldogs tutu skirt and pink cowgirl boots. I know many of you have a caboose and that’s one solution, but I don’t do a lot of different jobs because no one ever remembers who’s job is what. So, I had to get creative.

I decided to come up with a list of different ways to line up. We lined up by eye color, hair color, the vowels in their names, type of shoes or clothes they were wearing, and others. I would surprise them with the way we were lining up, so they would focus on that rather than where they stand in line.

Here is a set of printable cards that have a variety of ways to line up. There are 30 different cards. Print these, cut apart, and keep in a container by your classroom door. When you line up, just randomly draw one.

Download: Line Up Cards

Note: This little basket pictured is the perfect size for these cards. It came from Hobby Lobby for $1.50 when baskets were half price.

Depending on your student population, you may need to toss a card or two, but there will still be plenty to use. If your prekinders wear uniforms, you won’t need the clothing one. If any card is a cause of jealousy for kids in your group, toss it (the family vehicle card might be a problem for some groups of kids, but not for others).

Find lots more teaching tips here!

Reader Interactions

Comments

  2. Thank you! I love this…it makes it a game:) I have used crayons or printed out crayons and have them line up by color, but I like all the different ideas neatly on cards. I will definitely use these. I too don’t like a bunch of different jobs. (line leader, caboose, etc.) Not only do they forget, but sometimes the children get upset if they don’t get the “cool” jobs. I just stick with a class helper or two (depending on the year) and keep it simple and positive.

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    • I’m definitely going to try to keep it simple & positive this next year. Last year, before long some were hanging way back in line, determined to be the caboose! No more cabooses!!!

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      • I had the same problem last year, when lining up the same old usual way. Changing it up seemed to get their focus away from trying to be the caboose, or beside a particular friend.

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        • Great Site so well organized! I also appreciate how you are sharing without a charge.
          Is there a way to email these cards to the secreatary at school so I can print them on cardstock . my school

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  3. I use similar ways to line up my kinders, just by pulling ideas off the top of my head. Love having them on cards to randomly select. Can even let my leader pull the card.

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  5. FANTASTIC!!!!! My kids have such a hard time lining up and I usually try to mix it up but fall on the same old thing. I’m going to stick these by my rug! 🙂

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  6. Thanks a bunch! I do several of these, but it would be nice to have ideas in a cute little basket by the door…for on the days my brain has turned to “mush”. 🙂

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  11. Wow! finally…there’s solition!…thanks Karen 😀
    I wonder if you have any solution for class display and for students obey ground rules..
    Glad if you can help 😀
    Thank you so much for your information…

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  13. Thank you for the lineup cards I can download. As a preschool teacher for the past 17 years, I have used this method for lining up and it really gets the children listening and thinking. I have a helper chart that I change weekly. I have kept it simple: Line Leader, Snack Helper, and Weather Boy/Girl. I think I will try allowing my line leader to draw the card. Thanks again!

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  16. Your stampeding wrestlers description made me smile — I teach music, and I have to say that this happens not only in K, but all the way to Grade 7. So, all of my children know that to line up, they have to wait for the word “IF….. you …” and then I state topics much like you have listed on your cards.
    For the older ones, I also use places they were born / places in the world they traveled during holiday / total number of letters in all names – first, middle and last / languages spoken at home / how long they have been at my school / how many schools they have attended / etc. {My school is 85% ESL, and very international in flavour!}
    And finally, I sometimes sing the Mission Impossible theme if dismissing by lines – and whoever I point at on the last note gets to walk like a secret agent to the door – if they talk / run / etc, they have to come back as they have ‘self-destructed’…
    Thanks for sharing your cards – they’re great 🙂
    CJ

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  19. Thanks for providing additional ideas for lining up. I use letters and numbers . I have children pick a letter or number upon arrival . I pick one before lining up. If I have number three, the leader is four and so on. Linda

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  20. These cards are great. Last year my class had line up problems so I, too, got creative. I had them line up if their name started or ended with a particular letter, or had a certain letter or letter sound in their name, by color of shirt, eye color, you name it. It’s a great way to get them to attend as well as reinforce things like letter recognition, etc.

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  21. Awesome! I will be teaching pre k and I didn’t even think about this! So thanks so much I just love your sight!!!

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  26. I never had to much of an issue with lining up, my daily helpers were at the front of the line ad then the caboose. Then I had my last group, I tried it all until finally it was assigned spots boy girl. This would have been a sanity saver. I will be using it this next school year…I have 11 boys and 3 girls. Thank you for saving my sanity before the year begins…eleven prek boys!

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  27. Love these ! Especially the ones that relate to clothing as we do a clothing unit and these will be another way to reinforce what we learn. Thank you for being so generous with your ideas!

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  28. Be really careful about singling kids out because of sex, especially if you are in a public school. There should not be separate lines as in a boys’ line and a girls’ line as there was 50 or so years ago, before the passage of Title IX. Until I moved back to southern Oregon about six years ago, I NEVER saw kids separated that way in other states. I have seen it here with some public elementary schools here, and it is probably illegal. Besides, kids are one class. The opposite sex should never be seen as “the other.”

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    • I have a problem with assigning by hair color or any physical characteristic that could inadvertently make the kids feel isolated or separated. The only red/ brown/ black hair in a see of blond. Many preschoolers don’t perceive those differences yet and it could raise a lot of questions/confusion.

      Reply

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