All of Amanda’s “potty talk” last week got me excited to share with you my newest bathroom management trick. Intrigued? Read on…
If your middle school students are like mine, they need to have a pass with them at all times when they’re in the hall. Because of this rule, I felt like I was wasting time and paper writing multiple bathroom passes a day. I knew I needed to create a classroom bathroom pass to save time and paper. I was browsing Pinterest one day when I stumbled across a photo of a hand sanitizer bottle that was used for a bathroom pass. What a genius idea! I knew I needed to create one for my classroom.
Here are the the art studio bathroom passes, what do you think?
Here are the supplies you need to create your own bathroom passes:
- 2 hand sanitizer bottles
- 1 image for each sanitizer bottle
- Paper
- Glue stick
- Clear package tape
- Pen or markers
1. Take the labels off the hand sanitizer bottles.
2. Cut out images and glue them down to the bottles using glue stick.
3. Write, cut and glue any labels or information on the front of the bottles.
I wanted to remind my students to wash their hands, so I had Frida and Vincent kindly remind them to wash their hands.
4. Glue directions on the back.
I wanted to be sure that students weren’t using the sanitizer instead of washing their hands. I typed out directions for where to put the sanitizer when they go to the restroom. I specifically gave them directions to wash their hands then pick up the bottle and bring back to class.
5. Wrap clear package tape around the bottle to protect the image and directions.
The package tape makes it easy to clean and sanitize the bottles.
I absolutely love having the sanitizer bottles for my bathroom passes. I keep them by my classroom door, right next to the bathroom sign out. When students ask to go to the bathroom, I say yes and remind them to sign out and take the bathroom pass. If another student asks to use the bathroom, I can look over and see that one of the passes is missing and tell them they need to wait until the person comes back. So far every student has brought the pass back and I can only hope they’re following the directions of washing their hands in addition to using sanitizer!
Does your school require students to have passes in the halls?
What do you use as a bathroom pass in your classroom that works for you?
Magazine articles and podcasts are opinions of professional education contributors and do not necessarily represent the position of the Art of Education University (AOEU) or its academic offerings. Contributors use terms in the way they are most often talked about in the scope of their educational experiences.
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