It is highly recommended that teachers complete the 30-minute head count template for their classroom.

Share these steps directly with your team:

• Understand the template: columns for each day, rows for 30-minute intervals from 6:00 AM to 6:00 PM, with Children and Staff sub-columns.
• Conduct counts: at each 30-minute mark, count the total number of children present in your classroom and the total number of staff present in your classroom.
• Record data: immediately after each count, write the numbers in the corresponding Children and Staff cells for that time and day. Recording right after the count, rather than from memory later, is what keeps the data accurate.
• Consistency: take counts promptly at the designated times every day of the week.
• Completion: fill out the entire table for the full week, Monday through Friday.

Note the age group of the classroom at the top of each completed sheet. The template itself does not have a field for this, but you will need it in Lesson 3 to compare the classroom’s data against the correct target ratio from Lesson 1.

Recommendation: Print a copy of the template for each classroom. Place it on a clipboard and hang it in the classroom near a clock.