Teachers ask me all the time: “What do you do about absent students?”
Controversial take: Not a whole lot.
I don’t make them make up the work they missed.
No folder of worksheets with their name on it. No catch-up packets. No chasing kids down at recess.
Hear me out.
I treat my chronically absent students the same way I treat the student who scored below mastery on an exit quiz or the student having an “off day” who put their head down and refused to do any work.
Because think about it. The kid who was home sick Tuesday and the kid who was in the room Tuesday but totally checked out? They both walk in Wednesday not knowing the material.
I don’t build a separate system for one of them. I build one classroom that catches all of them.
Table of Contents
I plan for absences the same way I plan for everything else.
I build every aspect of my classroom with spiral review in mind.
With every skill and every lesson, I ASSUME there are kids that will not master things. Just like I ASSUME there are kids that might be absent. And for both of them, I have a plan. Because that’s what teachers do.
Because the reality is, the day I introduce a skill (let’s say converting mixed numbers to improper fractions) is just the tip of the iceberg for the number of times my students will see this skill.
If they miss the lesson, they will see this skill show up on:
- Warm ups
- Homework
- Performance tasks
- Math games
- Fluency (aka mad minutes. How many mixed numbers can you convert to improper fractions in one minute?)
One missed lesson is not a hole in a kid’s education. It’s one missed exposure out of many.
Ok, but what about kids who miss like.. a lot of days?
The same thing I do for kids who are really behind.
Let’s say there is a group of students who still seem to be struggling with a certain skill- or a whole unit. This is a great spot for an intervention group, maybe done by a support teacher or by you during your planning period, lunch, specials, or before or after school.
Have access to after-school tutors? Use them. My school has a partnership with a local university, and I keep a running list of students who needed support on specific skills. “Help him with math” doesn’t give a tutor much to work with. “He needs help converting mixed numbers to improper fractions” does.
Ok, but what if the whole class didn’t get it? That’s a great opportunity for a reteach lesson. Carve out 40 minutes and teach it again to everyone. No shame in that.
Ok, but what about grades?
My daily grades are homework and exit quizzes. Students have dozens of these grades per quarter. If a grade is blank here and there, I just don’t worry about it. It all balances out in the end!
If students miss a larger unit test, diagnostic, or weekly performance task, I will have them complete the assignment with a support teacher or a teacher on their planning period, or even in a desk in the hallway.
I care much less about grades than I do about mastering content!
“Sally, this sounds pretty harsh.”
Now don’t get me wrong. Attendance is an ISSUE. I want kids to be at school just as much as the next person. And I hope you work at a school with social services that can help chronically absent students and their families. That work matters. It’s also not something a classroom teacher can solve alone.
The reality is that I have a lot of students who are absent a lot of days. Just like I have a lot of students who are multiple years below grade level.
And I could drive myself crazy trying to get them to do make-up work and catch them up every time they miss a day.
Or I can create a classroom where reteaching and repetition are just a part of what we do.
I choose the latter. Every time.
Want more support on creating a classroom where spiral review is a main priority?
I’ve written about every piece of this system. Start with whichever one your classroom needs most:
- How I run warm ups that double as spiral review
- My fluency routine (yes, mad minutes count)
- How I use homework for review, not new learning
- How to plan a reteach lesson without losing a week
Pick one, steal it, and make it yours. That’s what teachers do.
Final thoughts
Remember, this is not about ignoring absent students. This is about building a classroom that already has a plan for missed learning, regardless of the reason.
Spiral review is my plan. Warm ups, homework, games, fluency, performance tasks. Every skill comes back around, over and over, for every kid. The kid who was absent. The kid who bombed the exit quiz. The kid who had their head down all period.
You cannot control who shows up to school. You can control what your classroom does for them when they walk back in.
Spend your energy there.
Math love,
Sally 💛
FAQs
What if a kid misses a week or more?
Same system, bigger dose. They fall into my intervention groups fast, and this is where I lean on support teachers, after-school tutors, and my running list of who needs what. And if a kid is missing that much school, that’s also a conversation for the counselor and social services, not just a math problem.
Doesn’t this teach kids that missing school has no consequences?
The consequence of missing school is missing the learning, the friends, the games, the community. A packet of worksheets was never going to fix that. My job is to teach them the skill, not to make absence hurt more.
My admin requires make-up work. Now what?
Follow your policy. But make it easy on yourself: in a spiral review classroom, “make-up work” can literally be this week’s warm ups and fluency pages. You don’t have to build anything special.
Does this work outside of elementary math?
I’ve taught every grade level 3rd – 9th. Spiral review isn’t a math thing or an elementary thing. It’s a planning thing. If your content has skills that build on each other, you can spiral them.
