Bus Routines

The buses arrive at staggered intervals in both the morning and the afternoon. This can create a need for some creative ideas for use of time as students are coming and going so be sure that a structured activity is in place. Often called “Morning Work,” this activity should be rigorous, relevant, and engaging and should vary from day to day. A worksheet on the desk every morning is not the way to go.  Also, do not get caught in the idea that it must be independent work every morning – get creative and have morning work stations or plans for working in pairs.

MORNING BUSES


Every morning you will hear the cheerful announcement letting everyone know that the buses have arrived. At this time one of the teachers should go up front to the bus ramp to greet the students.

• Some Leads prefer to do the bus ramp greeting and others prefer to stay in the class to greet the students there and have the Support greet the students on the bus ramp. Either way, greeting the students cheerfully and positively should be the main concern of whoever goes to the bus ramp to greet them.  This first glimpse of your students can give you some valuable information on how the rest of their day might progress and is your first opportunity to get them started on a positive note with your warm and friendly greeting.

• Once the students get off the bus and are cheerfully greeted, they should be escorted to the classroom and their arrival announced to the teacher who has stayed in the classroom. This announcement is to let the student know that their arrival that day is important! 

• As the buses come in no particular order, sometimes teachers stand with one or two students while they wait for another whose bus is about to unload so that all the students can be walked back to the classroom together. It is, however, important to get the students to their classrooms as soon as is possible in order to begin their day. Again, some creativity might be required so that each student can be greeted upon arrival, as well as, escorted directly to the classroom.

AFTERNOON BUSES

• The bus numbers are announced as each bus arrives at the end of the day. The buses come in at varying intervals over a period of time – sometimes it is nearly an hour before all the buses are called.

• If you ever have a student who starts to have problems at the end of the day be sure to inform your Program Manager and your Social Worker if it looks like the behavior might prevent the student from making his bus. The goal is to get every child on the bus at the end of the day, but on rare occasions behaviors could be severe enough that sending them on the bus would not be appropriate.

• Every student needs to be escorted all the way to the bus and a friendly good-bye helps them to have a good bus ride home.

• Plan a quiet activity in your room at the end of the day so that students are calm when their buses arrive and so that you are able to hear the buses being called. The end of the day is often used for conferencing – just make sure that the rest of the class is doing something relatively calm and quiet.

• It is extremely important that you direct your students to be ready for their bus and that you take them to the bus ramp promptly.

• The end of the day should be just as structured – or even more so – as the rest of the school day.

• It is a good idea to have some kind of sign or poster in your room with the bus numbers of your students for easy reference.

Our Elementary Social Worker, Mr. Campbell, is in charge of buses. You will see him standing with his clipboard and greeting each bus as it opens its doors. Mr. Campbell is often the first one to know if there has been a bus issue with one of the students and his clipboard has the list of the students who arrive at school each day. By being out on the bus ramp you make yourself available to receive this information in a timely manner.