If the internet drops: your paper backup

If the internet drops, keep taking children and write down who's in the room, who dropped each child off, and who collected them. That sheet is your record for the session.

Steps to run a session on paper

1. Keep the room open and carry on taking children.
2. Take one sheet per room. Rule up five columns: the child, the trusted person (the parent or caregiver bringing them) dropping them off, time in, who collected, and time out.
3. Fill the first three as each child arrives. Use the child's full name so you can distinguish children with the same first name.
4. At pickup, ask for the name and check it against the drop-off column before the child leaves. Then fill in the last two columns.
5. Keep the sheet when the session ends. It's the attendance record for that session, and it's the only copy.

Troubleshooting

• The internet comes back partway through. Finish the session on paper so the whole room is recorded in one place.
• You have no printed sheet. Any paper works. Rule the five columns and start.
• Someone you don't recognize comes to collect. Only a trusted person can collect a child, with or without the internet. If their name isn't on the sheet, find the adult who dropped the child off.
• You're covering two rooms. Use one sheet per room, so each sheet shows who's in that room.