Classroom placemats

Last year we did not get a list of student names until about 15 minutes before our Meet & Greet! I was frantically trying to fill in a Welcome Poster with each student's name and label cubbies in the moments before parents started walking in the door. I think it's so much more inviting for a child to see his/her name throughout the room so that a sense of belonging develops from day 1. This year we have a new secretary and principal and I am crossing my fingers that we get class lists in advance!

In addition to labeling the cubbies and having a Welcome sign, I also make placemats from manila folders and run them through the laminator so that it holds up and so we can use dry erase markers on them.  Here is the front of my placemat:

I write the child's first name in the space, using dotted font. We use the folder as a reference throughout the day. Inside the folder I use a handwriting practice page generator like this one to print out a page where the students can practice writing their names. One page is just first names, the other is first and last names. The students keep their folders at their tables, this way if they don't finish their work they can just place it inside their folder and we don't have to worry about losing pieces or having papers get messed up at lunch time (we eat in our classroom). Also, if a student finishes early they can get out a dry erase marker and practice writing their names.

So, that's three places in the classroom that I have the student's names visible from day 1. Do you put their names any where else?