My theme is Bradex Busy Bees, so I put a good size beehive with three strips hanging down. What the strips hang from can be whatever your class theme is. One strip says "hot", another says "cold", and the last says nothing. I have written each of my student's name on a clothespin. The morning starts off with everyone's clothespin on the strip that is not labeled. As they come in, they take their name from the unlabeled strip and place it on the "hot" or "cold" strip. In less than 5 minutes I have a visual of who is absent, the names left on the unlabeled strip, and a quick count of hot and cold lunches at the same time.