Pearlmarie, Actually I don't really worry about making a positive first impression on those students that miss the first day. I work hard to be prepared and make a positive first impression on the students that are there. When the students come in that miss the first class meeting I share the materials with them, explain how they can catch up and then move on. The reason for this is that I want the to see that the first class meeting is very important for them to be there. So when they ask "Did we do anything?" I can say yes we did. I give a pretest the first class so I can get a baseline on the students. They don't put their names on the tests so they are more relaxed in talking about the results of the quiz. I give them professional points as well, again to send a message to those that chose not to attend the first class. When a student misses the first class with an excused absence I meet individually with that person and catch him/her up. Gary