Classroom Jobs

I started this year with the intention of setting up classroom jobs.  I was going to have the usual door holder, line leader, trash helper...etc.  I believe when students have classroom jobs they experience responsibility, ownership, and respect for the classroom and school. It helps to establish the idea of a classroom as a community and we all have our part.  Well..weeks went by and I still hadn't made that outstanding classroom jobs chart that would rotate with velcro and all that..  but then  I realized that our class had already began to establish classroom roles/jobs..it kinda happened naturally and some of the roles were not the usual..it was fabulous because the children were feeling important when they got to do their job, we still were able to discuss how our contributions made up our classroom community, they remembered their jobs (and I didn't have to keep track or remember 20 jobs!)  Students would volunteer to do something for me and it immediately was turned into their classroom job!  Take something they are good at or interested in and turn it into a job!

 The photo above is of our new bathroom helper. He now has two jobs! He saw me emptying the mini wastebasket under our sink into our large trashcan...and asked excitedly if he could do it so we turned it into his job!  What is great about these tasks is that nine times out of ten students don't need to be asked to do it..they do it naturally...they remember and it is something that they think is fun to do.

So..this same boy..just the other day.. was having a mopey kind of day, didn't want to go to centers, didn't really know what he wanted to do.. He eyed me pulling our name sticks out the jar and I figured..why not? He picked up within minutes.. many of the names he could figure out!  Some of the names he asked me...we talked about the beginning letters,  he knew he had to call a new boy or girl when the first boy or girl was done using the bathroom...he started sorting the girl sticks and boy sticks in piles.. he sorted the sticks into piles of done and not done..he counted the sticks...not kidding!  talk a surprise learning opportunity!  Instead of me calling their name five times when they were engaged in their center...he was happy to go over to them and say "your turn for the bathroom!"   ..I had offered him books, cars, art supplies.. he wasn't interested in anything...yet plain old popsicle sticks was thrilling! and he was practicing skills he would have been doing in his center..

Here are some of the jobs my students and I have come up with:

Shoe tie-er -   life saver!!

Lunch cards carrier -  It helps that they are in a sparkly plastic index card box.

Board eraser - this student on the front row kept touching the board and erasing parts off my giant easel during lessons..I told him he was great at erasing the board..so now he waits till the end of the lesson and he gets to erase the whole thing!

Sanitizer bringer - for snack time in our room

Coat bringer - I have one student who beams when she brings me my coat from my desk chair when we line up to go outside. ..it's the littlest things that make them feel important!

Toilet paper checkers - We have bathrooms in our rooms..these kids check for tp on the floor and flush it  : )

Playground checker -  There's a poster on our cafeteria door that has a sun on it for an outside day, or no sun for an inside day depending on the weather

Hallway leader - this girl knows her directions well and is trustworthy! She takes students to the office (our school is HUGE! (pre-k-6th grade!) and will also take materials to next door teachers.

Obstacle remover -  I have a student who moves stools for the water fountains, left by other classes, out of the way so our line can get down the hallway without stopping.

Center director - I call out the groups of kids for the centers and this students stands up and points them where to go

Snack trash helper - if we are eating something with a wrapper, he goes around and grabs the trash

and last but not least...

bug stomper - we had black beetles when we move into our classroom..they would invade our carpet group times..I'm very squeamish about bugs!  this boy is quick to notice, quick to squash, and quick to throw it away! : )