monday made it: classroom jobs board

With all of the little projects I've been doing for my classroom lately, it wasn't hard to find one to write about to join the Monday Made It by Tara at Fourth Grade Frolics.
I'm getting a little addicted to all of these great teacher linky parties....they're a fun way to blog hop and learn some fabulous new ideas!  :)

 

One of the new changes I made this year was to revamp my classroom jobs.  Not only what the jobs board looks like, but the jobs I'm giving the kids, how they're getting the jobs, how often they're changing jobs, and how to move the responsibility from me to them.

 

I was inspired when I read this post on the Clutter-Free Classroom blog.

 

There were three things that I took away from reading this post:

 

1.  Instead of changing classroom jobs every week, and making sure that every student had every job at some point during the year....students have a job for a longer period of time- a trimester, semester, or marking period.  This gives them an adequate amount of time to learn their job well and get into the habit of actually doing the job (this was the struggle I had most- with students forgetting their jobs!).

 

2. Don't assign jobs until you know the students better...wait a few weeks so that you can best understand their personalities, strengths, and needs in the classroom.  For example, if you have a student who needs to have a "get up and move" break once in a while, maybe a "messenger" like job would be a perfect fit.  They have a purpose- to deliver something to the office or another teacher- and they get a movement break. 

 

3.  When it's time to switch jobs, students train each other.  So whoever was in charge of filing for the first trimester will train my second trimester filers.  The responsibility transitions from the teacher to the students.  Love this!!

 

Taking all of this in, I decided to go with this new philosophy, but I needed to add more jobs and my old pocket chart wasn't going to work.  So.....of course....I made a new one.  :)

 

Here's what new Jobs Chart looks like:

 

 

And here's how I put it together....

 

First, I made the sign for the top.   I loved how in the post I read, the shift went from "here's what we need to do" to "here's what we're responsible for".  So I went with that idea and made a sign to make that clear.

 

 

 

Then, I printed up labels for my job cards.  I used clear labels because I really wanted the adorable polka-dot envelopes to stand out.  I laid out the pockets on a table to create the color pattern first.

 

 

 

 

Then, I carefully stapled everything onto the black background that I had created when I put up my new bulletin boards a couple weeks ago.

 

 

And when I finally do assign each student their job, I'll simply put a large craft stick with their name on it inside that job's envelope.

 

 

Since I have 29 students and only 20 jobs, that will obviously mean that some jobs will be for more than one student.  Which is okay, because honestly some of them need more than one to do it well.

 

I'm super excited to implement this new job philosophy in my class this year.

Thanks again to the Clutter-Free Classroom for this wonderful new outlook on classroom jobs!

 

 

 

And for those of you who are like me and are wondering what all of those jobs are on my board, here's a list so you don't have to squint.  ;)

 

*Collecting Papers

(gathering the papers when students need to turn them in to be graded or recycled)

 

*Passing Papers

(except for tests which I always pass out myself)

 

*Microwaves

(cleaning them- I have 2 because we eat lunch in the classroom)

 

*Helping the Teacher

(for any jobs that come up that aren't on the job board)

 

*Filing Folders

(filing papers into our Friday Folders to go home)

 

*Pencils

(sharpening pencils in the "Dull" can, checking the floor for pencils at the end of the day)

 

*Lights and Doors

(turning on/off lights as needed, holding the outside doors for the class)

 

*Recycling

(taking the paper recycling out to our "Paper Gator" as needed)

 

*Calendar and Board

(changing the calendar at the end of the day and cleaning the board as needed)

 

*Lunch List

(taking the lunch order in the morning and reading off the lunch list each day)

 

*Cubbies

(checking the area under the cubbies at the end of each day so students don't forget anything)

 

*Chair Stacks

(making sure everyone's chairs are stacked and in the right place at the end of the day)

 

*Surface Dusting

(yep, I give my kids a Swiffer sheet and let them dust away!)

 

*Desks and Floors

(making sure the desks are lined up and floors are cleared at the end of each day)

 

*Checking in "Do Now"

(this is our morning work- last year I had a few students ask if they could check in what students turned in, put them in number order for me, etc.  I LOVED them for this!!)

 

*Messages

(delivering anything to other teachers or the front office)

 

*Class Library

(straightening up the shelves, making sure the books are in the correct baskets)

 

*Library Books

(collecting and delivering our school library books once a week)

 

*Absent Student's Jobs

(pretty self-explanatory)

 

*Pillows

(I have 8 or 9 pillows in my reading area and I can just imagine what they'll look like everyday if I didn't have someone trained to straighten them up for me.  I'm a tad OCD.)

 

If you have any fantastic ways that you've implemented class jobs into your teaching, I'd love to hear more about it!