Setting up class jobs for your classroom? It can be tricky to know how you want things to be set up. Should you give everyone a job all the time? Should you only have a few jobs? Or, should you only have one class helper a day who does everything? There are so many options. Here is how class jobs work in my first grade classroom.
How many class jobs should you have?
This is a question I asked myself as I headed back into the classroom. In the past I had only a few class jobs or enough so about half the class could have a job at a time. This year I decided to try having one job for each student each week. I thought it would be great because no one would ever feel left out.
And, do you know what I found? I did not like that set up. First, I felt like many of the jobs weren’t often getting done. Having to come up with 25 class jobs (well 20 because some jobs had two helpers) was really difficult. This led me to having a handful of jobs that we’re really necessary.
So, I took at look at my class jobs and took away all of the jobs that didn’t often get done (messenger for example) or the ones my kids didn’t like (caboose, I’m looking at you). In the end, I ended up with enough jobs for half of my students at a time. I also learned that it’s better to have meaningful jobs the kids want to do than a lot of jobs but a bunch no one wants.
What about the kids who don’t have a job that week?
Since I only have enough jobs for half my class, than each week half have a job and the other half are “on vacation”. I printed my students’ faces on magnetic paper, and every other week they move from having a job to being on vacation island. Their only job that week is to be awesome students! At first they were unsure, but soon they realized they actually like having a break from jobs.
How can you give students voice and choice in their classroom jobs?
Each Friday before we leave, I move the students who had jobs to vacation island and the students who were on vacation are assigned a job. (I do this on Fridays so I’m not scrambling on Mondays.) I am the one who selects the jobs, and I try my best to make sure students get to try each job at least once. However, I also have a feedback box in my classroom. Students can use this to write me notes or suggestions, but they mostly like to use it to tell me which job’s they’d like to do next. I keep their notes in order I receive them, and then they know that I will honor their requests. Some jobs like line leader always have a long line, but for the most part, they end up getting to do the job they wanted the next week.
What jobs do you have in your first grade classroom?
As I said, I started out the year with way more, but here are the jobs that stuck in the end.
- Line leader – an oldie but a goodie, the line leader is the first student in line and sets an example (hopefully) for everyone else
- Door holder – the door holder stands second in line and holds any doors on our way to where we’re going
- Librarians – the two librarians are responsible for making sure the library books in our class library are neat and tidy
- Attendance organizer – the attendance organizer resets everyone’s clips at the end of the day from here to home
- Custodians – the two custodians are responsible for giving the room a little sweep up before dismissal
- Calendar captain – the calendar captain writes the date and number of days in school, later in the year, they lead the class in this as well
- Chair checker – the chair checker makes sure all of the chairs are up before dismissal
- Schedule sorter – our schedule changes daily, so the schedule sorter organizes the pocket chart with the schedule cards in it each day
- Botanists– the two botanists work together to keep our class plants watered
Keep reading and learning:
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8 Things to Keep in Mind at The Beginning of the School Year
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