Making Classroom Jobs Manageable!

So... I have a confession. At the beginning of each year, I promise myself to keep up with classroom jobs. I swear that I will give out new jobs each Monday. I will give the kids time do their jobs in the morning and when we pack up. It all plays out so perfectly in my mind... Then, comes week 3 of school, we get busy, we run out of time. Real school starts and... well... class jobs stop existing! I forget about them (ok, I ignore them). I pretend that we never even had them. Then, week after week after week after week (you got the point) my kids remind me that we need to do jobs. We do them, they take up 15 minutes because I forgot to mark down who had what jobs and then the kids are arguing. Basically, I think classroom jobs are a nightmare.  If they work for you, great! For me, I just can't!

I do not want to take away the student's abilities to help out in the classroom because their help really makes a big difference in how much I can get accomplished! I love having student help. I just needed a more manageable way of getting their help that didn't actually take up MORE of our precious time.

So, now we have weekly workers. Literally, all I do is switch out two sticky notes to assign new students their jobs... that's literally it! Like for real, so easy!

Here's a peek at how I make it work and make it a little more fun for the kids! :-) 

Integrating fun is a MUST! They feel such a sense of pride.

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I have two types of jobs in my room.

The first is called, Weekly Workers. 

To set up, I get out sticky notes. I put them in two equal piles. I write ALL of my students names on the sticky notes. I stick the two piles on my Weekly Workers poster. Each week the two names up top are the students who are in charge of all the class jobs. On Friday afternoon, I move those students names to the bottom of the pile to reveal next weeks new Weekly Workers. It takes like, 2 seconds! YES!

When weekly workers are working, which is normally in the morning and afternoon - I have little worker hats for them to wear while they're working. That way, everyone knows they're working. It also makes them feel a sense of pride. <3 it.="" love="" p="" they="">

As a little gift to the students, I also give them Weekly Worker necklaces. They can wear it all week long and take it home at the end of the week!

I prep all of these at once, so they just grab one when it's their turn to be the worker. 

I also have a poster displayed that tells the workers what their jobs are for the week. The jobs don't really change, but if I ever need something extra done (like stuff cut out) then, I can add it to their job list.

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I also give two other students jobs for the week as well to get more students involved (and save my sanity). I call these ones station coaches. I don't know how I would get through rotations without my coaches. They're the biggest help!

It's the same idea as seen above. Write all students names on sticky notes, make two piles, rotate the names. This one though, I am a little more choosy on who I pick. This is an IMPORTANT job and I make sure to tell my kids that. If they're someone who doesn't listen well or stay on task then they can't be hired yet for this job until they show me they can do so.

I advertise this job as a privilege. 

Here are the jobs the coaches do during stations. It's a lot, but honestly, they aren't bothered that much. My favorite job that they have... bathroom permission! Ahh... it's amazing - no one comes to the teacher table to ask. 

The station coaches, also get hats to wear while they're working. Since they're coaches, I thought a ball cap was definitely appropriate! 

They also get necklaces to wear as well. 

If you have trouble keeping up with classroom jobs like me, I encourage you to check this out. 

You will not regret it!

You can find it here: