Classroom Jobs for Young Children
Teach Elementary School Students Responsibility With Shared Jobs
Sep 22, 2009
Classroom jobs for students in kindergarten through third grade are really more about taking responsibility for the job than necessarily doing it well. Jobs can range from cleanup or organizational to procedural or even just be fun. Teachers can be creative in coming up with enough jobs for all class members. Jobs where the results matter (pet feeding or lunch counts for example) should have a built-in system for ease of correctness or double-checking by an adult.
Ideas for Classroom Job Rotations
Examples of cleanup and classroom maintenance jobs might include straightening paper supplies, sorting recycling, testing and weeding out dead markers and glue sticks, sharpening dulled pencils, wiping down tables (with water only… no chemical sprays or wipes), sweeping, trash check, librarian, cleaning dry erase boards, checking for misplaced toys or manipulatives and resorting, or really anything that reveals itself by looking around the classroom. Just ensure that all jobs are safe, within easy reach, and broken up to be small enough to be age-appropriately taken on as a responsibility.
Procedural jobs might include tallying the number of kids buying lunch and reporting, checking and reporting absences, updating the calendar or other related tasks (counting which day of school, day of week, etc.), reporting on the weather for the day, answering the classroom phone when it rings, handing out work materials and more.
Other ideas for jobs and ways to enrich the classroom might include feeding class pets, watering plants (pick a hearty variety that can stand some over or under watering!), reader of the day, bringing a healthy snack, inventing a part of a game or song for the day,
Shared Jobs Teach Planning and Working Together
For many jobs, it might make sense to assign two or more children to the same responsibility. This not only keeps the overall number of jobs manageable, but also adds a new dynamic for the children. Kids with shared jobs should plan how and when they will be done. For example, will they plan a time to do them together or can one do the job in the morning and one later in the day? How will it be resolved if one child is doing the job and one is not fulfilling the responsibility. How can children fairly share a "fun" job?
Through questions like these, shared jobs can offer children the added experiences of planning and organization, negotiation and conflict resolution. Discussions of fairness, trustworthiness, responsibility and class citizenship can all be explored.
Classroom Jobs to Avoid With Young Children
Jobs which place one child in a "power position" over others may not be the best choices in the primary grades. Jobs like line leaders, dismissal monitor or snack distributor can easily lead to bragging, playing favorites or other "abuses of power." Even with the best of intentions, jobs like handing out snack can place a child in the middle of an argument over who got the bigger cookie or fuller glass.
There certainly are valuable discussions to be had when these issues arise, and in higher grades it is useful to explore these situations. But "power" jobs with young children may create hurt or indignant feelings that are harder to dismiss in favor of a teaching moment.
Classroom jobs are a great way to teach children planning and responsibility by offering them the chance to take care of their own physical space and classroom procedures. Sharing jobs between more than one child add the elements of negotiation and group planning. Be sure to limit jobs to those with age-appropriate interpersonal dynamics, limiting jobs that give young children "power" over other kids.
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