First of all… I am sorry I have neglected my blog for the last 3 weeks. I have been exhausted everyday after school, and just not motivated at all! I guess moving to a new school and being in a new grade really took it out of me! I will say that I LOVE everything about my new school and grade. It has been such a smooth transition and beginning few weeks of school. And most of all I LOVE my class. I have a great mix of personalities, and they have been great to work with. One thing I am really loving about moving from first grade to third grade is the level of independence you get at the beginning of the year. I can already count on my kids to help around the room, complete assignments, help others…. (and not to mention tie their own shoes). I started the second week of school with classroom jobs, and it is going great! Here’s a picture of the job chart.
This picture was taken the first day of school, so everyone is “on vacation”. I hot glued the paw print notecards to ribbon, and used Command hooks to hang them from a closet door. I also used some Velcro at the bottom of the ribbon to keep it from swaying back and forth when I open the closet.
The jobs we have are:
Clip Chart Manager- At the end of the day this person passes out “brag tickets” (positive notes that are sent home if you clip up) and this person also returns everyone’s clothespin to “Ready to Learn” for the next day.
Lunch Count Manager- This person helps me take lunch count by counting how many packed lunches we have each morning. And at the end of the day this person returns all of the magnets to number order for the next day.
Computer Manager- This person turns on our 6 student computers each morning, and turns them off at the end of the day.
Line Leaders- I have a boy and a girl line leader each week (I use a double line whenever we are in the hallway so that our 28 person train doesn’t take up the whole hallway). Their “job” is to be a good model of hallway behavior so that everyone behind them is reminded of how to act.
Bathroom Monitors- Again, one boy and one girl each week. They are only to report unsafe behavior (no tattling!) in the bathroom. We had to have a big discussion on tattling vs. reporting before starting this job. They are doing great so far.
Librarian- This person is in charge of checking the library for messy book boxes, books left in the wrong spot, books bent or folded, etc.
Messenger- This is my “runner”. He or she has the job of taking lunch money or notes to the office in the morning, and picking up our lunch cards before we go to lunch. Anytime I have something to deliver or pick up, I send the Messenger!
Custodian- Everyday the custodian is in charge of putting down/putting up chairs at the extra table, cleaning up big scraps of paper on the floor, and every Friday cleaning the desks with Clorox wipes (my favorite job!)
Materials Manager- The Materials Manager is in charge of many things. If we are out of pencils in the spare bucket, out of paper at a center, out of Kleenex, etc. this person lets me know or takes care of it himself. Also whenever we turn in classwork, this person collects it from the basket and puts in in a neat pile for me.
Teacher’s Assistant- Basically- if there is anything else I need that is not listed above, the Teacher's Assistant takes care of it. If I need help carrying things, if I need a model to explain something, if I need a back rub after a long day (just kidding!) I also let the Teacher’s Assistant pass out papers.
Each week 12 kids have jobs, and all the others are “on vacation”. I keep an Excel Spreadsheet to keep track of who has had each job so that I can rotate fairly and make sure everyone gets a turn at everything. Also on Friday I pay the kids using our “school money” called Cardinal Cash. And throughout the week if someone is slacking on their job I can remind them of pay day coming up. This is my first year using classroom jobs, and I cannot believe how much time it saves me. In my first grade years I was the one straightening the library, wiping down desks, returning the behavior and lunch clips, turning on computers… now I have more time for the important stuff!
Anyone have any cool jobs that I didn’t think of? I thought about adding another since there is an odd number of cards on the ribbons. Hope you are all enjoying your Labor Day Weekend! I will try to stop in more often now that I am settled down in third grade!!
