Most pre-k classes that I have seen have some version of "Classroom
Helpers" or student jobs. These jobs -- which may be anything from
line leader to librarian -- help to instill students with a sense
of responsibility and foster community within the classroom. In my
class, every student has a different job each week. So far we've
established that the:
Line leader walks at the front of the line and models appropriate hallway behavior
Caboose walks at the back of the line while making sure everyone stays with the group
Door holder walks second in the line and holds the door as we're walking in the hall
Meeting announcer rings the bells before morning meeting
Equipment manager carries (or distributes) materials for outdoors (e.g. chalk, balls, jump ropes)
Electrician turns the lights off when we leave the room
Timekeeper gives "half way done" and "almost time to stop" warnings during center time
Botanist waters the classroom plants
Lunch servers pass out lunch to their peers
Meteorologist reports on the weather each day
We introduced these jobs slowly at the beginning of each year, and
took time to discuss the importance of each job. For example, when we
introduced the botanist, we discussed what real botanists do, what
plants need to live, how we could help plants live in our classroom,
and why we have plants in our classroom. I explained that I am not
very good at keeping plants alive (a true fact) and underscored the
importance of the botanist's role in our classroom.
I place a great deal of emphasis on classroom jobs, and by
extension, so do my students. Malik, in particular, loves to tell his
family all about his job each week; the first time he was the line
leader, his mom told me that he tried to lead the family everywhere
they went!
Every Monday morning, before we even get to the classroom, my
students pepper me with questions about what their job will be. When
they get to the classroom they immediately go to the carpet and read
the "Helper Chart" to figure out their responsibilities for the
week. This is a great opportunity to reinforce the importance of
reading as a means to gather information, and it helps students
recognize the names of their classmates. We currently have pictures
next to each job title and student name, but as the year progresses we
will take away the pictures of students so they are left to recognize
their names in print independently.
I'm always looking for
new jobs to introduce into our classroom. Currently I'm planning on
establishing a veterinarian, scheduler, and attendance counter later in
the year. If you have other suggestions about jobs that you've used in
your classroom, please leave them in the "Comments" section!
Comments