Activity for ages 5 to 7.
Back to school is all about procedures, procedures, and more procedures! As teachers, we know that establishing a smooth running classroom takes time and effort but leads to a MUCH more successful school year.
Classroom jobs are one of my favorite ways to involve my students in the day to day of running a class. They love having a title and being in charge of something, and I love that I don’t spend any time after school cleaning up messes I didn’t make!
This year, instead of telling my students about the classroom jobs that needed to be done, I pulled together a batch of classroom job applications to get their brains thinking of the responsibilities that needed to be done. It was a motivating, real life connection to getting a job as a teenager or adult!
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Getting Ready
The prep for the simple writing activity was so simple! I just printed out the classroom job application on various colors of Astrobrights paper.
Was that step 100% necessary? No. But do I like pretty things and did my kiddos LOVE choosing from the bright colors? Yes, absolutely.
The Activity
After printing out the classroom job applications, I gathered my students at our carpet for a morning meeting.
Once we all got settled, I asked my first graders what they wanted to be when they grew up.
Construction worker, soccer player, teacher (aww!), and horse trainer were just some of the careers my students aspired to achieve!
I made sure to let everyone who wanted to speak have a turn. Then I asked, “What kinds of jobs need to be done in this classroom? What do we need to do to make sure we are taking care of our belongings and showing respect to others?”
My students had some great ideas! They suggested that we would need to sharpen pencils, stack chairs at the end of the day, wipe down the tables, and even vacuum. (I have a small, handheld vacuum by the carpet and my kiddos are obsessed with using it!)
My students easily understood that it takes everyone working together to run the classroom.
(Shout out to the amazing kindergarten teachers at my school who instilled that idea in them!)
After facilitating the discussion, I slipped a classroom job application under our document camera and modeled how to fill one out. Then, I passed them out and let the creative (and helpful!) ideas flow.
I walked around and commented on the brilliant ideas I was seeing and built up the idea that everyone could help make our classroom our home away from home.
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Im unable to get the download after inputting my email. Can you please email a copy to me? Thank you.
Hello Becky!
Thanks for reaching out. I am happy to help and have emailed you.
Warmly,
Kimberleigh
I am curious…after you did this lesson and the students turned in the applications…how did it work? Did every single student get the job they wanted? Did every student have a job? Did it rotate or did you allow them to apply to other jobs throughout the year? I like the idea of having the students come up with the “jobs” and applying for them, but I’d like to know more about what you did after.
Hi Gabby,
Thanks for reaching out.
Yes, all of the students turned in their job applications, but not every student started with the job that they wanted. We rotated job throughout the year so that every person had the chance to do the job that they wanted. I’ve found the greatest asset to this lesson is that it really makes the students think about the qualities needed and the responsibilities required for each of the classroom jobs. It’s also a great way to discuss patience for when we don’t get the things we want right away.
Hope that helps!
Warmly,
Ashley // Happiness Ambassador