Tuesday, July 24, 2012

Friend of the Week



I had a great question the other day about how I organize my classroom jobs.  My answer: I don't!! :)
I really have a hard time keeping up with all that goes into classroom jobs.  I start off really good but then it just goes down hill and it always falls by the wayside.  Sigh.... so this is how I remedied the situation!  FRIEND OF THE WEEK!!  It's very simple and it works for me.  I actually borrowed it from a dear dear mentor teacher/friend.   I have 1 person - ONE - person each week who is my everything during that week.  My line leader, my calendar helper, my note deliver, my office assistant, my paper holder and my notebook passer outer!  Simple and uncomplicated!!  Basically anything that I need, my friend of the week is there to help me.  I give my kids numbers at the beginning of the year and I just go in numerical order and repeat! :) See - simple!  :)

How do you organize your classroom jobs??

17 comments:

  1. I do basically the same thing and call it Apple of My Eye to go with my classroom apple theme:)

    Tammy
    The Resourceful Apple

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  2. Ok, this sounds so crazy...but everyone in my class has a job everyday! They are set up in a logical (at least to me) order and then they are rotated through an alphabetical list of my students. At the first of the year, it's a Morning Meeting procedure to read through everyone's job for the day. By the 3rd month, I stop reading and they have to look for themselves or the class social director will keep up with it for me. That's not an official job, but you know every class has one!

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    1. I have a somewhat similar system. I call it my "Handy Helper". I have laminated hand cut outs with my students names on them. I hang all the hands from a metal ring clip and flip each day for a new helper. This is my "everything helper". The ring of hands hangs on my chalkboard and everyday the kids are so curious to know who the new handy helper for the day will be.

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    2. I also have a similar system and call it "Work Crew". I made up signs for all the different jobs on card stock, put magnets on the back and put them on the board near the agenda. I also have magnetized student names that go up beside the jobs. The jobs are rotated daily (Foreman moves them down one at the end of the day). I always find it amusing which jobs students LOVE to do and which ones they 'forget' about!

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  3. We have students take turns bringing in snack for the whole class so when it is that student's snack day, they are the "star student" for the day. And, yes, many of them forget to bring in snack so I always have extra available, but they are still the "star student!"

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  4. I have 2 hopping helpers. The past two years they changed each day,but this year it will be once a week! I thought having all those different jobs is such a pain!

    Tonya
    Tonya’s Treats for Teachers

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  5. I had an adorable duck puppet that stood on a wooden stand. It wore a necklace with velcro so that the children's names could be changed each day. The "Lucky Duck" of the day was my go-to kid - did everything from line leader, to paper passer to note carrier! At the start of each day, the previous Lucky Duck would pick a name out of the "waiting to be picked" box and a new Lucky Duck was named. Once all the cards were picked - meaning that each child had had a turn - the name cards were put back into the box to be picked again. Worked great and eliminated the problem of me needing to remind and check up to make sure kids were doing their jobs. Also, no problem if a student was absent. A new name was called instead!

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    1. I have a friend of the day. I found it was very difficult for my kids to wait for that privilege. Like you, my kids are numbered and we go in numerical order. If a job requires more than one person, my day friend chooses a helper.

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  6. I know a couple of teachers who also do the friend of the day for the same reason Wanda stated in her comment. A good friend of mine also does her friend of the day in alphabetical order and uses it to teach ABC order to Kg students. My son was in her class this past school year and is now a PRO at ABC order so I guess it totally works! Haven't tried it yet myself so...

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  7. Would it be possible to get a copy of your Friend of the Week sign? Great idea! I don't do a job chart and this would be perfect for me too.
    Tonia
    tvento1313@msn.com

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  8. I do a helper a day. Same concept as you except I switch each day but I like keeping it the same person for the whole week! It would make it easier to remember who the helper is!!
    I would love a copy of your Friend poster also! I love calling it Friend of the Week instead of Helper! :)
    tjulch@mpsomaha.org

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  9. This sounds perfect! I have never handled/organized student jobs well either. I am going to try this out. Thanks for the idea.

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  10. Thank you for being so honest! :) I start out great too but have a hard time remembering who did what! I'm going to start this tomorrow!!!

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  11. I have used a job chart in my classroom for several years that seems to work very well. I currently have 18 students and 18 jobs. On the left hand side of the chart are little pictures, representing each job, next to the name of the job. Then on the right hand side of the page is a dot of velcro for each job.
    At the first of the year I die cut 18 little pencils with a student name on each and lined them up alphabetically by first name.
    Each Monday morning I move the jobs up one spot and the students stop there first thing and see what their weekly jobs are. I do have two extra jobs at the bottom of the chart just in case I get new students. Those two jobs are the vacationers....the get the week off from extra jobs and nothing is missed if we only keep at 18.

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  12. I love this idea. I got the idea of "Happy Helpers" and I choose two people for the week. Like you they pass out papers, go to the office, help in the cafeteria, etc. It makes it easier, and less stressful to keep up with all of the jobs.
    -Lovely Nina

    Lovely Little Learners

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