Using a Helper Chart for Preschool and Special Education
Jobs are a priority in our society. Teaching children early on the importance of working along with good ethics can make a huge difference in a child’s life through throughout their work experience. So, what’s the easiest and quickest way to do this? A helper job chart!
Teach Life Skills & Responsibly
The most important part of the helper chart in the classroom is to have jobs for everyone in the classroom. I’ve use this in both kindergarten classrooms and self-contained special education classrooms. No matter the child’s ability, they can participate in some sort of classroom job to be part of a community and learn responsibility.
Let’s Make a Plan
I like to start my helper jobs chart right at the beginning of each school year. I have my selected jobs ready and take a nice picture of each student Printing the pictures in color is wonderful but when I haven’t had that option, I’ve printed the pictures (sized usually 2″ x 2″ or 4″ x 3″ onto colored paper or card stock. These are one of the few things in the classroom that I don’t like to laminate. I need my helper chart up and going quickly and at the beginning of the year I am bombarded with a mile long to-do list. Also I’m usually the only one that is moving around the helper chart so the paper doesn’t get as much wear as some of the other items in the classroom. However, I do like to have my helper jobs laminated because I use same set year after year.
Start this activity the first week of school by introducing this activity as an exciting part of school. Build up the excitement of working as part of a team. Then take time for the first week to teach the jobs. I demonstrate about 4 or 5 jobs a day and have a student demonstrate the jobs as I talk through them.
Make It Happen!
I schedule a time every day for jobs. This is a set as a 10-minute no prep activity EVERY DAY in my class usually right before a transition to specials or lunch. Each child has a job to do during this chunk of the day. There are certain jobs that I have the kids do no matter the school year but some years I change it up a little bit. I base this on classroom and students’ needs. Also the number of jobs that I have changes, of course, because the number of students I have changes each year but also because supplies in the classroom change. In some kindergarten classes I’ve had up to five classroom tables so I need five table washers. But in my self-contained classroom for students with autism, I only have two large tables, so I only needed one or two table washers.
How To Change It Up
Start by picking either a pocket chart or a nice spot on the wipe off board. I find that the pocket charts are the easiest for me to use but if you have a large board and magnetic tape, the chart works really well. If I’m using a pocket chart, I move the students’ name cards around. If I have it up on the board, I rotate the jobs since they are laminated with magnets. Since I don’t laminate the students’ pictures, I just line them up with sticky tack and leave them stationary. See the picture below for an example of this.
Making It Work for Special Education
In the special education classroom, the jobs are more related to life skills and on the easier side. I want to make sure that everyone can participate in the jobs and have success while doing so. Start by organizing it in the same manner that you would for other classes but focus on picking out jobs your students will understand, like, and want to do. Also, my students with special needs get double jobs. My class does a morning group time job for calendar and whole group time. They also have a second job that is an afternoon job. To make this work, I place the students’ pictures in between two jobs. See the picture below to get an idea of this. Also, I only move the jobs on the left sides of their pictures. The other job is their “permanent position” in class.
My Favorite Must-Have Jobs
I absolutely love having certain jobs no matter the school year. So what are my favs?
For any class
Seat warmer, friend counter, pet caretaker, calendar helper, straw helper, meterologist
For general education
Supervisor, motivator, librarian
For special education
Light-switcher, dishwasher, D.J., greeter
Pro-Tips
*Make jobs that not only work for you but are fun for you. Don’t create jobs that make YOU work more. My favorite classroom jobs truly help me get stuff done in the class and create less for me to do after school.
*If you decide to place your students’ pictures in one long single row on the wipe off board like I did in the photo above, open a blank doc and paste all of your pics into rows sized 2″ x 2″. Then organize them into four pictures in 5 rows. Cut them out in long strips and save yourself a ton of time by sticking them to the board in long groups.
*Have a student who moves? Keep their picture and name card in a folder. I recycled one after a student withdrew from school, and then the student moved back a month later!
*Have extra jobs ready to go for any students who move in. While you won’t have the student’s picture ready on the first day, you can add a sticky note with their name next to a new job for the rotation.
*I like to organize the jobs in the order I need them throughout the day. This helps me easily find the job and the name of the student doing this job. I also group together jobs that are related like line leader and caboose.
*Have a plan for when students are absent. I like to have my “supervisor” student fill in. This is great practice for the real world. I also have some of my less time consuming jobs help out like the line leader or the caboose.
*Don’t want to take the time to move these each day? Try moving them first thing on Monday morning and be set with the same jobs for the whole week!
Get your ready-to-print
Classroom Helper Job Chart: for Special Education, Kindergarten, and Preschool
