How to Organize and Assign End of Day Jobs in 2nd Grade
Classroom jobs can feel like ONE more thing to manage in your classroom.
But, I have a secret to tell you.
Classroom jobs are certainly one thing to manage…but if you do them right, you will eliminate a handful of other tasks that you no longer have to manage.
To me, it’s always been a fair trade.
Do I have to switch the jobs out on occasion? Sure. Do I have to teach the kids how to do each job near the beginning of the year? Yep. Like any other routine in our classroom, I have to stay on top of it, keep it organized and streamlined, and make my expectations clear.
But, these are the things that I don’t do in my classroom anymore:
sanitize doorknobs and clean desks
pick up loose/dropped supplies on the ground
Sort papers in my turn-in basket
change the date on my white board
maintain my class calendar
pass out morning work
sweep up messes on the floor
empty the recycling bin
straighten up the library
clean out the cubbies
…the list goes on!
End of Day Jobs
The key to simplifying your classroom jobs is to do them all at the same time. Rather than trying to worry about jobs that don’t impact your classroom for the better (line leader, door holder, etc.), focus on jobs that actually positively impact your learning environment!
And then, have the students do the jobs all at the same time. You won’t be managing jobs like ‘pencil sharpener’ mid-day, or have kids reminding you that they were supposed to pass out a worksheet when you’re already almost done.
Instead, I just set a timer during the last few minutes of the school day, and everyone does their job at the same time.
The result? A sparkling classroom, and I didn’t have to lift a finger.
It is the simplest, most manageable job system I’ve ever had. Which is why I’ve done them for six years!
How to Assign and Manage the Jobs
I have done this a variety of ways in the past. So, I’m sharing the way that I’m doing it this year. I’m sharing because I’ve gotten a lot of questions in my inbox over the years about how I manage these jobs with younger students.
My original blog post suggests prepping the cards and just letting students choose a card a do a job each day. That works well with the right class, and that’s how I did it (because I had the right class).
But not every class can handle the open-ended responsibility of just picking a card and getting started on whatever needs to be done. So, in the past few years, I have assigned the jobs, and I swap them out every other week.
I put student numbers on clothespins this year. This means I (hopefully) won’t have to remake these for years to come. I’ve assigned two kiddos to a job. Some jobs are great with 3-4 kids, while others can be done with only 1 kid. But, to just make things simple, I chose 12 jobs, and I assigned two kids to each one. (Yes, I will have 24 kids in my homeroom this year. 🤯)
Every other week, I will move the clothespins around in order until all 24 kids have done all 12 jobs. Then, we’ll go back around the board again! At this point, though, if I have two kids who just have not worked well together, I may swap some clothespins around to break up some partnerships.
Swapping the jobs has always been an end-of-day task for me on Fridays. I can do it while the kids are cleaning, or the kid assigned to helping me with the date/calendar often has extra time leftover to move the clothespins for me. No sweat!
Teaching the Jobs
It’s pretty important that you teach your expectations well. If you don’t run a tight ship during end-of-day job time, you’ll end up with a chaotic 5 minutes where nothing gets done. I set aside a solid 30 minutes to teach the different jobs that I’ve chosen for the year. There are two key pieces for teaching the jobs so the students remember them:
Model how to do it, and be explicit about it. Show them where to get any materials they may need (Clorox wipes, broom and dustpan, etc.) And do the job exactly the way that you want to. Do it wrong and have them analyze why it was wrong if you have time.
List the steps for doing the job right on the job cards! (This is already done for you if you use my End of Day Jobs.)
I repeat this a few days in a row during the first weeks of school. For any jobs that get messy, I’ll re-model after a long break to get us back on track!
But what if I still need a line leader?
I know, I know. Those daily jobs like line leader, messenger, etc. are all important…especially in elementary school. Can you imagine just asking the kids to line up and not designating who should go first? Even if I line them up in table groups or small groups, the first group called would be at a loss if I didn’t tell them WHICH kid should be in front.
So, I do student of the day!
The student of the day is the student who is our designated line leader/helper of the day. If I need something delivered to another teacher mid-day, the student of the day will do it. If a kid needs to go to the nurse and I want to send them with a buddy, the student of the day is the person. They are line leader AND door holder. They help with any special tasks in the classroom that may pop up. It’s just one kid for the day.
I assign that in number order. So, kid number one on the roster is the first student of the day. But the last day of school, each kid has had a handful of turns. The student of the day still has an end-of-day job.
Do you want to try End of Day Jobs in your classroom this year? You will NOT regret the shift. Snag them here!
