I have blogged a bit about my job wheel a few years ago, but I thought it was worth another share. I LOVE my job wheel! I got this idea from my mentor teacher a mere 21 years ago during my student teaching. I have had this one for at LEAST 16 years. It has just evolved and changed through my various grade levels and needs.
Let me just say... I STINK at changing things. Flipping cards is not for me. I like easy and no fuss. I also think it is essential for kids to have responsibility in the classroom. I like to put them to work to keep things running smoothly. They take their jobs very seriously!! I have recently added a calendar person and a homework checker. My kiddos this year are super responsible and wanted more jobs to do. They are so great!
The design is simple. 2 large poster board circles... the larger about 1-1/2 inches bigger than the inside. It is divided into equal parts. Mine has 30 slices. The outside section is numbered 1-30 to correspond to the student's classroom numbers. (See no cards!) The jobs are written in with an overhead marker AFTER the circles are laminated. This has saved me a bunch of times when I need to add/change a job. I have colored in every other slice with yellow. That is how I alternate weeks. The "ODDS" have jobs one week, the "EVENS" have jobs the next week. Takes me two seconds to change, because the last thing I want to do on Friday is fiddle with my job chart. I love it! I have had years where every kid had a job, and that worked great too, but now that I am with the littles, alternating weeks has worked well for me.
Years when I have had more than 30 kids in my classroom, I just added a little post-it note with the kid's number to the outside circle. So whatever job #1 would have, #31 would share the responsibility.
This wheel is about 16 years old... NO JOKE! Maybe it is time for an update... I'll have to add that to my list of things to do this summer, but if it isn't broke... well you know what they say!
What kind of jobs do you have your kiddos do to help in your classroom?
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Very clever! I too HATE doing little tasks like changing jobs. This year I changed the process and it works much better, but who knows... maybe next year will bring another change! :) Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDeleteKelli
Tales of a Teacher
Oh, my gosh! This is a super idea! I'm always forgetting to change the student jobs and then the kids think I'm being unfair! This will solve the problem!
ReplyDeleteOh. My. Goodness. This is brilliant! I could SO use this in my classroom! I am so bad at switching jobs each month. This would totally solve that problem and I could do it more often! Thank you for sharing!
ReplyDeleteSara :)
The Colorful Apple
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