Chores

Through the years I have had many different ideas and ways of doing a chore chart. It changes a little each year depending on the children and time of year. I have had chore charts that we choose new children for daily and weekly. I have had jobs for every student and only a few. I have included bikes, and high interest toys as part of the chores. I have had children move their name to the chosen job and I have just rotated the position of the names. Really it depends on the class size and abilities of the children.

My most successful chore chart was in a class of 20 students and each student had a responsibility. We titled the jobs as you might find in the community, such as server for the snack helper, auditor for the person in charge of who was at school, and bike police for the children in charge of the bikes. It was fun and the children got to choose the job they wanted to do.

One idea I would like to try out is the idea of having a job for a week, then choosing new jobs and one day is a training day, then they are in charge of the chore. For example if you are the farmer (animal helper—could also be called zoo keeper) you would get training in how to do the chore; where and how the water bottle goes on, how much food to give, and maybe even how to hold the animal properly.

I think this would promote independence, mentoring, and collaboration. I also think it could encourage children to ask for help from peers. Mentoring is an important skill that we should be encouraging more. It builds confidence, citizenship, and how to teach or explain to one another. I also have noticed that many children will not ask for help from a peer, even when that peer is willing to help and does know the answer.

I haven’t done this yet but would love to try it or hear about any teachers who are doing this already.

Blessings!