Today, we introduced the Orange Room friends to a new routine: Morning Jobs. Each morning upon arriving at school, they are tasked with completing the following four tasks:
- Washing hands (we recommend using the bathroom sink for this, especially if arriving before we open the door)
- Loading their cubby (hanging up their jacket/backpack and placing their lunchbox on the top shelf)
- Placing their water bottle in the bin
- Signing in (right now this entails placing their name card in the can, but this will evolve over time)
A key goal for this routine — and for our 4s/5s year overall — is helping the children gain key independence and self-help skills. So, with this in mind, we ask that you hold back from helping them with these routines and instead encourage them to do so on their own. We’ve already seen that they all have the capacity to complete each of these tasks so now it is about developing all the surrounding skills to complete the full routine on their own.
To help them along, we’ve placed signs around the classroom that offer visual cues. One is on the door itself so they can prep and preview their plan of attack as they enter. We are not expecting them to do them in any particular order, thereby giving them some agency in the process and allowing them to develop habits that work for themselves.
We will continue to give reminders and support as needed, but soon we expect the kids to know what each of their Morning Jobs are and to complete them with minimal adult support. Thank you for partnering with us on this next big step!
