Since September, the Purple Room friends have become expert explorers of their classroom environment. The children navigate the classroom with comfort and excitement, learning and forming bonds of friendship along the way. Now, the Cookies are ready for a greater level of responsibility in their community. Drumroll please…
The Purple Room Job Chart!
Our chart was crafted in collaboration with Barrow’s Curriculum Specialist Brenna Fisher as well as her incredibly skilled intern, Anabella Manzo.
Here’s how it works!
Each pocket represents a different classroom job—meeting helper, line leader, and kindness doctor—and each child is represented by a popsicle stick. Each day, the teachers will rotate the popsicle sticks to reflect who is doing which job. Any children not assigned to one of our three designated jobs will see their popsicle stick resting in the Community Pocket. During Hello Meeting, we will discuss with the children who is doing each job and, as always, if any children are absent. Any children not in school will have their popsicle stick moved to the Home Pocket so we can keep them in our hearts and minds throughout the day.
Meeting Helper
The Meeting Helper’s job includes three mini jobs: Schedule Reader, Attendance Taker, and Weather Reporter. This child will help read aloud our daily schedule so all the children know the plan for the day. They will also help us note which friends are absent from school and move their corresponding popsicles to the Home Pocket. Lastly, the Meeting Helper will identify using visual cards what the weather is like that day! This job gives children a structured opportunity to communicate in front of the group with support from a teacher.
Line Leader
The Line Leader’s job is to lead by example when lining up and walking from place to place during the school day. The Line Leader demonstrates for others how to walk with a calm and steady body through the halls and walk safely up and down stairs.
Kindness Doctor
It is the Kindness Doctor’s job to be a kind helper to everyone in the Purple Room. The Kindness Doctor can do their job by checking in on a child who is upset, bringing a friend to the Cozy Corner to take deep breaths or snuggle with a stuffie, or giving an ice pack to a kiddo with a booboo. Though we make clear to the children that it is all of our jobs to be kind to those around us, this job offers a more formal invitation to practice perspective-taking, empathy, and reaching out to others.
Community Pocket
The Community Pocket on our job chart reminds the children that even on days when they do not have one of our three individual jobs, they have many jobs to do that keep our community running smoothly. This is a way to more formally recognize and reinforce jobs that the “Community Jobs” that the children have been doing all year long like cleaning up materials during Clean Up time, hanging up and keeping track of belongings in cubbies, and cleaning up after snack time.
We are so excited to see how the children take on these new levels of responsibility!
