Classroom jobs are an important part of building community in any early childhood classroom. Young children in preschool and Pre-K thrive when they’re given daily opportunities to be independent and helpful.

Preschool Classroom Job Helpers

When you provide classroom jobs for your students, you’re sending the message that they belong to a classroom community. There’s a special classroom job in preschool – just for them!

Here you’ll find ideas and inspiration for setting up a quick and easy classroom jobs chart for the entire class, as well as ideas for managing one single helper. Please note that different methods work for different teachers.

Classroom Jobs Helper Chart for Preschool

When you make classroom helpers a part of your daily routine, you’re showing your kids that they matter. Those jobs they do around your classroom are important to the entire classroom community.

Assigning classroom jobs to your students helps them learn about teamwork and take responsibility for the materials in your classroom. Having a job is an important life skill for young children to acquire.

Did you know you can use inexpensive envelopes to make your very own classroom helper job chart or bulletin board? Yes, it’s true! Learn how here.

Classroom Jobs Chart

You can use this list of classroom jobs to gain inspiration for your own class. Or, you can purchase the kit so you can quickly and easily whip up your own chart without breaking the bank.

The 28 page editable classroom job helper packet below contains the following jobs:

• Bathroom Monitor (girls/boys)
• Bell Ringer
• Caboose (2 versions)
• Caretaker (5 versions to include cultural diversity and different animals)
• Center Monitor (2 versions)
• Class Comforter
• Computer Technician
• Custodian (2 versions- boy/girl)
• Door Holder (2 versions to include cultural diversity)
• Drink Monitor
• Electrician (3 versions)
• Environmentalist/Recycling Helper (2 versions- boy/girl)
• Flag Holder/Pledge Leader (2 versions to include cultural diversity and both U.S. and generic flags)
• Gardener (2 versions to include cultural diversity and boy/girl)
• Hospitality/Greeter
• Librarian (2 versions- boy/girl)
• Line Leader (2 versions to reflect cultural diversity)
• Lunch Helper/Lunch Monitor
• Materials Monitor (2 versions- boy/girl)
• Messenger (2 versions to include cultural diversity and boy/girl)
• Meteorologist (2 versions)
• Paper Passer
• Calendar Helper
• Snack Helper
• Folder Passer
• Table Washer (2 versions- boy/girl)
• Equipment Manager (2 versions- boy/girl)
• Chair Stacker (2 versions to include cultural diversity)
• Shoe Expert

Included in our popular Teacher Success Bundle, the Classroom Jobs Helper Chart document is a PDF with fillable text fields that allow you to type in your own text to meet your needs. Just type in the boxes, save and print! This is a great feature for those of you who have very specific jobs or teach in a language other than English!

Building Community in the Classroom

Frequently Asked Questions about Classroom Jobs:

How many classroom helpers should you have?
It really depends on your personal preference. Some early childhood programs require one job for each child in the classroom, while other teachers prefer to have just one helper per day.

Can I have one classroom helper each day?
Many teachers have only one classroom helper each day if their programs do not require one job per child. Keeping track of multiple helpers daily or even weekly in the preschool classroom can be very time consuming. Also, young children often forget their classroom jobs and have to be reminded.

Having only one classroom helper each day takes the burden off the teacher and places responsibility on the child. Allowing young children to feel like they are “in charge” gives them a great sense of empowerment. Children who feel empowered are more likely to enjoy school and take more academic risks.

One of the goals of any good early childhood program is to teach independence, by allowing the students to be in control for the entire day they feel incredibly empowered and independent.

Leader Vest

When I had only one helper each day, my mom made simple vests using star fabric for our Leader of the Day. They have stars on them, so essentially it’s like a Star Student vest. I tried using necklaces for our leader, but they were always getting tangled and didn’t seem safe. I needed a way to distinguish the leader, but I also wanted it to be safe and easy for young children to get on and off. These vests worked very well in my own classroom for about 10 years.

Classroom Jobs

What about jobs that require more than one child?
For jobs that require more than one child, you can invite the leader of the day to choose helpers. For example, if the leader is walking in front of the line, he or she can appoint a “caboose” to turn off the lights and somebody to hold the door if he or she does not wish to do these things.

What exactly does the leader do?
The leader does everything. Some of the jobs your daily leader may do include calendar helper, checking clean-up at centers, pushing in chairs, turning on and off the lights, holding the door, or leading the line etc.

More Teaching Tips from Pre-K Pages