End of the Day Clean Up Routine

Because of budget cuts, our janitorial staff has been significantly downsized. We went months without getting vacuumed and we still to this day have to put our trashcans in the hallway so that the junior high students can come around to empty our trash during the school day. My teammates and I decided to come up with a system so that even though we weren't getting regular cleanings, our rooms weren't complete disaster zones.

ENTER the stickers.

I have seen these stickers floating around bloggy land for a while now and had never used them in my classroom.
We put an even amount of colored labels on all of the desks and then covered them with packing tape so they wouldn't get torn off or mangled.

Every color was assigned an end of the day job. We thought about the places that accumulate the most mess around the room and decided on the following tasks: straighten the desks, pick up trash off the floor, clean/wipe down the counters (including the larger small group table) and cubbies, and wipe down the desks with sanitizing wipes.

These jobs are easily changeable to whatever the needs are for your classroom.

A few minutes before the bell rings, I have the students start their clean up procedure. It is done quickly and quietly and every one has a job to do. It took a lot of training to get them to the point that they would be able to do this without constant reminders and supervision.  I have to be honest though that when a guest teacher is in my classroom, it doesn't go quite so smoothly...

As the year has progressed I have created some "special" jobs for my students who have difficulties, ummm, following directions to put it mildly.  You know little Jumpin' Johnny or Busy Betsy, you get the picture, just give them a job to do and keep it consistent (like wiping down the sink or erasing the learning targets, something, ANYTHING).

I absolutely love this routine! Not only does it give a structured, consistent ending to our day everyday but it also helps our classroom stay spankin' clean!

Here's a little freebie...

I made a little sign for my classroom so that the students will always know what their job is especially if we switch seats. We made little nicknames for each of the jobs so please don't judge our attempt at creativity.

Click here to download. :)

You can use these stickers for soooo much more too! Cooperative learning groups, accountability purposes by calling on a "color" to answer a question... the sky's the limit!

Do you have an end of the day cleaning routine? If you do, I would love to hear about it. Enjoy the freebie!