“My classroom? More like my second home, and a messy one at that!” If you’ve ever uttered these words, you’re not alone. Teachers often have to juggle lesson plans, grading papers, and playing janitor—all in a day’s work.
It’s a constant battle against broken pencils, spills, and elusive dust bunnies that seem to exist overnight. The dirty just doesn’t end. And while teaching is a noble profession, no one signed up to be a full-time custodian.
So how can you reclaim your classroom and your free time while getting your students to help out in the cleaning too? Here’s a guide especially for you.
- The “Clean Desk Challenge”: Incentivise kids with points or small prizes, especially for those with the cleanest desks at the end of each day. Children thrive in competition, so gamifying a mundane task goes a long way in encouraging them to be tidy and even best their peers while at it.
- “Adopt-a-Spot” Program: Allow each student to pick any area in the classroom they’ll be responsible for cleaning. For example, this can be a bookcase, a windowsill, or a group of desks. This gives students a sense of ownership over the area they’re assigned to clean.
- The “Trashketball” Game: Turn cleaning into a game by assigning point values to different types of trash and having students “shoot” them into the bin. But keep an eye out for those crafty students who might “accidentally” drop a few extra scraps on the floor just to up their score!
- “Clutter-Free Fridays”: Devote the last 15 minutes of every Friday to a classroom-wide decluttering session, with upbeat music and maybe even a small dance party to make it fun for the students.
- “Caught Being Clean” Awards: Reward students who consistently keep their desks tidy or go above and beyond to clean up messes with surprise rewards or privileges.
- The Clean-Up Conga Line: Another way to make tidying up fun and engaging is to incorporate it into the students’ daily routines uniquely.
Five minutes before each lesson ends, play some upbeat music and have students form a line. As they dance their way around the classroom, they can pick up stray papers, and pencils broken in half, or put away supplies. - The Mystery Cleaner Award: Ignite a little healthy competition by allowing kids to guess who the “mystery cleaners” were. Humor us for a second here.
Choose a student or a group of students to secretly take on cleaning duties throughout the week, like wiping down whiteboards, throwing trash in the bin, or watering classroom plants.
After each week, the class guesses who the cleaner was, and they are rewarded with a small prize or privilege.
Key Takeaway: It's Not About What You Say, But HOW You Say It
The key to getting students to participate in classroom cleanups is to speak their language. It’s being creative, and instilling a sense of responsibility for someone else’s belongings.
Unconventional as these tips may be, they could just work. It makes cleaning fun, engaging, and collaborative. And no, boring your students to death with constant reminders of “Clean As You Go” may not be the best way to go about the task.
Of course, teachers have their hands full with lesson planning, grading, and countless other responsibilities. That’s why it’s important to remember that you don’t have to tackle classroom cleaning alone.
Enlisting the help of school cleaning services can provide much-needed support and ensure that your classroom is consistently clean, hygienic, and conducive to learning.