Become a Jumpstarter: Volunteer to Support Young Children Reach Their Potential!

Jumpstarters have the unique opportunity to inspire young children to learn, serve in a local community, collaborate with others on a team, and build professional skills. All Jumpstarters receive high quality training in order to implement Jumpstart Kids’ evidence based program and promote children’s school success. This position serves vulnerable populations, i.e. preschool children.

Jumpstarter Responsibilities

During their term of service, Jumpstarters serve 35-55 hours over one semester by fulfilling the following responsibilities:

Essential Functions

Overall

• Able to verbally communicate with peers, Jumpstart staff, children, children’s families and classroom teachers, both in person and over virtual settings.
• Able to arrange their own transportation to service site in a timely and reliable fashion.
• Able to use technology effectively to access systems and platforms for electronic documents, communications, and trainings.

In the classroom

• Able to interact with preschool-age children at their level and potentially with their families/teachers in a classroom with high activity and noise levels and other varying environmental conditions. Interaction includes being able to move around the classroom to participate in various activities with the children and families/teachers.
• Able to participate fully in Jumpstart programming with preschool-age children and their families/teachers – two times per week for 1.5 to 2 hours each, totaling 3 to 4 hours a week. This classroom includes a variety of activities in a consistent routine that includes reading, small and large group activities, and facilitating other learning-based activities.
• Able to see both print and illustrations in order to read children’s books.
• Able to hear children and adults in order to participate in back and forth
• conversations.
• Able to demonstrate effective reading skills in English in order to implement Jumpstart programming. Includes reading children’s books, song charts, and materials.
• Able to demonstrate effective writing skills in English in order to implement the Jumpstart program. Includes writing children’s names and demonstrating how to write words and letters for children.

Outside the classroom

• Able to participate fully in an in-person kick-off training before classroom service begins.
• Able to participate fully in 30-minute weekly team huddles, which include planning, reflection, and/or training other Jumpstarters in a small group to reflect on and plan for weekly classroom activities.
• Able to participate in monthly meetings of approximately two hours.
• Able to complete 0.5 hours weekly of individual planning and preparation for Jumpstart service activities. This includes preparing children’s books for readings, practicing activity facilitation and flow, gathering/creating activity materials, and assembling family/classroom learning kits.

Qualifications and Experience

Dedication to early childhood education

• Experience working with young children, and/or a desire to learn more about early childhood education
• Strong language and communication skills
• Ability to communicate and collaborate with children’s families
• Willingness to learn about Jumpstart Kids’ program implementation and planning
• Willingness to implement Jumpstart Kids’ research-based curriculum with integrity

Commitment to service

• Community service experience and/ or a desire to serve in the community
• Ability to work with people from diverse backgrounds
• Ability to fulfill a community service commitment
• Enthusiastic and positive attitude toward helping others Professionalism
• Ability to work well on a team to collaborate, communicate, and problem solve
• Desire to seek opportunities for self and team growth
• Willingness to receive and provide feedback in an effort to improve quality of one’s service in the program
• Availability, dependability, and willingness to be flexible in different contexts, such as in training, scheduling, in the classroom, with unexpected changes
• Professionalism and good judgment in relating to Jumpstart Kids’ peers, children, partners, and families