Career Developement for Elementary Students-Kindergarten

I don't know about you all, but Career exploration with my students is my favorite time of year!!!  I love doing career development activities!! Helping and watching my students learn about themselves in personality assessments and learning about different careers.  In my humble opinion, Career Development in elementary school is just as vital as career development in high school, because we lay the foundation!! Listed in this post, you will find a few of my favorite career development activities.  I usually have time for 2 maybe 3 lesson per grade level for career exploration. I've separated the posts by grade level to help get to what you are specifically looking for quicker, so this post will focus on Kindergarten lessons.  You can adapt each lesson to fit any grade level, but this is how I use them. If you are looking for the other grades, check the right hand side of the page and click on the grade level you are interested in...Hope this helps!!

In Kindergarten we start off by talking about people we know who have jobs and what kind of work they do!!! This is always a very interesting introduction.  You never know what kids are going to say when I ask if they know anyone who works and why they have/need a job.  Following my opening, I read the book-"Clifford Gets a Job" by Norman Birdwell.  Everybody knows and loves Clifford, so the students get really excited to see he too had to get a job!! 

After reading the book, we go over some discussion questions:

1.  Why did Clifford have to get a job?

2. What/Where was his first job?

3. What happened at the circus?

4. Where did Clifford go next?

5. Did things start out pretty good at the farm?

6.  What were some of his responsibilities at the farm? 

7. What finally happened at the farm?

8. How do you think Clifford felt when he was leaving the farm? 

9.  What happened as Clifford and Emily Elizabeth were going home?

10.  Did Clifford ever find a job that worked for him?

I use questions 8 and 10 to talk about disappointment and how we might not win or be great at everything we try, but the most important thing is to never give up!! I ask what would have happened if Clifford gave up and quit after he got fired from the circus.  This allows to students to see failing to try is worse than actually failing...(does that make sense?).  After Reading and discussing the story, I have the students go back to their seat and draw a picture of what they want to be when they grow up!! After the drawing, I have them come back to carpet and the students share their picture and have to tell us what they want to be when they grow up using a complete sentence.  Click on the picture below for a copy of the worksheet I use:

 

For our next lesson, we play a game that takes the entire lesson.   I created a Smart Notebook lesson that was a matching game.  I created 2 different boards.  On one board, the students had to match the career name with the picture. When they click on the first picture (either the title or picture) we discussed they job title and what that person did in their job.  (For example: Tile One: Dentist student must tell what a Dentist does and then find the matching picture) This is a great game and every students gets to participate.  At the end, it tells you how many attempts you make...if time permits, we play both boards and the goal is to beat their original score as a group.  Not only are students learning about different careers, its also a game of concentration and memory.  I've linked the lesson I use below to my Google Drive, but if you don't have Smart Notebook, you might not be able to access it. Click on the link below to access the file.  You can also create this game using a number of different online resources.

You can also create this fame using a number of different online resources...You may or may not be able to use it pictures, but its worth a try.  Two online games that I've found are EducaPlay

and SuperTeacherTools; they both seem to be pretty simple to use.  If you can access the Smart NoteBook file, feel free to change it and make it your own!!! Enjoy!!