Career Videos

During the month of May we are focusing on careers.  I thought it would be a fun idea to have parents share their careers, but organizing schedules for speakers would disrupt our normal classroom routines and sounded a little overwhelming.  Then a lightbulb inside me went off!  What if I used our emphasis on technology to help share our parent's careers???

I created a private youtube channel and invited parents to upload short 2-3 minute videos using the criteria below.  Then I had students log in and peruse the videos, increasing both engagement and differentiation for their unique interests.  I sent home the following letter to parents to enlist their help:
 

Since not all careers are represented, I supplemented with additional careers using Kidsgov's TeacherTube channel.  Here you can watch additional kid friendly videos on a variety of careers.

Animal Keeper:


Marine Pilot:


Marine Biologist:


Army Dentist:


Archeologist:


Biologist & Chemist:



White House Chef:


Architect:
 

Careers Taboo

In third grade we played Careers Taboo (you can download the cards here) to introduce the topic of careers! I split the class into 2 teams and had them sit in a line.  The student at the front of the line would draw a card and try to describe the career on the card without saying any of the "hush" words.  Their team had 30 seconds to guess the name of the career.  While they were describing the career, the student at the front of the line on the opposing team would look over their should to make sure they weren't saying any of the off-limit words.  Teams were awarded points by guessing correctly in the time limit.  If a team was not able to guess the career, the other team had an opportunity to steal.  Each team took turns describing and guessing.  We had a great time and there were lots of laughs to the difficulty of not saying the hush words!

Career Bingo

To continue our emphasis on careers, we played bingo in kindergarten!  I began by going over a variety of careers that would appear on their bingo boards.  We discussed the title of the job, responsibilities and their interest level with each using these posters:

Then I introduced how to play bingo and we were off!  I read aloud descriptions of different careers and they searched their bingo board for the accurate match.  I created the boards using pictures from the Career Day Activity Packet.

Exploring Colleges: Monsters University

During the month of May our focus is on our future.  In 4th grade we began discussing colleges as a way to further our education and open more doorways to careers.  Using our downstairs bulletin board as a springboard, we discussed the importance of selecting a college that matches our interests.  Real college websites are a great resource, but I thought I'd increase their engagement by having them explore Monsters University!

Students explored the site looking for the requirements to get in, classes available and clubs they could join.  They filled out reflection sheets to take home and convince their parents that they wanted to apply.  You can download a copy of it here.

Lee's Pathways to Success

To kickoff our month on careers and college, I created a staff bulletin board to highlight our unique pathways that brought us to Lee Elementary.  I collected high school and college information from each staff member to proudly display.  I included all of our staff members, including teachers, office staff, administration, special areas, nurses, custodians, and our childcare helpers.  I added graduation caps to everyone!

Here are some close ups:

Careers in 1st Grade: Being Wendy

In first grade we have begun our month on thinking about our futures.  Where do we want to go to college?  What do we want to be when we grow up?  Our first lesson focused on the career options that are out there.  To get their brains thinking, we read Being Wendy written by Fran Drescher.

This story follows a young girl named Wendy on her journey of thinking outside of the box.  She lives in Boxville, where everyone must pick a box that shows their career choice.  Even the dogs where boxes!  Wendy cannot figure out just one career that she would like to have because she has many interests.

Throughout the story we talk about the following points (from The Corner on Character blog):

1.  Do you think everyone grows up to get the job they wanted when they were a kid? Share responses from the teachers at your school at this time to demonstrate that dreams change as we grow.

2.  If you set a goal to have a specific career someday and you grow up to be something different, does that mean you failed at your goal? 

3.  Wendy said that she felt different from everyone else, but was afraid to tell someone. Why do you think she was afraid? 

4. Is it a bad thing to be different from others? How do you treat people who are different from you?

5.   The author stated, “Wendy tried to take her dad’s advice, but the more she thought about it, the more she hated thinking inside the box.” Have you ever heard the expression, “thinking inside/outside the box”? What does it mean? How does it apply here?

6.  What do you think the town of “Freedomland” is like?

After the story we start brainstorming what we might want to be when we grow up.  Then we narrowed down what career we would want to have if we lived in Boxville, with one exception: it can be more than one idea!  Students created their Boxville character and wrote down many career options they are interested in pursuing.  You can download the body template from The Corner on Character here.

Here are some of the Boxville residents they created:

It's Not a Box

In kindergarten I introduced careers with one of my favorite stories, Not a Box written by Antoinette Portis.  This book just screams imagination!  We follow a rabbit as he uses a "box" as many different items - guessing before we turn the page to see what he is pretending to be this time.  I like the springboard into careers it provides and message that you can be anything.

After the story, we watched this adorable music video that highlights even more careers:


Then I passed out coloring books (you can download for free here) that had a variety of careers you could choose to color.  Some students even drew their own ideas of what they'd like to be when they grew up.

Someday...A lesson on Careers

In 2nd grade we began our talks about the future by reading Someday by Eileen Spinelli.  This book is a great springboard into careers because it takes a young girl imagining her future career, then ties it into how what she is doing today is preparing her for each pathway.  For example, she is digging in the couch cushions for coins and dreams of being a paleontologist digging for bones.

After the story we played "I Have, Who Has" with careers.  I downloaded this game from The Career Day Activity Packet from Teachers Pay Teachers.  Each class competed to get the fastest time.

Then I challenged them to come up with as many careers as they could using an Alphabet Chart.

For an extra hint, I played them this video:

Grumpy Cat Visits Ms. Sepp

One of our 5th grade students came up with such a creative idea that I had to share!  We were talking about some of the other silly animal pictures with puns I have outside of my office and how it'd be fun to find one about Grumpy Cat seeing the counselor.

A few days later a large poster arrived in my office, created by the same 5th grader I had chatted with previously, and I was amazed by her creativity and initiative.  Check out what is now hanging outside my office:

Teamwork in 3rd Grade: Cup Stack

In third grade we've spent a lot of time on building positive relationships with each other.  We've noticed that the majority of conflict with these kiddos continues to happen outside at recess in less structured activities.  After our last lesson on being good sports, I decided we needed to strengthen our teamwork skills.  And what better way to do this than with the Cup Stack Challenge!

We began by clearly defining what we thought TEAMWORK is.  Then I broke the news that I was going to give them a very frustrating challenge today.  But, if they utilized the teamwork skills we just discussed - then they would find it less frustrating and be very successful.  They had 2 separate sculptures to build with 6 cups, 1 rubber band and 4 strings.  The only thing they could touch was their string.  If the cups rolled off the table, they went down to the ground as a group and used teamwork to get it back on the table.  If their elbow accidentally bumped cups already in formation, they had to pick that cup back up using only the manipulation of their groups strings.

After about 15 minutes most groups had created the first sculpture, and a couple groups were finishing their second design.  I left time for us to debrief on the experience since it is always an activity that brings up a wide range of emotions.  I ask them to rate their group on how well they worked together using the ideas we wrote at the beginning of the lesson.  I ask them what went well for their group.  I also ask them what didn't go well for their group.  We talk about different strategies and ways we an handle ourselves when things don't go the way we want them to.  Throughout the activity I walk around and facilitate positive communication, so I usually have a few examples to help springboard the discussion.