Career Awareness

Career planning in elementary school? Absolutely! While few of us end up doing what we dreamed about doing when we were in elementary school, it's about the dream! Having goals and making connections to what kids are learning in school to the world of work gives learning purpose. And we are building that career readiness - a good sense of self including interests, skills, and values.

In kindergarten we read Clothesline Clues to Jobs People Do and we talked about what jobs might match their favorite subjects. In 1st and 2nd grade we read What Shoes Will I Wear and talked about how our favorites (even our shoes) give us clues to how we like to work and where we might like to work. In 3rd grade we're doing some interest inventories and looked at what career clusters match up with our interests. 4th graders practiced writing resumes as we talked about the skills that every worker needs to show no matter what job they do. And in 5th grade we did a color quiz to help us reflect on our work and learning styles and what that might tell us about future choices.

Our tool this month is string. The string reminds me that I can connect my present to my future with what I am learning, what I enjoy, and what's important to me.