Career Development

Developed by: Marla Peterson

Level: K-2

The Three Little Kittens
Listen and Learn About Work

Standards

Learning
Expectations

The following standards are addressed by this activity and are to help students:

5.0 Career Information and Career Goals
6.0 Knowledge and Skills to Achieve Career Goals

The learning expectations for this activity are to help students:

5.2 identify job of workers in the community
5.3 recognize the job tasks of school personnel and community workers
6.2 practice listening and working together in teams
6.5 identify how school performance relates to the world of work

General Approach	The general approach is that children will cut out and make three kitten puppets which will be followed by a counselor-led discussion.
Activity Steps	Print kittens for each student. Give each student the kittens. Under close supervision, have the children cut out the kittens with scissors that have blunt ends. Ask all children to sit down while using the scissors and give other proper safety precautions. Give each student three straws and help them tape one kitten to each straw Gather children in a circle Lead them through a discussion: Some kittens live in people's homes. Others do not. Some live in other places in our community. We have been studying some of these places because people who help us work at these places. Some of these places are: fire station, police station, hospital, doctor's office, post office.Your kittens live in one of these places. They do not live in a house with a family. We will be quiet for a minute or two and I want you to think about this question, "Where do your kittens live?" After the students have selected a place where their kittens live, ask each one to tell the others where their kittens live. As each one names the place where the kittens live, use the following "leads" and wait for their responses: Kittens hear things. They hear the workers talking. What do you think they hear the workers talking about? Do the workers ever talk about their families? [Be careful here. Emphasize that our work life and our family live are related.] Who works here? Are they men? Women? What do they do? What kinds of things to these workers do that you would like to do? That you would not like to do? The kittens are good listeners. Can you think of jobs where it is very important for workers to be good listeners?
Time Required	This activity may require two 20-30 minute sessions. The puppets can be made during the first session and the discussion can take place during the second session. Children will need assistance in placing tape on their puppets.
Resources Needed	puppets patterns print three kittens for each student blunt scissors straws tape
Performance Indicators	During the discussion the counselor or teacher will write down the careers the students have mentioned. The teacher will then describe what clothes a person might wear in a particular career field and role play an activity performed in that career. The students will call out the appropriate career, explain why each career is important, and describe whether they have any skills that could be used in each career that is identified.