This is a story of a boy who helps his uncle to do his job/work.  It is hard work but the boy is proud.  Follow him through the day as he proudly helps his uncle and receives his own apron.

Materials

• Bag of flour or plaster of paris
• Shoe boxes or cereal boxes, one per child

Vocabulary

• Apron; (What you wear over your clothes to protect them and keep them clean while you work).
• Plasterer (The person who mixes the stuff that is used to make a house)
• Chimney (The part of the house that rises out of the roof where the smoke and heat come out)

Before reading the Story

            Ask the children if they know what kinds of work their parents do for a living?  Write down their responses.   Explain that parents do many different kinds of jobs.  Talk about your job as a teacher and other jobs within your center.  Ask the children if they know why adults need to get jobs (to make money, so we can buy the food, cause they have to work).

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Reading the Story

            As you read make a point of noting the times of day “In the morning my Uncle Adam and I go to work”-ask the children where they go in the morning?  All morning while the boy carries the plaster ask the children what kinds of things they like to do at school in the morning-play, go outside, build with blocks.  Talk about lunch time, what you are going to have that day.  When the boy talks about all afternoon, ask the children what they do in the afternoon-take a nap, read books, play, etc.  Late in the afternoon-explain that this is when the children go home from school. 

Science/Scientific Knowledge; develops growing awareness of ideas and language related to attributes of time and temperature.

After Reading the Story

            Ask the children if they know any jobs that they might like to do when they get grown up? You can then try to find pictures of these on the internet and print them out and write the child’s name underneath. Do any jobs have more than one person who chooses a job type? How many children chose to be firepersons?

Mathematics/Number & Operations; begins to use language to compare numbers of objects with terms such as more, less, greater than, fewer, equal. AND Social & Emotional Development/Self-Concept; begins to develop and express awareness of self in terms of specific abilities, characteristics, or preferences.

Discovery

            Ask parents to supply a tool from their trade that the children may display and examine in the classroom.  Or bring in a variety of tools from different job types (menu, hammer, stapler, stethoscope, cash register, pencil, etc.). Ask the children if they can name the tools and who might use them.

Language Development/Speaking & Communicating; uses an increasingly complex and varied vocabulary. AND Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Music and Movement

            Put on some music and have the children pretend that they are going up stairs and down stairs.  Do this marching like activity for a whole song.  Stop and ask the children how their legs feel.  Imagine doing this all day long as a plasterer, now that’s hard work!

Creative Arts/Movement; shows growth in moving in time to different patterns of beat and rhythms.

Blocks

            Challenge the children to build a home.  Can they add window and a door?  Can they make stairs?  How about a chimney?  Let the children stage any community helpers that you might have with their house.

Approaches to Learning/Engagement & Persistence; demonstrates increasing ability to set goals and develop and follow through on plans.

Art

            Cut out white apron shapes that the children can decorate.

Creative Arts/Art; gains ability in using different art media and materials in a variety of ways for creative expression and representation.

Sand and Water

            Put plaster of paris or flour and water into the table.  Let the children mix it and then use popsicle sticks to spread it across shoe boxes or cereal boxes.  They are plasterers.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them. AND Physical Health & Development/Fine Motor Skills; progresses in abilities to use writing, drawing, and art tools, including pencils, markers, paint brushes, and various types of technology.

Library and Writing

            Bring in a variety of books or pictures that depict people at work.  Bring in unusual careers also like a ballerina or race car driver.  Encourage the children to talk about all the kinds of jobs and help them name the trade and any tools that they know are associated with it.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Dramatic Play

            Look around and find several different kinds of aprons that you can bring into the center and let the children try wearing.  You could also include a tool belt and a paint smock.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations.

Math and Manipulatives

            Bring in a yard stick or tape measure and measure how many inches tall the children are.  Mark on the wall so the children can see. Put out rulers for the children to practice measuring the table, the chair, or a friend.

Mathematics/Patterns & Measurement; shows progress in using standard and non-standard measures for length and area of objects.

Outdoor Play

Get out the bicycles and pretend that it is time for everyone to go to work. One child can work the gas station pump, another could collect the toll tickets, and another could pretend to serve food through a fast food window.

Creative Arts/Dramatic Play; shows growing creativity and imagination in using materials and in assuming different roles in dramatic play situations. AND Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Transitions

            Use the jobs cards.  Have each child pick a card and tell you one or two things about the picture.  Do you know what that job is called?  Can you name any special tools that they use?

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.

Ask parents to write a brief description of what they do for work and illustrate it.  Make it into a classroom book.

Social & Emotional Development/Knowledge of Families & Communities; develops growing awareness of jobs and what is required to perform them.