In last month’s blog, I shared several vocational jobs that could be added to your classroom. If you missed it, check it out here. This month, I am back with more vocational job ideas to add to your classroom and students’ day. Check out these ideas and how to make them part of your classroom.
Hang Clothes
Use a clothing rack and size dividers for students to hang clothes up by the appropriate shirt size.
Materials Needed to Set Up:
- Clothing rack
- Email your building to see if anyone has a clothing rack they are willing to donate to your classroom
- Check different social media outlets to get one donated
- Size dividers (XS, S, M, L, XL)
- Create your size dividers
- Purchase some from Amazon
- Old t-shirts in a variety of sizes
- Do some spring cleaning and remove those old t-shirts from your closet
- Ask your neighbors, friends, family, or co-workers for t-shirts
Put Away Clothes
Create this task into a two-part vocational job, where students fold the clothing and put it in a dresser.
Materials Needed to Set Up:
- Drawer System
- Use a plastic three-drawer dresser or storage unit
- Find a free or low-cost dresser by asking neighbors, friends, family, or co-workers
- Labels for Drawers
- Create labels for the items that go into each drawer
- Variety of Clothing Items
- Clean out your closet and recycle clothes that you no longer wear
- Ask neighbors, friends, family, or co-workers for the specific clothing items you want to create for this task.
Fold Towels/Washcloths
Have a variety of towels and washcloths for students to practice folding.
Materials Needed to Set Up:
- Towels
- Reach out to find towels to be donated
- Check stores like Dollar Tree or Walmart for towels at a low price
- Washcloths
- Ask for donated washcloths
- Search Dollar Tree or Walmart for washcloths
- Folding Visual
- Create a visual to show the steps of folding the towels and washcloths
Bag Groceries
Practice bagging a variety of grocery items.
Materials Needed to Set Up:
- Variety of grocery items
- Clean out your pantry and use expired items for this task
- Paper or plastic grocery bags
Sorting Mail
Students can sort mail in the teacher’s lounge for the building or set up a mail center in your classroom where students will sort mail.
Materials Needed to Set Up:
A free and easy way to do this could be to talk to your office staff about sorting the staff mail into staff mailboxes, or make your own by using the following items:
- Envelopes or a variety of mail items with the name and address on the front
- Mail sorter or paper organizer
- Labels for the mail sorter
- Students can sort by last name, first letter of the last name, or make it more challenging by having students sort a variety of first letters of the last name and put the mail in alphabetical order within that specific slot (A-C, D-F, G-I, etc)
