Careers

September 06, 2011

CAREER INVESTIGATION

The mission of the Career Guidance and counseling program is to enable all students, regardless of individual differences, to acquire the self- knowledge, educational, occupational and career development skills necessary to be effective students, responsible citizens, productive workers, and lifelong learners.

Some of the skills students will learn are the following:

Self- knowledge of self and others
Personal responsibilities
Relationships with others
Communication and problem solving skills
Importance of developing good work habits
The relationship between school work and future jobs
Decision making skills
Awareness of different occupations

We will use a variety of resources in our career development program such as:

Career Trek – Curriculum designed to teach elementary students about the world of work
Interactive web sites for kids
Books about careers
Videos
Presentations from a variety of professionals in the community
Interviews of professionals

If you would like more information about our career development program, please contact Maria Enoch
at 588-6622 at Blessing Elementary and 843-5015 at Markham Elementary or schedule an
appointment for a conference. I would be glad to hear from you.

Parents play a key role in helping their children with career development by helping them succeed in school as well as by helping them discover the world of work. Parents can help children by talking about family jobs as well as help them become aware of different jobs in the community. There are also many children’s books abut careers that parents can read to their children. As part of the career development program, we encourage parents to become involved. To learn more about the role of parents in career development, please visit some of the web sites listed below.

Your Child's Career	Gives some great information on helping your child plan for future careers.
Bureau of Labor Statistics	Lists different occupations and qualifications needed for each job. It also includes some short inventories on values of and interests.
Career View	Offers some excellent suggestions on how to help your child with becoming aware of the world of work.

Fun Web sites For Students to Learn About Careers
Career Zone	Students can learn about their skills as well as explore different careers which are provided in clusters.
Kids and Careers in Human Services	Information on a variety of careers in the human sciences. It is geared for ages 9-12.
Kids Work	Students can explore jobs in a theatre, hospital, and TV station by taking a virtual tour of the workplace.
NASA Career Expo	Explores different careers in earth science.
NIEHS Kids' Pages	Learn about science careers such as microbiologist, wetland ecologist, and biologist.
OceanLink: All about the Ocean	Explores careers in marine science. It provides a variety of interviews as well as other career links.
The Fun Works	Provides fun interactive material in which students can explore careers depending on the results of a quiz about interests, or can just explore a variety of different careers. These careers are grouped in clusters. It also includes games and music.
Virginia Career View	Students to discover their interests, talents, and skills through the All about You activities as well as using The Kid Search. Students can also explore different careers in Career Town and Let’s Learn about Jobs. Students can even print the activities.
Weather Wiz Kids	Learn all about weather. It also gives a link on becoming a meteorologist.

BOOKS ABOUT CAREERS

Caseley, J. (2002).On the town (1st ed.).Greenwillow

Editors at JIST. (2005). People at work!: A student’s A-Z guide to 350 jobs
(2^nd ed). JIST Publishing, Inc.

Field trips (out and about): Career awareness books for grades prek-3.
(2005). Picture Window Books.

Halliman, P.K, (2002).When I grow up. Ideals Publication

Kalman, B. Community helpers. (1997). Crabtree Publishing.

Kruhm, M. A day in the life of a coach. (1998). Powerkids Press

Liebman, D. I want to be a zookeeper. (2003). Firefly Books, Inc

This is one of a series of books.

Mendoza, G. (2002). Jobs around the neighborhood. me+mi Publishing
Rockwell, A. (2000) Career day. (1^st ed.). Harper Collins.