Books
Mothers Can Do Anything By Joe Lasker - Joe Lasker’s picture book Mothers Can Do Anything helps students break down the stereotype that certain jobs are only available for men. This realistic fiction text shows women working in a wide variety of careers. The women in this book work as artists, train conductors, doctors, engineers, and acrobats to name just a few. Mothers Can Do Anything could be used in kindergarten as a guided reading text for high level readers. The book provides opportunities for inferential thinking and provides quality picture clues for hard to decode words.
A Day in the Life of a Teacher By Mary Bowman-Kruhm - Mary Bowman-Kruhm’s A Day in the Life of a Teacher follows real life teacher Mr. Titus through a typical day in his job. This non-fiction text helps students understand the important role that teachers play in facilitating learning and it helps show that teachers are compassionate and interested in helping people. This book and A Day in the Life of a Mayor are both part of The Kids Career Library series that contains non-fictions texts about a multitude of different jobs.
A Day in the Life of a Mayor By Liza N. Burby - Liza N. Burby’s book, A Day in the Life of a Mayor follows New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani through a typical day in his job. This non-fiction text helps students understand the role of a mayor in running a city. They see how a mayor works hard to ensure that his or her city is safe and running smoothly. This book portrays Mayor Giuliani as a kind, approachable individual, which can help students realize that they play a role in the democratic process. This book and A Day in the Life of a Teacher are both part of The Kids Career Library series that contains non-fictions texts about a multitude of different jobs.
Curious George Takes a Job By H.A. Ray - In H.A. Ray’s fiction text, Curious George Takes a Job beloved children’s character Curious George explores different jobs in his community. Readers explore the roles of different community helpers and through George’s adventure, they learn about the importance of every community member doing their part.
Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town By Richard Scarry - This picture book talks about many places in town that individuals may visit or work at. Some examples include library, post office, lawyers, bank, laundry mat, candy store, shoe repair, etc. Along with visuals of each place it describes some of the activities that go on at each place. For example, the book explains that in a post office someone may be writing a letter, dropping off mail, sending a package, etc.
All Around the Town By Jiri Dusek & Jan Pasala - This book has pop-out books of each individual part in the neighborhood such as a police station and supermarket. Each little pop-out book has bright images, and simple words. This would be a perfect book for a kindergarten to interact with both visually, and kinesthetically.
When I Grow Up By Al Yankovic Illustrated By Wes Hargis - In the introduction of this book it explains how the student is excited for show and tell to explain what he wants to be when he grows up. Before he actually tells the class the story tells us wild and creative jobs that he comes up with in his head instead such as milking giraffes. The several wild and crazy careers that this student thinks of is entertaining and interesting. I think this would be a great book to start the unit off with to get the students excited and thinking about various jobs even if they are extremely creative jobs!
I Want To Be A Firefighter By Dan Liebman - This nonfiction picture book is one in the many I Want To Be series. This book provides information on what firefighters do, the tools they use, their uniform, and more. The book provides real images of fire trucks and fire fighters that students would see in real life. Each page has simple sentences and detailed photographs for the student to really understand what it is like to be a firefighter. I would use other books from this series as well for our topic.
My Mom is a Firefighter By Lois G. Grambling Illustrated by Jane Manning - This wonderful realistic fiction picture book about a boy named Billy who narrates his life with a mom who is a firefighter. Billy describes all the work firefighters must do that does not involve putting out a fire, such as checking the engine’s water tank and cleaning out the hoses. Billy describes how he has two families, his parents and the other firefighters his mom works with. The book is great to read aloud to show students how many job require people to work together; one firefighter could not do everything by themselves. The students can relate to Billy because he is young and like Billy the students may have parents who do not work the standard 9AM-5PM job. This book would be great to accompany with a field trip to the local fire station.
Career Day By Anne Rockwell Illustrated by Lizzy Rockwell - This realistic fiction book, Career Day by Anne Rockwell, is a low level picture book about a kindergarten class that bring in guests for a career day. The story shows that there are many jobs that make up a community and if someone does that job for a long time it is called a career. Reading this book to students will help students see the many jobs that are needed in a neighborhood and allows for students to think about matching what they like to a job. In the book a veterinarian came into the classroom which would be a great way to show students that if they like animals this may be a job they are interested in. The book also describes that someone may have many careers in a lifetime. This book would be a great read aloud to accompany with a job role play or an actual live career day for the class/school.
Crackers By Becky Bloom Illustrated by Pascal Biet - In this fun fiction read aloud, Crackers the cat wants dearly to have a job but must first find the job that is the best fit for him. This requires him to go on a search through the want ads until he finds the perfect job.
A Fisher (How We Work) By Douglas Florian - This realistic fiction text gives students a description of what it takes to be a fisherman from morning until night. What makes this text unique is the accurate descriptions and supplies that are used displayed in sketch pictures rather than photographs. This book is great for young students who active imaginations.
Whose Gadgets are These? By Amanda Doering Tourville - This nonfiction book, part of a series by Amanda Doering Tourville, presents students with a mystery and photographs of items that are used in a particular profession. The students must use what they know, and construct new knowledge to come to the conclusion of who uses the tools presented in the pages of the book. These books are great for getting students thinking about who rather than what about a particular profession.
A Day in the Life of a Teacher By Mary Bowman-Kruhm - Mary Bowman-Kruhm’s A Day in the Life of a Teacher follows real life teacher Mr. Titus through a typical day in his job. This non-fiction text helps students understand the important role that teachers play in facilitating learning and it helps show that teachers are compassionate and interested in helping people. This book and A Day in the Life of a Mayor are both part of The Kids Career Library series that contains non-fictions texts about a multitude of different jobs.
A Day in the Life of a Mayor By Liza N. Burby - Liza N. Burby’s book, A Day in the Life of a Mayor follows New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani through a typical day in his job. This non-fiction text helps students understand the role of a mayor in running a city. They see how a mayor works hard to ensure that his or her city is safe and running smoothly. This book portrays Mayor Giuliani as a kind, approachable individual, which can help students realize that they play a role in the democratic process. This book and A Day in the Life of a Teacher are both part of The Kids Career Library series that contains non-fictions texts about a multitude of different jobs.
Curious George Takes a Job By H.A. Ray - In H.A. Ray’s fiction text, Curious George Takes a Job beloved children’s character Curious George explores different jobs in his community. Readers explore the roles of different community helpers and through George’s adventure, they learn about the importance of every community member doing their part.
Richard Scarry’s Busy, Busy Town By Richard Scarry - This picture book talks about many places in town that individuals may visit or work at. Some examples include library, post office, lawyers, bank, laundry mat, candy store, shoe repair, etc. Along with visuals of each place it describes some of the activities that go on at each place. For example, the book explains that in a post office someone may be writing a letter, dropping off mail, sending a package, etc.
All Around the Town By Jiri Dusek & Jan Pasala - This book has pop-out books of each individual part in the neighborhood such as a police station and supermarket. Each little pop-out book has bright images, and simple words. This would be a perfect book for a kindergarten to interact with both visually, and kinesthetically.
When I Grow Up By Al Yankovic Illustrated By Wes Hargis - In the introduction of this book it explains how the student is excited for show and tell to explain what he wants to be when he grows up. Before he actually tells the class the story tells us wild and creative jobs that he comes up with in his head instead such as milking giraffes. The several wild and crazy careers that this student thinks of is entertaining and interesting. I think this would be a great book to start the unit off with to get the students excited and thinking about various jobs even if they are extremely creative jobs!
I Want To Be A Firefighter By Dan Liebman - This nonfiction picture book is one in the many I Want To Be series. This book provides information on what firefighters do, the tools they use, their uniform, and more. The book provides real images of fire trucks and fire fighters that students would see in real life. Each page has simple sentences and detailed photographs for the student to really understand what it is like to be a firefighter. I would use other books from this series as well for our topic.
My Mom is a Firefighter By Lois G. Grambling Illustrated by Jane Manning - This wonderful realistic fiction picture book about a boy named Billy who narrates his life with a mom who is a firefighter. Billy describes all the work firefighters must do that does not involve putting out a fire, such as checking the engine’s water tank and cleaning out the hoses. Billy describes how he has two families, his parents and the other firefighters his mom works with. The book is great to read aloud to show students how many job require people to work together; one firefighter could not do everything by themselves. The students can relate to Billy because he is young and like Billy the students may have parents who do not work the standard 9AM-5PM job. This book would be great to accompany with a field trip to the local fire station.
Career Day By Anne Rockwell Illustrated by Lizzy Rockwell - This realistic fiction book, Career Day by Anne Rockwell, is a low level picture book about a kindergarten class that bring in guests for a career day. The story shows that there are many jobs that make up a community and if someone does that job for a long time it is called a career. Reading this book to students will help students see the many jobs that are needed in a neighborhood and allows for students to think about matching what they like to a job. In the book a veterinarian came into the classroom which would be a great way to show students that if they like animals this may be a job they are interested in. The book also describes that someone may have many careers in a lifetime. This book would be a great read aloud to accompany with a job role play or an actual live career day for the class/school.
Crackers By Becky Bloom Illustrated by Pascal Biet - In this fun fiction read aloud, Crackers the cat wants dearly to have a job but must first find the job that is the best fit for him. This requires him to go on a search through the want ads until he finds the perfect job.
A Fisher (How We Work) By Douglas Florian - This realistic fiction text gives students a description of what it takes to be a fisherman from morning until night. What makes this text unique is the accurate descriptions and supplies that are used displayed in sketch pictures rather than photographs. This book is great for young students who active imaginations.
Whose Gadgets are These? By Amanda Doering Tourville - This nonfiction book, part of a series by Amanda Doering Tourville, presents students with a mystery and photographs of items that are used in a particular profession. The students must use what they know, and construct new knowledge to come to the conclusion of who uses the tools presented in the pages of the book. These books are great for getting students thinking about who rather than what about a particular profession.