Our project for the Spring term is ‘Jobs and occupations’.
Most young children are interested in what adults do and will often try to incorporate what they have learnt into their role play. They pretend to be everything from a parent feeding a baby, to a vet examining a sick animal.
Learning about adults’ jobs provides children with many learning opportunities, especially if they are able to watch or participate in some way.
In nursery this term, we will not only focus on traditional roles from ‘people who help us’ such as firefighters, doctors, teachers and police officers etc, but we hope to include plenty of other occupations that will help our children to gain a better understanding of the world around them.
There are many benefits to this, and in particular our project this term encourages;
Language
There are lots of opportunities for children to develop their vocabulary, as many occupations will use words or phrases that are specific for tasks – such as ‘squeegee’ for a window cleaner or ‘prescription’ for a pharmacist.
Children may also use language to ask questions and make links between their own experiences and what they have seen or heard.
People and communities
Many of the roles that we might look at will have some meaning for children. They might include the local hairdresser or post office workers. Sometimes the people who work there may be family or friends from their local community. By looking at such occupations, children increase their sense and understanding of their world.
Literacy
There are many opportunities to highlight literacy when looking at jobs and occupations, as most job roles involve writing. For some children, seeing how reading and writing occurs in the grown-up world can provide them with an impetus for their own early writing.
Mathematics
From looking at adults’ jobs and occupations children can see different aspects of mathematics in the real world. This might include hearing numbers, counting where money changes hands, but also for occupations such as furniture removal, considering shapes and sizes.
Overcoming fears
Some of the occupations we might look at could be people who the children may come across in their lives that can sometimes make them feel a bit worried or frightened eg dentists, fire fighters etc. Learning something about how these people can help us, sometimes helps children to overcome their fears. Looking at the equipment they may use to do their jobs can help to familiarise our children with what they might expect to see and hear.
Aspiration
Finally, learning about adult occupations and roles can be enlightening for some children and, who knows, may prove to be a source of inspiration, especially for children who have limited knowledge of different job roles.
Home learning
For many parents, things such as having a key cut, waiting for a bus or having a boiler serviced may not seem very notable. You may not realise that watching these things happen and listening to the language used around them, can increase children’s vocabulary and knowledge of the world. We hope that our project this term will help you to look at some of the hidden learning opportunities that exist as part of family life.
Your input will really help this project to come alive for the children. We would like to encourage as many of you as possible to come into nursery during the term to give the children a little talk about the jobs that you do. Diversity is the key – we can guarantee our little ones will be thrilled to hear all about your jobs and occupations. If you use specialist equipment, and are able to bring any in for the children to see, we would really welcome this. Please speak to a teacher if you would like to help us with our project. We’re really looking forward to hearing all about it!
