Custodial Job Skills Task Cards | Restrooms, Chemical Safety + Mopping

Custodial work is one of the most common jobs our students land, in the school building they already know or in an office after hours. The work is steady, but the rules matter: read the label, never mix chemicals, leave blood and needles to trained staff. This set teaches the words, the steps, and those rules before a student is on a route alone.

This set covers school and office custodial work: restrooms, chemical safety, mopping, and restocking. Emptying trash, sweeping, and vacuuming are already routines in my Task Analysis Data Sheets, and hotel guest rooms are in the Hotel Housekeeping set. General soft skills are in my Soft Skills Scenario Cards.

What's included:

• Teacher page with three support levels and a 2-week plan

• Job snapshot: jobs, a typical shift, and what supervisors look for

• 16 vocabulary cards and a vocabulary match

• 5 task sequence cards (clean a restroom, disinfect high-touch surfaces, fill a spray bottle at the dilution station, wet mop a floor, restock a restroom) plus a blank card

• Put-it-in-order worksheets for all 5 tasks

• 8 safety rules and a 10-item safe or unsafe sort with "do this instead"

• 12 procedure cards (what is the rule here?) and a procedure planner

• On-the-job checklist for student and supervisor ratings, with an IEP data note

• Answer key and blank cards to write your own

How I use it:

I start with the job snapshot and the vocabulary cards. Then I model each task card, ideally in a real restroom or custodial closet with your custodial staff's blessing, and have students practice while a partner reads the steps. The procedure cards work best a few at a time as a warm-up or with role-play. Before a job site visit, students set goals on the checklist, and the supervisor or job coach rates the same skills afterward.

How this set is different from my other job skills resources: my Soft Skills Scenario Cards cover general "what would you do" moments that happen at any job, and my Task Analysis Data Sheets break down everyday routines with data sheets. This set is only about one workplace: its words, its tasks, and its rules. None of the scenario cards or routines are repeated here.

Part of the Job Site Task Card Series: one set per workplace, all in the same layout, so you can mix sites across your caseload and students already know how the cards work when they move to a new site.

Pairs well with:

• Task Analysis Data Sheets (trash, sweeping, and vacuuming routines with data sheets)

• Community + Workplace Safety Signs Task Cards (reading warning and chemical signs)

• Soft Skills Scenario Cards (the soft skills side of any job)

• Following Directions Task Cards (1-, 2-, and 3-step directions)

Who it is for: high school special education, transition programs for ages 18 to 21, vocational and CTE classes, job coaches, and work-based learning teams. Grades 9th to 12th and adult transition.

What you download: one printable PDF, 13 pages, US Letter. Answer key included.

Job tasks and rules vary by employer. Use this to prepare students, and always follow the training and rules at the actual job site.

From the author of The Transition Map (Jeremy D. Gooch), available in paperback and Kindle.

Written by Jeremy D. Gooch, a teacher with 20+ years in education. All student names and stories are made up.