Food Prep Job Skills Task Cards | Knife Safety, Labels + Dish Sink

Kitchen jobs show up in restaurants, school cafeterias, hospitals, and catering, and the skills carry over from one to the next. This set covers the back of the kitchen: measuring, labeling and dating, the three-compartment sink, closing a station, and using a knife only after training. The food safety rules are the ones a health inspector checks.

This set covers back-of-house kitchen work in restaurants, school cafeterias, hospitals, and catering: prep, measuring, labeling and storing, dishes, and closing a station. The counter and drive-thru are in the Fast Food set, home dish-washing and table cleaning are routines in my Task Analysis Data Sheets, and 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 (rinse and dice vegetables, measure ingredients, label and store food, wash dishes in a three-compartment sink, close down your station) 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 and have students practice while a partner reads the steps. If your school has a culinary room or a cafeteria manager who will host you, the labeling and dish sink cards are easy to practice for real. 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 (hand-washing, dish, and sandwich routines with data sheets)

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

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

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

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.