Job Site Task Cards Bundle: 12 Workplaces for Special Education

Our students get hired at a short list of places: grocery stores, fast food, retail, custodial crews, hotels, warehouses, hospitals, offices, childcare centers, landscaping crews, animal care, and kitchens. This bundle gives you a task card set for each of those 12 workplaces, so you can teach the actual job before a student walks in the door for a work-based learning placement or a first interview.

I've spent 20+ years in education, and I've watched a lot of students get placed at a job site with no idea what the job actually involves. A student who has never heard the words "carryout," "par level," or "FIFO" is going to feel lost on day one. These cards close that gap.

What every set includes

Every set uses the same layout, so students learn the routine once and you can move between job sites without re-teaching how the cards work:

• A teacher page with three support levels and a simple 2-week plan

• A job snapshot: the jobs at that kind of workplace, what a typical shift looks like, and what supervisors look for

• Words to know with pictures

• Task cards with real situations from that workplace

• Step-by-step procedure cards for the core tasks (bagging an order, cleaning a restroom, picking an order, folding and restocking)

• The safety rules that matter at that site, from chemical safety to knife safety to infection control

• An answer key

The 12 workplaces

• Grocery Store: bagging, carts, produce, and the front end

• Fast Food: counter, drive-thru, and food safety

• Retail Store: folding, the fitting room, and the register area

• Custodial: restrooms, chemical safety, and mopping

• Hotel Housekeeping: beds, bathrooms, and safety

• Warehouse: picking, packing, and forklift safety awareness

• Hospital Support: infection control and patient privacy

• Office and Clerical: filing, copies, and answering the phone

• Childcare Aide: head counts, snack, and pick-up rules

• Landscaping: mowing, mulch, and heat safety

• Animal Care: kennels, feeding, and dog walking

• Food Prep: knife safety, labels, and the dish sink

How teachers use it

• Before community-based instruction: teach the vocabulary and procedures for the site you're visiting next week

• Career exploration: rotate through all 12 workplaces over a semester so students can say which job they actually want

• Interest follow-up: after a transition interest inventory, pull the sets that match what the student said

• Independent work: once a student knows the routine, the cards work at a station with a para or job coach checking answers

• IEP progress: the procedure cards line up with task analysis data collection, so you can track steps completed over time

Why the sets don't repeat each other

Each set sticks to what is different about that workplace. General soft skills, like being late or handling feedback from a boss, live in my separate Soft Skills Scenario Cards, so you aren't paying for the same "what do you do if you're late?" card twelve times.

What a week can look like

Monday, introduce the job snapshot and the words to know as a whole group. Tuesday and Wednesday, work through the task cards in pairs or small groups, with Level 1 support for students who need picture cues and Level 3 for students ready to explain their thinking. Thursday, practice the procedure cards with real materials if you have them: a bag and some cans, a spray bottle and a cloth, a stack of files. Friday, use the scenario questions as a quick check, then talk about whether anyone would want that job and why. Two weeks per site is a comfortable pace; one week works if you are moving faster.

Built to be read

The cards use short sentences, pictures for key words, and a clean layout with plenty of white space. They print well in black and white, and the procedure cards are sized to fit on a ring or a lanyard for use on an actual job site.

Who it's for

High school special education teachers, transition and 18-21 program staff, job coaches, CTE teachers with students on IEPs, and homeschool parents preparing a teen for a first job.

Print, cut, and laminate once, and you'll use these every year. The scenarios use made-up businesses and people, and all safety content is general awareness, not a substitute for the training an employer gives on the job.

Contents

Grocery Store; Fast Food; Retail Store; Custodial; Hotel Housekeeping; Warehouse; Hospital Support; Office and Clerical; Childcare Aide; Landscaping; Animal Care; Food Prep. Each set: teacher page with three support levels and a 2-week plan, job snapshot, words to know with pictures, task cards, step-by-step procedure cards, safety rules, scenario questions, answer key.