Landscaping Job Skills Task Cards | Mowing, Mulch + Heat Safety

Landscaping is a good fit for students who would rather be outside than behind a counter. It is also hot, loud, and full of machines with blades, so the safety rules matter as much as the tasks: glasses and ear protection every day, shut it off before you clear a clog, drink water before you feel thirsty. This set teaches the words, the steps, and those rules.

This set covers landscape crew and grounds work: mowing after training, mulch, weeding, loading the trailer, and leaving a site neat, plus heat and weather safety. General soft skills are in my Soft Skills Scenario Cards, and reading safety signs is in my Community + Workplace Safety Signs Task 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 (mow a lawn (after training), spread mulch, pull weeds, load the equipment trailer, clean up a job site) 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. The school grounds crew is often glad to have help pulling weeds or spreading mulch, which makes those cards 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:

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

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

• Work Schedules + Time Cards (early starts and long seasonal days)

• 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.