Career Clusters in 5th Grade

Our 5th graders have been spending the past six Life Skills classes learning about career clusters!  We have talked about how careers can be categorized or organized by clusters and by exploring each of them, students have been exposed to hundreds of career names - some they might not have even heard of before!
Each lesson has included a quick video showing a variety of careers in the field and many of these clips have been from technical colleges or universities demonstrating the types of training that are needed for various careers.  Students then cut out a sheet that has an overview of the cluster and paste this in their Interactive Notebooks that we have been adding to all year.  Next, they are given worksheets with 12-36 different careers (depending on the cluster!) and information on those careers such as skills needed, interests, and training required (2 year degree, 4 year degree, apprenticeship etc.).  They are asked to choose at least two careers that sound interesting to them.  They are by no means asked to select their "dream job" at this point - we are just exploring!  Asking them to identify which sound interesting helps them ask more questions, pinpoint their interests, and expose them to a variety of career options - which is the entire goal of 5th grade careers!