Community Helpers Match Up
Match eight community helpers to what each one does, from a firefighter to a dentist.
How to run it
Read each job description aloud before the student matches it, so reading is not what is being tested. After each correct match, ask for the whole idea in one sentence: a farmer grows food. If the student matches by elimination at the end, go back and ask about the last two again with the other cards covered. The full board takes five or six minutes.
Cueing ladder
Start at the top. Add support one step at a time.
- IndependentPresent the item and wait 5 seconds of quiet before helping.Log as correct
- HintGive a clue about the word's category, what it does, or where you find it.Log as cued
- Two choicesOffer two answers, the right one not always second.Log as cued
- ModelGive the answer in a sentence; the student says it back and uses it once more.Log as cued
Adjust it
Use fewer items and start with the ones the student already knows.
Ask for the word in a sentence of the student's own, or a second example from the same group.
Matching IEP goal
Given vocabulary cards, Student will name, sort or define target words in 8 of 10 opportunities across 3 consecutive sessions, given no more than an indirect cue.
Send it home through the parent portal →About this activity
Eight community helpers, each matched to a short description of the job: the firefighter puts out fires, the baker makes bread and cakes, the pilot flies an airplane, the dentist checks your teeth. It builds the link between a person word and a function, which is the kind of knowledge that lets a child explain a word rather than only name it.
What to listen for
Listen for whether the student can say the job in their own words once the match is made. A student who matches the doctor correctly but cannot say what a doctor does is matching on familiarity. Watch the mail carrier and the teacher: both help people, and a child who confuses them is working from a general sense of helping rather than the specific job.
Carrying it home
Point out helpers during the week: the mail carrier at the door, the baker at the store counter, the dentist at a checkup. Ask the child what that person does and who helps us when there is a fire. A two-sentence talk about someone they actually saw is worth more than going over the whole list again.
What's in this activity
- firefighter puts out fires
- doctor helps sick people get better
- mail carrier brings letters to your house
- baker makes bread and cakes
- teacher helps children learn
- farmer grows food
- pilot flies an airplane
- dentist checks your teeth
Questions
- Who is this for?
- Kindergarten through second grade students building vocabulary for people and their jobs, and practising describing what a word means.
- Is it free?
- Yes. It plays free in the browser with no login. An account adds session data, goal scoring and assignment to a student.
- Can I use it with a nonreader?
- Yes. Read the descriptions aloud and let the student point. The goal is the link between helper and job, not reading the words.