What Local Jobs Need
A 40-minute Grade 1 lesson on the skills behind the jobs done on the street, and how they are learned.
What Local Jobs Need is a free 40-minute Kindergarten to Grade 2 social studies lesson plan for Common Core standard D2.Eco.3.K-2 — describe the skills somebody needs to make a particular thing. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the mathematics, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.
- Grade:
- Kindergarten to Grade 2
- Length:
- 40 minutes
- Standard:
- D2.Eco.3.K-2
Kindergarten to Grade 2 · Economics
D2.Eco.3.K-2
Describe the skills and knowledge required to produce certain goods and services.
Objective
Students will be able to name a skill a local worker needs and say how it was learned.
Students are successful when they can
- Names a skill, not a tool.
- Says what would go wrong without it.
- Says how somebody learns it.
What you need
- Photographs of local workers
- Two headings: what they know, what they use
- The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan
The lesson
Warm-up — could you do it tomorrow?
5 min- Name three local jobs. Ask whether anybody could start tomorrow.
- Ask what is missing.
Teach — learned, not bought
13 min- Take the greengrocer. List what they use and what they know.
- Ask which side you could buy this afternoon.
- Ask how the knowing side was learned: watching, practising, being taught.
- Do the librarian, whose skill is less visible.
- Ask what would go wrong on day one without each skill.
“You can buy the scales. Knowing which fruit is ripe took years.”
Guided practice — match and explain
12 min- Pairs match six local jobs to skills.
- For three they say what would go wrong without it.
- They say how one of the skills is learned.
Independent practice
8 min- Students complete the what-local-jobs-need page.
- Read each job aloud.
Close
2 min- Name a job and one skill it needs.
What goes wrong, and why
Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.
Names a tool as the skill.
Why: The tool is visible.
Fix: The two headings, filled side by side.
Thinks skills come with the uniform.
Why: The worker looks the part.
Fix: Ask how long it took to learn. Nobody starts able.
Thinks a familiar job needs no skill.
Why: It looks easy from outside.
Fix: Ask what would go wrong on day one. Every job has a day one.
If they are not there yet
- Three jobs rather than six.
- Give the skill and match the job.
If they finish early
- Name two skills one job needs.
- Find a skill shared by two jobs.
- Say what skill you would need for a job you would like.
Exit ticket
What does a greengrocer need to know, and how would they learn it?
What to look for: A skill and a route to learning it. Naming the scales means the two-headings sort needs repeating.
Printable practice for D2.Eco.3.K-2
Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.
- What Local Jobs NeedDraw a line from each job to the skill it needs.
Questions about What Local Jobs Need
How long does the What Local Jobs Need lesson take?
40 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 5 min, teach 13 min, guided practice 12 min, independent practice 8 min, close 2 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.
Which standard does What Local Jobs Need teach?
D2.Eco.3.K-2 — D2.Eco.3.K-2, Economics for Kindergarten to Grade 2: “Describe the skills and knowledge required to produce certain goods and services.” In plain terms, describe the skills somebody needs to make a particular thing.
What do I need to teach this lesson?
Photographs of local workers, two headings: what they know, what they use and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.
What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?
Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: names a tool as the skill; thinks skills come with the uniform and thinks a familiar job needs no skill. The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.
How do I know whether the lesson worked?
The exit ticket asks: “What does a greengrocer need to know, and how would they learn it?.” A skill and a route to learning it. Naming the scales means the two-headings sort needs repeating. That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.
Is there a worksheet to go with What Local Jobs Need?
Yes — 1 printable D2.Eco.3.K-2 worksheet, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.
Is What Local Jobs Need free to use?
Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on 7 September 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.
Last reviewed 2026-09-07. Aligned to D2.Eco.3.K-2 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.