Sally Gets a Jobwritten and illustrated by Stephen Huneck, is a book that will appeal to most children. This book is about an adorable black dog who watches its family leave for work and school each day. One day she wonders if maybe she should get a job. Sally contemplates many different occupations, some that children may have thought of themselves. “I could be a teacher.” This book also introduces jobs that most students probably have never heard of. “Or maybe I should just focus on bones and become a paleontologist.” Sally concludes that she has the best job in the world, “Taking care of my family.”
One of the best things about this book is the illustrations. Stephen Huneck is a popular artist and well-known for his paintings and sculptures of dogs. Children will gravitate to this book because of its cover, a picture a cute dog reading the help wanted section of the newspaper. They will also enjoy the pictures of Sally driving a school bus full of dogs and thinking about cleaning up after an elephant.
Sally Gets a Job would be a great introduction in a unit to teach Kindergartners about various jobs. It would expose them to various careers in a fun way. (VA SOL K.6)
Additional Resources:
- This is a lesson which includes a song “I Can Do Anything.” This song would compliment the book really well in the classroom.
- Another idea is to have the students create a picture (like a paper doll) of them in a uniform. Have each child select and color a ‘uniform’ from a choice of many paper cutouts. Then have the students paste a photograph of their face on the person. A similar activity concentrating on community helpers can be found on this website.
- When teaching about different occupations, I would have some of the parents come in a talk about what they do at work. If a doctor came in, I would have the children make stethoscopes for an art project.
- Here is a link to a lesson plan which uses another book about careers. It also has a great worksheet for a student to complete about what job they would like to do.
Book: Sally Gets a Job
Author/Artist: Stephen Huneck
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 32
Grade Range: K-3
ISBN: 0810994933