Campus Voices
Lower School
Spring is an exciting time of year for everyone. The trees are more colorful, the weather feels warmer, and the students have grown wiser. (We hope!) It is the time of year that we test our third graders on their math and social skills through creative student-run business projects. This fun and successful activity came together thanks to an idea that third grade teacher Sheika Luc brought with her from her teaching years in New York City. Students come up with their own businesses and gain knowledge about trading, saving, competition, maintaining a budget, personal relationships, and of course making change!
Why do eight and nine year olds need to be thrown into the grown-up world of economics? It’s a great question. Sheika and I have put together a project where students are not only asked to practice their money skills, but also are challenged to make difficult decisions and to take risks. The students quickly understand the basics of the business: “I have an idea, I need to buy supplies, I need to rent space, I need to make and sell my product, and I need to make enough money to be able to keep my business open.”
What the students may not anticipate are the difficulties along the way: “What do I do when the cost of supplies is more than I can afford?”, “How do I help my business partner understand my idea?”, “Why doesn’t anyone want to buy my product?”, “What do I do when my idea isn’t working out as I had planned?” The project generates excellent discussions and we enjoy guiding students by reminding them of events throughout the year where we have problem-solved together to come to solutions. The students are extremely self-motivated and feel a great sense of pride and ownership throughout the unit.
This year, the students will be busy planning and producing their goods during the first two weeks of May. They will be open for business during the last two weeks of school during designated times. We invite our second grade buddies to shop first, and then our fourth grade neighbors in the New Wing will swing by later. Finally, we invite faculty to shop at any of our open business times during the two weeks.
Last year, businesses included photography, puppets, painted pencils and pottery, books, comics, pillows, jewelry, door hangers, and little creatures made of erasers and pom-poms. This year we hope to expand the imagination to include offering services or selling ideas such as, “I can teach you how to....” We have also made changes in the project to make a stronger connection to the real world by assigning students a range of careers and salaries. We hope by doing so that we will engage in rich discussion about decisions and challenges that people face every day. A future third grade parent also suggested adding not-for-profit businesses into the mix as well. We love new ideas and we enjoy taking the time to make the project stronger every year.
Stop by the New Wing to see our entrepreneurs in action!
Calendar
