Every year, the 3rd grade classes manufacture and sell a product as part of our economics curriculum. The Classroom Business Enterprise (a curricular model I learned through Purdue University) is a rich, inter-disciplinary project designed to teach students abstract economics concepts through real-world experiences. This project inevitably becomes one of the most memorable and exciting experiences of the school year, for the students and for me! I began the school year not knowing what product we would make and sell. Luckily, one student had taken up a new hobby -- making friendship bracelets. Thinking about it, I realized there would be many benefits to making and selling friendship bracelets: the fine motor and concentration skills involved in learning different types of braids and knots, the inexpensive resource of embroidery floss, the opportunity for multiple jobs within the production process, and the popularity of bracelets among kids of all ages! Once I had made the decision and ordered the string, it was time for us to develop a business plan. We needed to set some goals, calculate our possible profits, and decide what we would do with our money. In the image below, you can see we accounted for charms as an expense. The charms were not part of our original plan, but were added later as a way to make our bracelets stand out. We held a business meeting to discuss the risks/benefits of adding charms. The students were nervous about the idea of adding such a big expense, but were hopeful that the charms could draw in more customers. In the end, we projected that we would earn at least $62.50, from which we would subtract our expenses (aka pay me back) and end up with about $40 in profit. We then discussed various possibilities as to what we could do with our money, and settled on a compromise. Half of our profit would go to the Humane Society and the rest would be split among the employees. (Side note: the overarching concept of this economics unit is "choice." Producers and consumers make choices with their money. These choices contain risks and benefits, and lead to consequences. For this reason, I try to incorporate choice into every possible area of the Classroom Business Enterprise. This explains the business name... ) After making our business plan, it was time to enter the production phase! Hover over the pictures below for a description of the various "jobs" involved in production. A few students were not captured in the photos, and I'm not sure why! Elijah was one of our braiders, specializing in the canine braid. Asher was a finalizer alongside Ori. I didn't mention this in her caption, but finalizers also had to measure the bracelets to be sure they were long enough. Asher would often help the organizers in his down time. Eli was also a braider, and he was passionate about learning different types of knots. Production was a long process, but eventually we had a full supply! To prepare for launch day, we had a busy agenda. We needed to sign up for shifts (which had to be earned by showing trustworthiness and leadership throughout the previous weeks), check our inventory for quality control, create our display, and practice filling out sales logs. The students learned the importance of keeping track of inventory and cash on hand at the end of each shift. Below you can see groups working on their posters for our display outside the classroom. The three groups each had a topic to write about: product, process, and price! You will also see some staged photos the students designed to make our product look more enticing. If you haven't had a chance to check out the display, I recommend it. You will see their posters, lots of pictures, and lists of the state standards for math, language arts, social studies, and speaking/listening, that this project works towards. In the end, phase 1 of selling was a huge success! We surpassed our goal and had fun doing it! We are currently collecting data and making a plan to have even more success during phase 2: Winterfest! Keep your eye on the blog!
1 Comment
Ian Kerrigan
12/19/2019 09:10:22 am
This is an amazing way to show children the importance of business decisions and choices needing to be made to operate a business. I really w joyed the quality check of your products by some of the students!
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