The PYP economics unit this year is new for us as a grade and a school. Therefor, it has been a challenge to find age appropriate resources and books as well as think of ideas for teaching to the central idea and key concepts.
When we began our planning of the unit, we knew we wanted the kids to start their own businesses for the summative assessment. As we are about a month into the unit we are on a roll with the businesses and the students have some great ideas. To help with the business plan, I created this document. The idea is for them to plan their business, advertise, and participate in the "business fair" that grade 3 will hold before the December holiday to sell their product or service. At the end of the unit, each class from grade 3 will be collecting their profits and giving a micro-finance loan to a local entrepreneur.
One book that we have used to teach economics and the concept of micro-finance is One Hen. Not only have students learned about micro-finance, but since we live in Tanzania, students have been making really meaningful "text-to-self" connections. Many people within the IST community have provided micro-finance loans to local community members and the students can also relate to the characters. It is a wonderful book.
During the business planning stages, students used this document that I created to help them organize their plans. It has really helped. The final draft of this document will be on display during the business fair so that visitors can see the process that students went through to plan their business.
In addition, I also created this feedback interview document to assist them in the planning stages. Sharing business ideas within the classroom has allowed us to have some interesting discussions on a variety of concepts. For example, some students are realizing that they might have competition within the classroom and others are realizing that people might not want to pay as much for their product or service as they thought. Given the feedback that the students have gotten from their peers, business plans are being modified and adjusted.
Please feel free to download these (just click on them) and look forward to photos and an update on the business fair in a few weeks!
No comments:
Post a Comment