Now Open for Business!

Today was interesting my class and I have tons of things to write about, but I'll save those for days when I have nothing. I did find something very humorous today that I can't resist talking about...

While we were working this morning, I notice kids are constantly around a certain kid's desk (Brandon). He is also constantly around everyone else's desk...just being a busy bee all over the room. I'm starting to get quite agitated because he won't stop talking and walking around. He also keeps asking me what time it is (I didn't have the TV with the clock on today) and making notes on a piece of paper. I confiscate one of the papers and can't figure out what he is doing.

After specials, he's up to "no good" again. I call him over and ask what's going on. He explains that he is RENTING his personal books out to the class for tickets. I try to avoid laughing. You see, he's got great books all the time because his mom buys him new books on a weekly basis. He used to donate them to our class library, but he's found a new way to make tickets off of his books (and friends).He explained that he charges 1 ticket per hour and 4 tickets for 5 hours (it's a deal). He writes down the time the book was checked out, the time it was returned and how much the kids owe. There are rules that go along with renting his books: You cannot take them home and you cannot put them in your desks.

Anyway, I'm proud of him for developing his own business in our classroom (he even has an open/closed sign), but something still isn't right....He's earning tickets in my classroom (kind of like making money) and I'm not earning anything from him. So we made a deal that he owes me 1 ticket for every 5 he gets (that's 20% commission). He has to pay for running a business inside my classroom (in other words, he's renting his space in my classroom). Because Brandon was talking to me about paying me for tickets he makes, other kids were talking about starting up their own book rental business. The only problem is that Brandon has much better books than most of the other kids. They may try to start a business as well, but I think his will be much more profitable.
Although it may be causing distractions in class, the kid (and many others) are practicing their business skills and math (time, addition, percentages) without doing a single worksheet. Yay for hands-on, exploratory learning.