Of course after a store opened for business yesterday, I knew there would be more stores opening today. And I was right. The kids came in immediately and put out their open signs. The entrepreneur from yesterday even had a new "special" for his book rentals...Rent 2 Get 1 Free!
As I saw open signs pop up and kids gather the books that they brought to school in hopes of renting, I realized how many stores we had open. I was fully aware of each and every store because each child asked me for tape for their open/closed sign. Anyway, the kids started to notice this as well...and wondering who was going to rent books if everyone was operating a store of their own.
Here came our economics lesson...if there are so many competitors that nobody is left to buy, what happens? Well, in our case it didn't cost thousands of dollars to open their stores, so they decided that they were closed for today. Next economics lesson...Advertising. When I finally allowed the kids to open their stores and shop around, I saw them setting out their books for display, I heard kids saying, "World Records Books", "Newest Edition of Inside the Longhorns", "You get the CD with my version of the Wimpy Kid book." etc. They were also making deals about how much they would charge for the rental in order to beat out a competitor. I expect that some will have a list of their inventory by tomorrow, unless I just missed it today.
Did I mention that the original book rental store now has a salesperson who helps the owner? She works behind his desk with him when there are customers and helps manage his profits, inventory, and disorderly customers. I overheard that he pays her 1 ticket for every 3 books he rents. Clever on both of their parts...she earns tickets without her own inventory and he has help in renting out more books per hour.
I was fun to sit back and watch them run their businesses, figure out how to multitask, and try to attract the most customers.
Showing posts with label class business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label class business. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Tuesday, April 1, 2008
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.
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.
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