In Social Studies, students learned some basic economic reasoning skills. They learned that in making individual economic choices, it would involve trade-offs which would included opportunity costs and benefits. In other words they had to make choices on what they could afford to spend with the limited budget they each had.
This in-class project gave them a hands-on approach while integrating social studies, language arts and math! Students learned about supply and demand, creating a budget, and how competition affects the consumer's choice.
They started off by writing a persuasive essay about their place of business and persuaded their readers to shop at their store. Then, they were given a loan from the bank (me, of course) which included some play money. Once they completed the task of buying and selling, they got to count their money and figure out how much profit they made. I loved watching them beam with excitement about what type of "store" they would create for their consumers. It was such a fun, interactive way to give them a real-world experience!
