Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Economics Intro!

Dear Parents,
Our current planner is on economics and is called Attention Shoppers. The students will be learning about forms of trade, supply and demand, and the development of a business. The first few concepts we are covering are: income, spending, and savings.
Our big project for this planner will be the Million Dollar Project.
Two concepts this project will cover are that the items they choose to buy will be their economic choice and the item they did not choose becomes their opportunity cost.
This is a very fun and interactive project that allows the family to get involved. The base idea of the project is that each student starts with $1,000,000.00 and must spend it all within $1; without spending more than one million dollars.
Students will make purchases to reach their million dollar spending limit. Once a student has purchased all their items, they must categorize what they have bought. For example: Wants, Needs, Transportation, Living, Vacation, Etc. The students are to decide upon the categories.
Within each category, the student must explain why they purchase certain things. Example: Transportation- I chose to buy a motorcycle and bike as my transportation because I want to save the environment, they are cooler, etc. Explanations for each category should explain your reasoning.
Students ARE required to buy some sort of shelter and transportation. From there… the possibilities are endless.
*The catch: Each purchase must be real.* Students cannot just say I am going to buy a car for $12,000. I must see and actual ad, newspaper clipping, online printout, etc. for EACH purchase. If you want to purchase a home, find an actual home ad or flyer to show. If you go on a vacation, I need to see plane and hotel prices, etc.
And the final layer to the cake!!! The budget and spending. Students will write a check for EVERY purchase. Next to the checks they will also keep on ongoing spending tally to better budget their current balance of money.
This project has very broad guidelines and I am interested in seeing the unique and creative ways student spend their money and explain their purchases.
The project is due on January 13th.
We will not be working on this project in class!
Remember to manage your time wisely! And keep ORGANIZED!

Thank you for your assistance with this project!
Sincerely,
Mrs. Mackey

T-Shirts Coming Soon!! YEAH!

Our water planner was a huge success!!! We learned many wonderful facts and ended the unit with IIM Research projects. Way to go Monkeys!!!
Thank you parent for coming and participating in this very important event. The students love to share their wealth of knowledge with you and show you their classroom. As a teacher, it is great to listen to the students expound on what they have learned.

Junior Achievement Begins!

Junior Achievement is a wonderful way to introduce our Economics Planner. The students will run a business and create a restaurant. They learn about zones and where businesses can go. Look forward to an exciting weekly visit and welcome Mr. McDonald to our class!




Turkey Trade

Mrs. Sigmon, Mrs. Musters and I came up with a great class learning experiment that involved turkeys!! The assignment: make a turkey only using supplies that were cut into one inch lengths. We used this assignment to introduce the students to our new planner: How We Organize Ourselves. The students were divided into random groups with three people. Next, they had to acquire supplies by visiting other countries (i.e. different classrooms) to see what they were exporting. Supplies could also be traded or bartered for. The end products then received an adward. Stop by next week to take a look before they disappear!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

Spelling City

Finally! Spelling City for my class is up and working. Check out our newest words each weeks. Play games and have fun! Remember, you still need to be doing at least 4 activities each week!

http://www.spellingcity.com/lisanmcdonald/

Tuesday, November 2, 2010

Pumpkin Day!

Thank you all so much for your help with Pumpkin Day. It turned out to be a great success! Pictures from the day are below!