SCHOOL STORE: REAL WORLD, PROJECT BASED LEARNING EXPERIENCE
During
the 2015-2016 school year our second grade class put 21st century
skills into practice when we planned, organized, and opened the Camas Ridge
Community Store. We used our creativity
and imagination to brainstorm ideas for the store. We used collaboration and teamwork skills to
pull the project together. After the
store was up and running we used our critical thinking and problem solving
skills to refine the day-to-day running of the store. Here you will find a summary of our yearlong
project.
Driving Question:
How can we as a entrepreneurs
create an inclusive and profitable school store while meeting the needs and
wants of our school community?
School Store Process/Timeline
Fall
Students master basic money skills. Students obtain funding.
Activities include:
Students work towards proficiency in working
with money. Students must be able to
identify coins & currency, count coins & currency, and make change. In addition students practice with play money
in the classroom setting using a ‘pretend school store’. In our classroom this happens during math
centers with an adult volunteer for supervision and guidance.
Students approach an official funding source to
obtain a business loan. Our class asked
our school site council to loan us $200.00 to purchase our first
inventory. Students worked as a class to
format an official letter. A representative group of 4 students attended an
official meeting to present our proposal.
In following years students will present to site council our official
financial reports.
Winter
Students begin planning the store. Activities include:
Brainstorming: Students make lists of items they
would like to sell at the store. Students can use websites such as Oriental
Trading Company to determine inventory choices, actual cost, proposed school
store price, and profit on each item. [See Form 1] The math on this form is very complex. We did
much of it in small groups and as a class after students filled in the items
and catalog pricing. Also the concept of
‘profit’ was difficult for the 2nd graders.
Market Research Surveys: Students create and
conduct surveys to determine what the school store stock should consist of.
Students survey the student body and staff to gain input. [See Form 2]
Collaborative Process: Students are divided into
purchasing groups. (4-6 Students per group). Final inventory selections at our school were
limited to school supplies, fidgets (small toys),
healthy snacks, and arts&
crafts items. Purchasing groups can use
store data to determine which items are selling well and which items the group
may want to discontinue.
Scheduling: Decide when your store will be open. Our class selected recess times at all grade
levels twice per week. We were very busy
so we ended up with 4 students working. We had two tills so we could have two
lines of customers. Two students worked
each till. One student handled the money and one student retrieved the items
for the customer. Parent volunteers helped the 2nd grade students
during each shift.
Advertising the Grand Opening: Name the store! After you have a name and a
schedule for the store students create signs to advertise the grand opening.
Students write verbal announcements to be read over the school intercom.
Order Inventory: Teacher orders inventory. I bought the snacks locally. I ordered the
school supplies and small toys from Oriental Trading Company.
Product Display: When the inventory arrives
create a poster board displaying your merchandise and pricing. [See Photos] All items in our store are $2.00 or less.
Most items are under $1.00. A favorite item is purchasing 5 eraser tops for a
quarter (only .05 cents each!).
SPRING
Open your store! Our
store was open twice per week.
Activities include:
Scheduling: Each week two students work on the
schedule for the following week using a class list, making sure each student
has equal opportunities to work in the store. We scheduled four storekeepers
each morning recess, thus 12 students worked in the store each day we were open.
We were open and Wednesday and Thursday each week. [Form 3]
Inventory:
Each week two students count the inventory left in the store. [Form 4]
(I selected students who were still working on grouping and counting skills.)
The class used this data to analyze sales trends and inventory needs. More proficient math students helped me input
the inventory data into an excel spreadsheet. This is helpful in creating
graphs for in class math activities. [See
Photos]
Counting the Till: Each day students who need the most practice
counting money were selected to count the ‘real money’ with an aid or parent
volunteer. [Form 5]
OTHER THINGS TO CONSIDER
EQUITY
To run an inclusive store for all students we created a
donation jar for school store scholarship money. Students in need were
recommended by their homeroom teacher to receive a $2.00 scholarship each month
so they could make purchases at the store.
We also decided as a class to use some of our profit to supplement the
scholarship fund.
SPACE
We are very limited on extra space in our
building. To solve the space issue I purchased
a rolling cabinet from Craigslist. The cabinet is rolled out to the breezeway
before recess and all of our inventory fits nicely inside the cabinet.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN STARTING YOUR OWN SCHOOL STORE, CLICK HERE TO GET THE FORMS MENTIONED IN THIS POST. GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR SCHOOL STORE ADVENTURE!!!
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