International Day of Trade

Every year, the fourth graders get to experience being business owners.  The culmination of their Unit of Study on Economics (which falls under the Transdisciplinary Theme of How We Organize Ourselves) has them opening a business for their peers.

I may not be in fourth grade this year, but it's still one of my favorite summative assessment experiences ever.  Most nine and ten year olds aren't terribly versed in finances.  At all.  And where I teach, most nine and ten year olds live a rather indulgent life.  But for a good six weeks or so, they become more aware, more careful, and more involved in the way the world works when it comes to money.

Aside from the awesome summative, there are two reasons that I really like sharing this unit's learning experiences with the kids.

First, it's very heavily supported by literature.  Good literature.  Mostly picture books, too, though there are novels used for book clubs as well.  I love reading aloud to my students.  I love being able to pause and leave them hanging (literally filling the room with "c'mon Ms. Diem, don't stop there!" cries.)  I also love watching the lightbulbs go off, almost like those little pop caps that explode when you throw them on the cement.  With this unit being in the theme of organization, those lightbulbs often relate to the fact that connections are everywhere.  EVERY.  WHERE.  The choice you make when picking out what you want for lunch does indeed connect to what the farmer grows, and so on and so on.

Second, it's one of the most real-worldly connected units we've got.  Yeah, sure, money always lends itself to real world, but this unit?  It leads the real world into the classroom, and not the other way around.  From watching T. Rowe Price commercials to determine how things are connected to each other, to simulations to experience market, command, and traditional economies, this unit brings the real experiences right into the room.  We all know that real world experiences make the most meaningful learning, right?  Right.

Anyway, this year's International Day of Trade (formerly, by the way, known as Market Day,) was another high energy experience.  It seems that every year, the classes get more and more creative with their products and services.  Third grade leads nicely into this unit, as they create a business plan for their summative assessment, and I love seeing how it all comes together in this fourth grade learning adventure!

Spontaneous Comics

Ever been reading a book aloud to your class and after discussing, want to do just a little more?

Recently, I read a book to my class about manners, which led into a great conversation about that good ole' golden rule.  And while we did a few turn-n-talks during the read aloud, I wanted to have the kids do more, since it was such a (small but) powerful book.

One of the upsides to my brain and it's ADHD is the spontaneous flow of ideas that are constantly floating around, trying to escape.  And this idea was a pretty good escapee, if I do say so myself!

Anyway, after reading, the kids got into groups of three or four and had to come up with the most important lessons connected to the book.  Once they had ideas, each member of the group (formed by who they were sitting near during read aloud,) went back to their own seat and drew ONE idea on a sticky note, comic style, complete with word balloons or captions.

As they finished their comic square, they put it on our comic strip.  When we were done?  It made a pretty neat read that the kids went up to look at throughout the day!  What I liked the best is it was a quick, simple way to assess the individual understandings of the story.  When I read each student's response, I could tell who was able to apply the theme of the book to the task, who is still in the literal phase, taking direct examples from the book, who followed the directions, and even quick spelling and handwriting observations.  All from a simple sticky note activity that took less than 10 minutes!