What a week!!

It's hard to believe it was only a three and a half day week...whew...we got a TON accomplished!

As I'm sure you've heard by now, we had two Market Days this week. This was the culmination of our economics unit. About three to four weeks ago, we began the ENTREPRENEURS unit...we had six companies in our classroom. Each company perused the materials they were allowed to use and then made up some proposals for different goods they could produce. Each company chose one product and then was given a loan. Using the money from their loan, they had to decide how many goods to produce, and what type of advertising they would use. Once that data was collected, they had to figure out at what price to sell their good so that they could cover their costs AND make a profit. Once those plans were approved, production began. The children had to specialize and cooperate...when you have a classroom FULL of leaders, this can be a challenge! They each had jobs that were important, so they got to see interdependence in action! Once all production was complete, Mrs. Maenner's class and our class got together to see any commercials that had planned...and then each student was given a $5 debit card as their salary for working in their companies. The companies split up and 1/2 were consumers on the first Market Day...the others were sellers. The consumers got to shop in both classrooms and spend their money on the goods produced. Some companies sold out...others did not. That afternoon after shopping the companies got together to see what their sales had been and to make a plan if they felt sales needed to be increased. They had to decide how many more goods they would produce, what it would cost, and whether any advertising needed to change. I was SOOOO impressed with the conversations. Tuesday the companies spent in production. And that leads us to yesterday when the kids had their second Market Day. The consumers became sellers and the sellers, consumers. Overall...EVERY company in our classroom profited enough to pay back their loan and come out on top! One company made over $20!! We had a great discussion about the differences in profits and the reasons that such differences occur. TODAY...the kids had to write a paragraph about their ENTREPRENEUR experience...I'm excited to read them!!

While doing all that, we also managed to continue with poetry...we read one of my favorite poems of all time this week. Its a poem by Langston Hughes titled, "Mother to Son"...in this poem, Mr. Hughes compares life to a set of stairs through a mother's perspective...she is giving her son advice on life...I only wish you could have been in the classroom for our discussion...sometimes I think I'm in a college classroom...your kids are AMAZING! We will wrap up poetry the week we return from Winter Break.

And we also kept the geometry unit going...we worked with transformations...slides, flips, and turns....otherwise known as translations, reflections, and rotations! We will move into function tables, growing and repeating patterns, and line plots, range, median, and mode upon returning from Break.

On Tuesday we got together with our UES Junior Pals...we exchanged cards and the kindergartners taught us the dreidel game...it was a lot of fun!

Today I showed a movie as a treat...I tried to give small holiday gifts all week (less homework, 15 minutes of free time in the computer lab, etc)...and then today each student received a set of three pencils with their names on them...I'm hoping that helps us get through at least January! ;-)

I can't begin to thank you all enough for your generosity towards me this holiday season. I am humbled. It is my absolute pleasure to teach your children!

Cherrie Sampley's last day of school was today. Her family is moving to Georgia and we will miss her very much...that's another thing we did this week...we made cards wishing her well!

No matter what you celebrate...have a happy or merry one! I look forward to seeing your kids in the new year!

In case you missed it...the post before this one is a movie long awaited! I am going to work on one more...the Entrepreneur Unit...so keep your eyes out!