One Word Stories

Some partner work, creative writing, drawing and total silence! The scholars experienced a One Word Story. After the scholars picked a partner, I explained the task and constraints.

Constraints:

1. Five minutes to think of: a) one main character, b) setting, c) problem, d) solution. This was the only time the partners were allowed to talk!

2. Twenty minutes to write the story. Each partner had their own pencil and could only write one word at a time. There could be no type of communication!

3. Twenty minutes to illustrate the story. The partners were given one piece of paper folded into two parts. Their task, to draw a picture of the story from your own perspective. Again, absolutely no communication.

The classroom was so quiet and every scholar was completely engaged. Once we completed the writing and drawing, the pairs shared their stories. When I surveyed the class concerning this activity, the feedback was to do this again and they gave it the highest rating possible!

Our Market

To learn about Financial Literacy, we had a market. The scholars began by deciding on a product they wanted to produce. Some scholars worked alone while others worked with a partner or a group of three. To help us with knowing how to best advertise our products, we Skyped with Agency Creative. They provided us with great ideas and support. To earn money, we tied our ClassDojo to how much money we could earn each day. Before our 1st market, we turned in our start up expenses (materials) which was withdrawn from our bank account. Our first market was just in our classroom. At the end of this market, some of us discovered we had a desirable product because we made great profits. Other scholars discovered that their product was not a good choice because they did not sell anything. After a debriefing we set about preparing for our 2nd market that would include Mrs. Patton's class. During this market we realized that our potential for profit was greater. During the market some scholars were learning that their prices were keeping consumers away while others discovered that there was a shop selling the same product but at a lower price. These two things caused the scholars to become competitive with their pricing and some even offered special deals, these things helped to turn things back in their favor.