Learning 10 Apr 2017

A profitable market day.

By Gal Sokol and Kaitlin Niebauer, grade 6 students
Photograph by CIS Communications

This year grade 6 students had a successful market day on 14 February, with most of us earning a profit on the day. Two weeks before the day, we had been given the challenge to create a product to sell on market day. Just like starting a real business we had to write a business plan first. The business plan was the priority since the entire process would depend on it.

We had to follow five conditions that would determine how much money we got to spend on materials. The five conditions were environment, health, animals, fair trade and human rights. Each variable was assessed with a star. Stars were based on responsible consumerism and producing. If the product we have chosen is healthy, doesn't use child labour to make, doesn't infringe on human rights, doesn't pollute or hurt the environment and doesn't hurt animals - we would earn all 5 stars! If we got three stars or under, we received no money and had to choose a new product or service and start over.

All of grade 5 and 6 students were told to look at the star rating to know if the products and services were dependable. In other words, if a stall had a five star rating, we were assured to get our money's worth. From personal experience, the more secure the business plan was, the more successful the stall was. The star rating depended on the explanation in the business plan of how these five conditions were met.

Mr Scarrott, the sixth grade lead teacher, stated that students could make an advertisement for the television screens around the school, so we designed creative posters with eye-catching images. We used our art lessons to figure out what colours complemented each other to create the perfect advertisements. To assist students, Ms Kennedy taught us about CARP which consists of colour, alignment, repetition and proximity. We could use the STEAM room for materials and Mr Deir, the STEAM teacher, was a great help with the entire process.

The market day was a blend of everything! From stress balls to wallets, the entire grade 6 pod was decorated with unique posters and banners. All in all, we learnt the importance of partnerships and working together for a common goal. We also learnt how to become responsible consumers and producers. But, most importantly we all learnt what being a responsible business means and how self-management skills are essential throughout the process of starting a business.

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