We are in full swing! Our field trip is set and we will be headed to the Young American's Belmar location on March 14th.
If you haven't seen their website, I would check it out.
They have many other great programs as well as summer sessions for those interested.
Monday, March 3rd - General Elections
We conducted Primary Elections on Thursday to elect one mayoral candidate and one judge candidate from each of the five fifth grade classrooms. Students then met in campaign groups on Friday to help their candidate create slogans and posters. Working on campaigns were "paid" positions so students knew that they had to do their best but don't necessarily have to vote for the candidate they helped.
Monday, the winners will again give speeches, this time in front of all fifth graders. Each student will vote on a ballot and winners announced at a later time. We do not announce winners before job interviews as we want everyone to have this experience.
Monday, March 3rd - Interviews
During this time students will be pulled out to do a one-on-one interview with a parent volunteer. As we want this experience to be as authentic as possible, students will be paired with an interviewer that they do not already know. All students will hand over their job application, state what position they are trying to obtain, and then be asked a series of questions. All questions will be generally the same and be broad as to allow for various student responses. These interviews are mainly for the experience and will not be the only factor into determining job placement.
I have been over with students that this experience is fantastic and fun all around and that the job they get won't matter in the long run. I promise they will have a BLAST! Placing 125 kiddos into jobs isn't an easy task and we try to do our best to make sure all are happy with the outcome.
Friday, March 7th - Job Training
No matter what type of job student get, they will all be given a brief lesson on how to do their type of job (managers, accountants, service and sales, media, and quality).
Monday, March 10th - Staff Meetings
This will be when all the employees of a shop get together and speak for the first time. This will be a time for them to understand their specific job responsibilities, discuss a Code of Ethics, decide on a business name, logo, and slogan, complete business forms (bank loan application, business license forms, etc.), and understand how their business will make a profit that day. This is a longer process and each shop will be assigned a parent volunteer (who will also be with them on the day of the field trip) to help with the new information and answer questions.
Other lessons that will be completed as we gear up will be writing deposit slips, check writing, keeping a balanced checkbook, doing your part with philanthropy and understanding how they function, investing (stocks, mutual funds, and CDs), and understanding the difference between a debit card and a credit card. Please help at home by reinforcing these concepts and having them help you with your check writing and records. At this age, many banks allow for kids to open a checking account (The Young Americans Bank definitely does), and it might be something you would like to look into.
As you can see, a lot goes into this wonderful experience for our kiddos. They are gaining knowledge in work ethic, financial literacy, civic responsibility, and problem solving, all the while, having fun!
