Maker Market Day Today on May 1, 2015

Posted: May, 01 2015 at 10:18PM My fourth graders had their fourth Maker Market Day today. Earlier this week students prepared advertisements for their products including posters and this time one commercial. Students use class money (earned for turning in homework on time and complete as well as coming prepared with work/folders etc.) These projects are completed at home; however, this Market Day I waived their business license fee if they utilized a circuit in their product (we've been learning about simple circuits); 25% of my students created projects with circuits. Items created ranged from parfait fruit jars to hand-made wooden clock with a light circuit to lavender scented goat-milk soap. There were frozen chocolate dipped bananas, flashlights out of Altoids tins, magnets, bags, purses, pre-ordered tshirt designs, banana bread, hand-held fans, crayons, bracelets, pillow cases, glow in the dark lanterns, muffins, tie dye shirts, and finally coconut storage boxes. All of their projects start with the design phase where students flesh-out their project on a thinking sheet which includes considering economic markets (supply and demand), and they are asked to anticipate their barriers or obstacles in the production phase. Parent permission is required as this project is completed at home as their homework. In addition, students generate a materials list to anticipate needs. I encourage students to tinker and re-purpose materials from home vs. buying new materials. Students decide what to price for sale vs. for silent auction by creating sales sheets on the day of the Market. My job is to roam around and heat up the auctions. I also invite other adults to come in and bid on items that have low bids; I was in several bidding wars today to up the prices with students I knew had a few thousand class dollars to spend. The Market is open for 30-45 minutes, then students settle their tabs and they have the chance to exchange small bills for larger ones. After the end of today's Market Day, I had students reflect on their experience at Market Day to decide if it went the way they had anticipated.