Marketplace fun
By Jennifer Colton - Argus Observer
Tuesday, June 5, 2007 11:31 AM PDT
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| Jerson Valez, 8, attempts to purchase a tissue paper flower from a booth run by third-grader Elizabeth Oliva, 9, during Aiken Elementary School’s Second-Annual Community Action Marketplace Wednesday. The event — which teaches students economic skills — raised over $500 for the Boys and Girls Club. |
Ontario - In a garden of color, tissue paper flowers, decorated pet rocks and fresh popcorn were only a few of the products available at Aiken Elementary School’s Second Annual Community Action Marketplace Wednesday.
Around 85 students from the second- and third-grade classes under the supervision of teachers Kim Hill, Dalia Ontiveros, Julia Gonzales and Dottie Brown participated in the event.
“Each child comes up with a product to sell or a service or a game,” Hill said. “They mass produce their product, set up a booth and then they sell their product.”
Concessions, like soft drinks and popcorn, occupied one classroom, services in another and product sales in the final two. The products encompassed everything from face painting to paper airplanes, bracelets to picture frames, all for 25 cents each.
“The product or service can be anything that they can come up with that they’re able to mass produce,” Hill said. “They then sell to the other students in the school. Each teacher signs up for a slot of time, and they come down to the marketplace. Parents and siblings are also invited.”
Last year the marketplace proceeds were donated to Hurricane Katrina victims, and proceeds this year will go toward creating a Boys and Girls Club in Ontario.
Representatives from the Boys and Girls Club of Ontario board visited the school, but “our kids are so young, they really didn’t understand what all that would look like,” Hill said.
The students visited the Nampa Boys and Girls Club May 11 so they could fully understand what the funds were going to, Hill said.
“We asked them if they’d like to see that kind of system in Ontario, and they were really excited about it,” she said. “They are really leading the charge to bring that into Ontario. It’s kind of neat that we can get them involved in something that affects their own life.”
Hill said the experience helps the students meet the mandated Benchmark 1 Economic Standard as well as raising funds for a cause.
“The students are learning about volunteering and community service, but they’re also learning about products and that it takes time and energy to create products,” she said.
Wednesday’s event raised $543.
“Everything is a quarter, so that’s a lot of quarters,” Hill said. “We did have some parents make monetary donations, but most of it was raised through the sale of products.”
