Final Cookbook Money Purchase

At the end of February we discussed how to spend the $30 we had left in cookbook money.  We knew we still wanted to purchase a few books from the top 20 for our classroom library.  The class recommended their favorites and we ultimately voted on "Panda Problems" and " A Piglet Named Mercy."  We were excited to add them to our classroom in early March!

Cookbook Money Update

In the last few weeks the students have made some decisions about spending the money they earned from the cookbook sales.

The first thing we needed to do was pay back the school for printing supplies.  Mr. Semmen came to our classroom so we could update him on our sales and the class's plan for the money.  The class payed him $72.24.  He told the class he would be taking it to the business secretary in the office.

The class had chosen the Cords Family from Rushford to donate money to.  We had decided on donating $100.  This is the most we've ever been able to donate to a family, and I'm so grateful for all of our customers and additional donations so we could do this!  We were able to have an aunt to the family come to our classroom to pick up a card and the donation to bring to the family.  We continue to think of them and send out prayers as they recover.

With the remaining money the students ultimately voted on purchasing a stapler with staples for the writing center, individual pencil sharpeners for everyone, and glue sticks for the writing center.  This order was placed with Amazon for $23.98.  They also picked out a beanbag from Target and a new book basket to replace one that had broken.  This total from Target was $43.05.  They have$31.73 left to spend, and I think they're leaning in the direction of buying a few new books after we finish reading the Top 20 Books of 2019.

What I love about this part of the process is that the students are involved each step of the way.  They had brainstormed possible needs and wants for the classroom.  Then they voted on their top choices.  I looked up the prices of the items they wanted and reported back on how much it would all cost.  The beanbag definitely was a split vote.  Half the class thought it was too expensive and the other half felt it was worth it.  I told them to continue to think it over, and we could either come up with a new idea or still purchase it at any time.  We took a new vote the next day, and the majority voted in favor of it.  They are loving it! 

If anybody tries a recipe from the cookbook, and would like to be on the blog as a taste tester just email me a picture, and I'll get it on the blog! 

Final Cookbook Sales

We had a super successful year of cookbook sales!  We started this economics unit by learning about how people can earn money and how people spend it.  We learned about the difference between selling a good or providing a service.  The students brainstormed ways as children they can earn money.  Some of their ideas were dong chores at their house or for neighbors, having a garage sale, setting up a lemonade stand, or saving money they get as a gift.  We had two eighth grade students visit our classroom to talk about the different ways they have earned money.  Isaac shared with the class about the details of his egg business, and Mason talked with the class about designing and selling sweatshirts.

We learned about what we can do with the money we earn; specifically the difference between buying items we need and items we want.  We discussed the importance of saving our money and using money to help others.  This lead into putting together our cookbook to earn money as a class.  The students made posters advertising our cookbooks.  We hung them up around the school.  We also made a commercial that played in the commons area.

The students were so excited whenever a customer came to our door.  Below is one of our students selling to a customer from next door.  It was fantastic to have so much support from students of all ages, staff members, our families, and people in the community.

It was also exciting for our students to be interviewed about our economics unit and cookbook project.  We were able to read our article in the newspaper.

Now that our sales have come to a close, we have our final numbers!  We sold 172 cookbooks and we made $271!  This is a record for the amount of money we have made from this project.  This is due to many generous customers who wanted to donate additional money for us to put towards helping the family in Rushford.  Thank you to all of our customers!  Our first order of business is to pay back the school $72.24 for printing supplies.  This will leave us with $198.76.  As a class we will pick out items we need for our classroom, a few items we would like, and donate money to help the family in Rushford who is recovering from a house fire.  We will be able to make the largest donation we've ever made from our cookbook sales.  I love that this unit teaches the students not only about making money, but also about helping others.  We will keep you updated on our purchases that are decided upon by the class!

Cookbook Sales

We are now a week into our cookbook sales, and the students are blown away by our sales!  We have currently sold 151 cookbooks, and we've made $186!  It is so exciting to have customers come to our door, and we're very grateful to every person who has supported this project.  As we learned in our studies of economics, people use money to buy what they need, what they want, and to help people.  We also learned that businesses have to pay for their supplies.  With the money we've earned we must first pay back the school for our printing supplies.  We then will pick out items that we need and want for our classroom.  We will also donate money to help a family, and the class has chosen the family in Rushford.  More information will be updated once our project is wrapped up next week!