Black Friday came early to Cottonwood Creek Elementary.
On Friday, Nov. 22, a week before the traditional start to the holiday shopping season, dozens of parents lined up in the school hallway, ready to “shop ‘til they dropped” when the Second Grade Market opened for business.
Inside the school’s three second-grade classrooms, young entrepreneurs put the finishing touches on the displays in their “shop,” which doubled as their desk during the rest of the day. Each shop featured products created by that student.
"I made blue and green cougar paws because Cottonwood's colors are blue and green," said Coraline Griffin, the proprietor of "Coraline's Cougar Crafts."
“I made bath salts because I love taking bubble baths,” said Brooklyn Tamminga as she lined up bottles filled with colorful concoctions. “I used bubble bath, baking soda, colored powder, and bath bomb stuff.”
A few shops away, Jacob Bolshoun adjusted his racks of rubber band bracelets.
“We decided to sell these because they’re kind of easy to make with my whole family helping, and we thought they would be popular with some of these charms,” he explained.
Teacher Stephanie Kelly said the market is the impressive culmination of weeks of hard work, both in class and at home.
“It encompasses so many different standards, mostly in social studies,” Kelly said. “It goes along with our economics and civics unit. They learn about goods and services, needs and wants, supply and demand. They also learn about personal financial literacy because they earn money, they save money, and they spend money.”
Students first developed a business plan in class, then created their products at home. Along the way, they earned “Cougar Cash” by demonstrating “ROAR” behavior. ROAR stands for Respect, Own It!, Attitude, and Responsible. They used some of that cash to pay the “rent” for their shop space, and the rest they were able to spend when it was their turn to shop.
On the day of the market, the excitement was palpable.
“All right guys, it is almost time,” Kelly told the students, just two minutes before the market opened. “There are so many parents out there waiting to come shop at your booths today. So, make sure you’re ready! Stand up, let’s show them how we roar, and have amazing businesses.”
With that, parents – armed with their own Cougar Cash – poured into the market to admire and purchase the many innovative products, from custom cookies, cake balls, and lollipops, to candles and holiday decorations, to anti-stress slime and color-by-number coloring pages featuring race car designs.
Business owners proudly explained the highlights of their products, made sales, and counted their cash. In less than an hour, every shop was sold out, and Kelly confirmed that the market had accomplished another of its goals.
“The whole purpose is to bring learning alive for our second-graders, and to make it a day they’ll never forget,” she said.
Posted 12/2/2024.
