Thinking Like a Business Community

My students learned that business community members come together to plan and hold celebrations. The Main Street Business Community collaborated on the elements of a good celebration and decided to work in groups on Food, Decorations, and Music. Totally student-led #PBL! 

The community members in charge of food decided to feature foods from the local businesses and made sure to have lots of trashcans ready - they really learned from that Loitering/Littering problem!

The community members in charge of music worked together on a song list that would appeal to all ages - thinking about how to get and keep customers by providing goods and services that people want.

The community members in charge of decorations planned and created decorations by hand! They decorated the space before the celebration...

My students spent about 3 Social Studies sessions planning, writing invitations and preparing for the big event. I know Main Street will stay in their hearts for a long time!

Thinking 'Bout Problem 4

During our Social Studies #PBL, our Main Street Business Community was faced with another problem. We received a letter from Walmart!

Walmart wants to join our business community and the community members had a lot of opinions about that. They followed our Business Meeting Norms to gather, argue and discuss ways to solve this problem.

The community members used the same thinking as they did with the vacant lot to determine the costs and benefits of Walmart coming. They collaborated to consider the goods and services that each provide and considered issues like pricing, space, traffic and customer choice. 

One of the community members gathered the group together to make a class cost/benefit chart, and finally vote on whether to allow Walmart to come.

The students then worked with their businesses to write a letter to Walmart, letting them know their decision and the reasons behind it.

This project continues to allow my students to work for an authentic purpose as they are part of - and creating - their own Social Studies story!

Check out a bit of our lesson...

Thinking 'Bout Problem 3

So, the members of the Main Street Business Community were excited to find a News Flash from our local business community news source! A new #PBL problem had arisen!

The business members  found that teenagers were loitering and littering in the community and even found the litter they left behind. Oh man, were they upset! But, they quickly got to the task of working together to solve the problem.

The community began the task of analyzing the rights of teenagers and the business community and I worked as secretary - taking notes! 

They decided one way to solve this problem was to collaborate to come up with rules for the community. They came up with some great ideas about spitting, weapons and littering and began posting signs. Another idea was to install some garbage cans within the business area and add goods and services that appeal to teens to get them to come inside to spend!

So very proud of my students and their ability to fully immerse in this Social Studies unit!

Thinking 'Bout Problem 2

During our Social Studies #PBL the students were faced with another problem. In the past the Main Street Business Community had worked well together to collaborate and evaluate options to solve their problems.

Our community has a vacant lot that could be used for a variety of purposes or left alone. We thought deeply about the costs and benefits of the vacant lot and the students business members came up with these thoughts...



Each business held their own meeting thinking about the costs/benefits and trade-offs of each idea and then voted on the types of businesses they'd like to propose for the lot.



They finally came to a consensus and decided to put in a tutoring center! Excellent choice!

Thinking 'Bout Problem 1

Our Main Street Business Community experienced its first critical incident. One of the students, character name is Patrick from Pizza Day, brought a letter of concern to the business community. We didn't have enough customers coming to shop! The students thought deeply about the consequences of having few customers and determined they should add some goods and services to their businesses. The blue cards note the features each business will add.



Students then came to the realization they had not advertised their businesses so we talked the purpose of advertising and some of the different ways businesses can let people know about their goods and services.



We talked about the language of advertising and realized that some words work for some types of businesses and some don't.



Students then met with their businesses to determine the best way to advertise their shop. Some made fliers, some made websites - all were AMAZING!



Yes. The business is called The Runs - remember, student led and generated. This brought up a great conversation though about correlating the name with something pleasant and that lets the customer know what kind of store it is.







Students and I are both loving this Social Studies #PBL and because the students are part of, and generating, the story it holds so much more meaning for them. So proud of their high level thinking throughout this project!

Thinking Like a Cartographer

Yes! Like a cartographer! Mapping!

Once my students had built their businesses and added to their community with housing, trees, hospitals, schools and a lake (complete with a bridge, I might add) I quickly sketched our mural.
Then, I added grid lines to work on mapping skills. 

My students added their building to their map and wrote sentences about the coordinates using numbers and letters. They did the same for the vacant lot and then added a compass rose. On the back they wrote sentences about their building in relation to other features on the map using compass rose vocabulary.

This #PBL will integrate all content areas and the students are loving it - taking complete ownership. I love teaching this way!

Thinking Like a Boss

What should we sell?

During our #PBL my students created a community, businesses, characters and applied for jobs. Now that they are working in those businesses, they decided to work in pairs or triads to think deeply about the kinds of goods and services businesses like theirs might include. Then they collaborated to create a list of all the items they'll be selling or services they'll be providing. 

The students also had the task of creating signs for their businesses. One side of the folder shows the signage for the business and the opposite side of the folder tells about the goods and services they offer- they turned out fantastic! 

Thinking Like an Employee

After my students filled Main Street with their beautiful businesses they got to the task of creating characters and applying for jobs within those businesses. Hello real-life skills!

My students really thought deeply about this - thinking about the ages of people in businesses, what their skills needed to be, what education they needed and then wrote persuasively to get the job. Such great writing practice for an authentic purpose!





They're all hired!

#PBL #Inquiry #LearningByDoing

Thinking Like an Architect

So, we began our project with a blank slate. My students chose the businesses they wanted to include in their community, then got to work in pairs designing and creating buildings for the businesses.

They thought deeply about buildings they've seen in our community and designed them with interesting details - the buildings are amazing!

Then, my students chose locations for their buildings and chose adjectives to describe all of the buildings, businesses and business names!

#PBL #SoMuchFun #Inquiry