Table of Contents
Table of Contents
1
Purpose of Our Project
2
Planning and Development
3
Curriculum and Lesson Plans
4-5
Example Advertisements**
6-7
Example Forms**
8-10
Results and Feedback
11
Feedback from teachers, students,
and managers
12-19
Hours Chart
20
Closing
21
1
Purpose of Our Project
Purpose:
Objectives:
For this year’s FBLA American Enterprise Project at Union High School the
three freshmen students of the class of
2012 decided to teach the elementary
sixth grade classes how to run a successful business.
Our main goal of this project was to
better inform our younger generation on
the basics of how our economic system
operates. It was also our goal to inform
them how America’s Free Enterprise
System allows any one person or group
of people, no matter what race or religion
they might be, that they can be successful
in America’s business world.
Once we had chosen what
direction our project was going, we sat
down together and agreed on some goals
that we felt were necessary in order for
us to achieve the performance needed to
complete the project correctly.
In order to accomplish the goals that
our team set, we felt we had to…
1. Gain better knowledge of America’s Free Enterprise System to better
inform the students we were to teach.
2. Create lesson plans that were fun
and interactive for all participants.
3. We felt that to create a
business environment for the students,
we had to start with ourselves. We
agreed to wear appropriate clothing and
act in a way that was business like while
completing this project. The three of us
believed that we also needed to create as
close to a business setting as possible
with the hiring of managers as well as the
ordering and inventory part of the project.
4. When we thought of what the businesses might sell as a main product, we
needed to think of the cost, arrival time,
community needs, and age of students.
With this criteria in mind, we decided to
sell pencils.
Goals:
1. Spread awareness and information
on how our free enterprise system works.
2. Give students information that they
could understand and learn from.
3. Provide an business-like atmosphere
to further their opportunity to act as business professionals.
4. Provide the right product so that the
students could have access to many consumers.
5. Create a fun and inviting
project that students from the sixth grade
classes would like to be a part of .
2
Planning and Development
Research into our Community
Planning and Development cont.
The three of us thought that pencils
would be a great product to sell since our
community, like many other small towns,
is having a difficult time just getting by.
To help us make a decision about what
product to sell, we asked a few community members to help us determine if our
choice was a good one: “Would you buy
a pencil from a student for your use or to
give to your child?” The response was
positive since there is always a need for a
pencil or two.
We found there were necessary concepts
of the American Free Enterprise System
that we felt would be needed to teach and
to help the sixth grade lean. They were:
-Advertising Techniques
-Customer Service Strategies
-Supply and Demand
-Profit Margin
-Bookkeeping and Sales Records
-Change Counting
After creating our lesson plans and having the teachers of the sixth grade class as
well as our advisors approve them, we had
to find a supplier and order the
Planning and Development
We were challenged to come up with an product (personalized pencils). During
innovative idea on how to teach the Union our research to find a supplier, we asked
some of the other student body members
elementary sixth grade class the concept
of America’s Free Enterprise System in a who had ordered personalized items befun way that they could benefit from. Dur- fore for advice. The answer we received
ing our development stage we spent over was “try the Oriental Trading Company, it
will be the best place.” So we did. Orien12 hours through the month of Decemtal Trading Company was very comparaber— two to three hours a week finding
tive and we were able to order mass
creative lessons to teach.
amounts of product that we desperately
3
Curriculum and Lesson Plans
Lesson Plans:
After we had completed our brainstorming and had a general idea of what
concepts we were to teach the sixth grade
students, we each chose a couple topics
and began to compile data to complete the
lesson plans. Once completed we met and
each voiced our opinions to help each
other have strong and innovative lesson
plans. We wanted to keep the students
interested in the concept of America’s Free
Customer Service Strategies:
Enterprise System as well as our project
and the business they were to run.
Will chose to inform the students how to
properly serve customers and how to deal
with example problems that might surface.
We all decided to have Will teach this part
of the project because of his knowledge
and skills in customer service. He related
well with the students when teaching this
concept.
Supply and Demand:
Advertising Techniques**:
Jackie decided to teach the young students the basics of advertising and how
innovative ideas can lead to great advertisements. Jackie asked many questions—
here is one: “How many ways can you
advertise?” Many students became very
good at creating flyers and posters which
were presented in the halls of the elementary school building as well as the High
School building.
**Examples on pages 6-7
4
Cody wanted to explain to the students
how supply and demand works. He chose
this because of his experiences working on
a convenience store. Cody has a good
understanding of ordering products and
maintaining an inventory.
Curriculum and Lesson Plans
Profit Margin:
Bookkeeping**:
Will volunteered to teach the basics of
profit margin. He told the students how it
works and how to calculate your business
profits and expense reports to equal your net
profit margin. He felt that of the lessons
taught that this one was the more difficult
topic to teach. After explaining it to them,
they had many questions and it was difficult
to answer them. However, with the help of
the classroom teacher all the students
became well educated on profit margins.
Cody and Jackie wanted to show the students how to effectively keep track of their
profit margin and product sales. They were
also shown how to keep track of customer
records and employee records. We decided
to make our own forms and record sheets
for each business to use. We tried to keep
the forms as business like as possible, however, making them so that the sixth grade
students could easily fill them out and keep
them up-to-date was a challenge. Some of
the forms created were:
-Order Forms
-Complaint Forms
-Daily Inventory Reports
-Weekly Expense Reports
-Off-Site Selling Forms
**Examples on pages 8-10
5
6
7
8
9
10
Results and Feedback
Results and Feedback:
At the conclusion of the competitive
part of the project, we had both teachers
and students fill out a feedback questionnaire about the project. We asked
them to briefly share what they had
learned, some of the pros and cons of
the project and the American Free Enterprise System.
11
We also had the managers and secretary
of each business share some of their
experiences. In the following pages are
some of the questionnaires and
reports composed by managers.
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
Hours Chart
Date:
Description:
Hours:
st
November
11/10/08
1 meeting, discussing points of interest and
general planning.
1 Hour
11/11/08
Discussing ideas and general planning.
1 Hour
11/12/08
Discussing timeline and deadline planning.
1 Hour
11/13/08
Called to make appointment with Sixth grade
Teachers, also general planning.
1 Hour
11/17/08
Meeting with Sixth grade Teachers to discuss
general planning.
1 Hour
11/19/08
Discuss teaching ideas and product ordering .
1 Hour
11/25/08
Long range planning.
1 Hour
December
12/01/08
12/02/08
Lesson planning and ordering calculation.
1 Hour
Lesson configuration.
1 Hour
12/03/08
Counting Change Lesson Plan.
1 Hour
12/08/08
Made appointment with Bank Manager, Mrs.
Savely.
Long range planning.
1 Hour
12/10/08
Met with Mrs. Savely to arrange change counting
lesson.
1 Hour
12/17/08
Brainstorm with advisors on innovative ideas.
1 Hour
January
1/6/09
First day of curriculum: we taught advertising,
costumer service, and supply and demand.
45 minutes
1/7/09
Second day of curriculum: we taught profit
margin and book keeping.
45 minutes
1/8/09
Mrs. Savely taught students how to count change
correctly.
45 minutes
1/13/09
Helped troubleshoot with students’ businesses.
45 minutes
1/14/09
Help students with their questions.
45 minutes
1/15/09
Brainstormed with students on how the project
was progressing.
45 minutes
1/20/09
Started on-site selling with both businesses.
45 minutes
1/21/09
Students filled out questionnaire and continued to
sell at recess.
45 minutes
1/22/09
End of project.
Collected data and money.
Created rough draft of report to present to
advisors.
45 minutes
12/09/08
February
2/2209
6 hours
Total:
20
1 Hour
27 hours 15 minutes
Closing
Conclusion:
During the first part of the month of November, we (Will Hulden, Jackie Huitt, and
Cody Fouts) were asked if we would like
to participate in the FBLA American Free
Enterprise Project. The three of us, being ambitious freshmen, were excited to
accept the challenge. Not knowing just
how much of a challenge it would be. With
the beginning of the project we were
excited; .however, we soon realized just
how much work this would require:
patience, responsibility, team work, and
organization.
Having the sixth grade students begin
and prosper in a business environment
required us to be prepared to deal with the
ordering of the product, and all of the problems that came with organizing and teaching the students. We needed to be able to
communicate well with the students and
have them understand the selling part of
the project. With their attitude towards the
project, they seemed eager to begin. The
two classes conversed and began thinking
of ways to sell the product. They came up
with their own business strategy and
name.
21
When the product arrived, we gave order
forms to the two businesses (Bob Co. and
Bobcat Pride Inc.). They began to put their
plans into action, first by designing,
preparing and putting up advertisement
flyers to spread the word about the product
and where it could be purchased. Since this
was a competition between the classes,
there was no room for making mistakes.
Managers were elected from both classes:
the classes decided how much of the product they should order to begin their business. Both teams were very excited at the
beginning of the project and still
enthusiastic at the conclusion of the
project.
Overall, we had an amazing time, and
learned so many new things about the business side of the Free Enterprise System.
Sometimes the project seemed daunting
and way too much, with all the long reports, keeping tabs on both businesses and
ordering additional pencils to satisfy the
needs of the consumers. However, in the
end, when we had completed this project
and the report, we felt we had accomplished something greater than ourselves.
We felt that we not only benefited ourselves, but the community and the Future
Business Leaders of America. We would
like to thank everyone who supported us
through this project and thank Union
FBLA for this amazing opportunity.