The Very Last Assignment You'll Have To Grade This Year Week 2

Good Monday To You!

If you tuned in last week, you know all about our little class flower shop.  This is the perfect year-end project when testing is over and you're not sure what else to do.  Use this time to have some fun, teach your students a lot of real-world skills, and be truly amazed at how awesome your students are! Peruse last week's post here to get caught up.  Good to go?  Great!  Now this week, your students have learned about Goods and Services, almost completed their business plan or plans, and thought about what type of flowers they are going to sell(fresh, cut, or paper).  This week, your students are going to get deeper into the nuts and bolts of their business.

Week 2

PBL Standards:

• Key Knowledge, Understanding, and Success Skills
• Challenging Problem or Question
• Sustained Inquiry
• Authenticity
• Student Voice & Choice
• Reflection

Academic Objectives:

• Constructing questions
• Writing cohesively about a topic
• Collect information from multiple resources
• Reading charts and graphs
• Understanding plant needs and how to provide them in an artificial environment
• Speak audibly and express thoughts, feelings, and ideas clearly.
• Participate in collaborative conversations with diverse partners
• Participate in shared research and writing projects 
• Collaboration with peers and other adults
• Participate in elections

We now return to that lovely business plan your students began last week.  Your students need to decide what specifically they are going to sell, either theoretically or in real life.  The best thing you can do is start with general questions and move to specific.

Question 1: Fresh flowers or cut flowers?

The best way to answer this question is through research.  Have students research the popularity of fresh flowers vs. cut flowers.  Again, depending on skill level, you may want to provide your students with graphs to evaluate.  You can break your students into groups or do as a class.  I recommend research in groups and debrief as a class.  After research has been conducted for 1 or 2 days, the class will vote on which type of flowers to sell.

Question 2: Which species of flower?

Now your students must decide within their chosen category, which species of flowers to sell.  Will they sell roses? Tulips? Lillies? Marigolds?  I would let them start research on their own before you help with this one.  Have them break into groups again and start looking through books.  You can have them search pictures on the internet.  Once they've found a flower they like, you can tell them what it is and have them copy the name onto a piece of paper.  If students are keeping a journal, they can dedicate a page to "Flower Brainstorming."  Another great research tool is a live person.  See if you can get in touch with the local flower department at a hardware store or a local florist depending on their chosen category.  Have your students break into groups again.  As a group, have them come up with 3 or 4 questions they need answered to make their decision.  Each group will write the questions on a piece of paper.  For younger ones, you may again want to do this as a class with you writing the questions.  After research has been conducted for 1 or 2 days, the class will vote on which type of flowers to sell.

Back to the Business Plan

Revisit the Financial Plan piece of your business plan.  Students need to research costs of different flowers and how many they will need to sell in order to either make their money back or make a profit.  They also need to take into consideration the average price a person would pay for flowers.  Obviously one flower can't cost $20.  Here again students can ask for help from your professional visitor, do research themselves, or potentially ask mom and dad.  If you can find them, provide students with charts.

Once this is complete, you can also write in the Resource Requirements.  What are they going to need to get started?  They need product.  What else?

Here is where you can go back and answer the question of Key Issues.  Your students need to figure out how they can access the flowers they want to sell.  You have no money for them and stealing is wrong.  What are some other solutions?  Do your best not to lead students or give answers here.  This is part of the problem-solving process for them.  They might surprise you with what they think of.  Maybe they have ideas you wouldn't think of.  Maybe one of them has a relative who owns flowers.  Take time to fill in the Key Issues section of the business plan.  From there, decide as a class what next steps will be to obtain these flowers.  If you are selling them 1 month from now, would it be a good idea to get cut flowers?  Probably not because the flowers don't have all they need to survive that long.  Will you be trying to plant the flowers and grow them in time?  Probably need to have a flower that grows fast.  Are you buying potted flowers from the store?  Where do they need to be kept to survive?  All of these things need to be taken into consideration.

I imagine if done thoroughly, and mostly student-led, this process will take all of week 2.  If it does not, have students carry out their plan to obtain the flowers.  Draft a note as a class to send home to parents explaining what you are doing.  Have students come up with key points to share and key needs that should be addressed.  Think of it as a proposal.  

That's all for now.  Great job on Week 2.  Are you getting excited as this project gets more and more real??  I know I am!  Remember to share your own progress and findings in the comments section below.

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Thank you and have an awesome week!