"What's Your Business" - Week 2 Camp

Hi everyone, I've been working on the "What's Your Business?" camp lessons over spring break. There is so much out there to explore...it is hard to focus on projects for just one week! I could do a whole summer on this topic! One thing I really want the children to do during this week is to be introspective and ask themselves "Who am I? What do I like to do? What am I interested in?" Because a life that can merge your passions and talents with your work is usually a recipe for fulfillment! Here is the description of this fun camp:

June 10-15

What’s Your Business? Entrepreneurial education is fun and can be profitable! Participants will learn what it takes to start and run a business. We’ll visit with local business owners to learn how they got their start. Participants will write a business plan. They will manufacture a product and then attend the Saturday Farmer’s Market to complete marketing and retailing of their product.

$80 plus $20 Business Tool Kit

We will be looking at lots of different young entrepreneurs and revolutionaries this week too. Check out this video by Thomas Suarez - a 6th grade iPhone App designer.

Our week will be HEAVY on looking at tech careers, playing with coding and encouraging exploration in math and science.

We will also be looking at world problems and asking ourselves, "How can I help solve these problems?" One of our activities is brainstorming the creation of our own non-profit. We will begin by identifying a world problem:

The children will complete this brainstorming graphic organizer with pencil, then cut out the different squares.

Next, we create a folded booklet that contains our brainstorming squares plus photos from the Internet and magazines, drawings, sketches, text from Web sites and books - whatever we want to add to flesh out our ideas and increase knowledge.

The children will also be brainstorming their own for-profit business from scratch following a similar model. Then, they will work together on a team business model that will also raise money for a local food pantry. Students will take turns serving as CEO, CFO, VP of Marketing and VP of Manufacturing. 

Here is the Week Two, Day One Schedule:

9-9:30	Introductions	Introductions, Rules, Overview of Week, Rules, Create an “IDEA” book.
9:30-10	Videos & Discussion	Time Magazine for Kids (3:21) Alexandra Nechita - Art Prodigy  (2:10) Self Made Millionaire at age 14 (8:45) Billy’s Business Plan (1:13)
10-10:15	Morning Snack
10:15-11:00	Who am I? Poster	Create a poster about yourself to help brainstorm ideas of what you would be best at for your business. Supplies: Camera, Photo Printer, 11x17 Construction Paper, Idea Cloud Die Cuts, Markers, Pencils, Scissors, Glue
11:00-11:30	Outdoor Time	Spud, TV Tag, Free Play
11:30-Noon	Free Time / Exploration, 15 min. at each	·         Monopoly (either board game or on Kindle) ·         X-Box 360 Kinect – Just Dance ·         Lap Top – Code Exercises ·         Books – Kid Biz, Steve Jobs book
Noon-12:30	Lunch	Tacos,  Orange Wedges,  Baked Potato Chips
12:30-2	Career Exploration	Helping Others  – “Doctors Without Borders” BRAINSTORMING BUSINESS FOLDER Design a simple business plan for a business / charity that would help other people.
2-2:15	Afternoon Snack	Milk & Chocolate Chip Cookie
2:15-3	Farmer’s Market Business	Introduce the Team Business Model. Introduce the problem (we are trying to raise money for a local food pantry). Allow the children to brainstorm possible solutions for how to raise money for this charity during the week while keeping expenses low. Next, introduce product solutions (product the children can manufacture & sell at the Farmer’s Market). Allow the children to vote on one of the product solutions.