Taking Care of Business!

Our class is getting excited for our field trip to BizTown.

They will travel to Junior Achievement's BizTown on February 21st and learn about the "real world" outside of school. Our students will be CEOs,Mayor, bankers, carpenters, and a variety of other jobs. They will learn about finances and laws and get a glimpse of things to come as they grow into adults. We have had additional volunteers from Financial Beginnings as well as the Port of Portland.The Financial Beginnings program provides youth an introduction to the world of personal finance. Professionals who work in the financial industry volunteer their time to teach the lessons. Below are the topics  covered. Mrs. Griffiths did an amazing job! 

Money Matters

• What is Money
• Trading and Bartering
• Producers and Consumers
• Supply and Demand
  

Manage It

• Needs vs. Wants
• Goals
• Budgets
• Types of Income
• Taxes
  

Get Banked

• Banks vs. Credit Unions
• Checking Accounts
• Savings Accounts
• Interest
• Managing Accounts
  

Smart Future

• Credit Score
• Credit vs. Debit Cards
• Loans
• Types of Interest and how it works

We also had Jayson from the Port of Portland present their Community Outreach program. Where in the World – This exciting educational program includes lessons and activities that teach about the significance of international trade and the role the Port plays in shipping products to and from the region. Students learn about their own connections with imports and exports, down to the clothes on their backs and the jobs in their community. My husband was reading the following thank-you as I was reviewing them and commented that he wished he had Jayson's job!

Dear Jayson and Port of Portland,

Thank you for coming to our classroom and teaching us about important things like imports & exports, how to tell if something will go by air or water, and what countries import and export the most goods. Your presentation was very helpful.

  I especially liked that we got maps of the world to keep.  I like to learn about other places, and learning what they import and export is a good clue as to what their climate and population is like. I have also always wanted my own (small) map that had all the countries, and now I do, thanks to you guys.

 I thought it was interesting to learn that “port” was the root word to so many words related to it. I had never thought about that. Portland, export, import, airport, seaport, portable, deport, report, porter, the list goes on. I looked it up, and originally, “port” means “to carry” in latin. This makes sense, because a port is a place where goods have been carried or transported to. (Ha, ha , ha. )

  To sum this all up, I was very grateful that you presented for our class. We like having guest speakers sometimes because they usually teach us in interesting ways, and you were no exception. I especially liked how you had us learn from what other groups were thinking instead of making us thinking about the question all as a class. That was a good idea, because it made us think differently.

 My class and I all learned a lot today because of your great lesson. Thank you for coming to teach us about the world of ports.

 Your Friend,xxxx

 In one of our Biztown lessons we learned what a free enterprise system is. Each team had a task to create a product in a given amount of time using the same materials.Here are their products.

Go Go Journal

Cubot

Paper Wallet

i-Store Gift Card

Pocket Locket