Snack Mix Assembly Line

Over the past week we've been studying needs & wants, goods & services, and producers & consumers. To culminate our Economics unit, the students participated in a snack mix assembly line. To help introduce the idea of an assembly line, we watched that hilarious clip from the "I Love Lucy" show where she and Ethel work at the candy factory.

We discussed how a real assembly line is designed to work (unlike the antics of Lucy and Ethel :) and how we were going to use the process to produce our own snack mix. Each student had a job either spooning items in the bag (white & dark chocolate chips, Golden Grahams cereal, Cookie Crisp cereal, Kix cereal, & marshmallows), labeling & zipping the bags, or team supervisor (in charge of monitoring workers, materials, and quality control). We divided into two teams and tried to see who could produce ten bags first. The kids had a blast and got a hands-on opportunity to experience being a producer and producing a good. They also got to be a consumer when they took the snack mix home to share with their families. Since I have a student teacher right now, I got to participate in the assembly line myself. What fun we had!!!

Afterwards, we reflected on the activity and the students completed a response activity sheet. I love activities like this where we all get to participate in fun, meaningful learning experiences. :)

We're Wild About Our Heroes

In honor of September 11th, we had a Hero Day Parade at our school. We made banners and waved flags as community firefighters, police officers, military personnel, etc. paraded around the front of our school with their families. It was such a great time to see our students walking with and cheering on these wonderful, everyday heroes.

My husband and I also wanted to do something for some of our local firefighters and police officers so the hubbie cooked up several batches of cookies and brownies ( I made the cards :) and delivered them. He made a comment that made me really think, though, about how we shouldn't just honor those who serve and protect on special days/holidays. Why not do something special to show our gratitude on any random day of the year??? Great idea! I've really felt a calling to do more service and outreach in my church and community.  Even our school motto this year highlights our support for the community where we live and getting involved in community service projects. Just think of the possibilities if we all get involved to support and serve!