A Visit From the Mayor!

We finished up our government unit at the end of 2nd quarter.  The students learned about how our country originally started with 13 colonies ruled by Great Britain.  It's so interesting for the students to learn how our country fought for its independence and began electing our own officials to run our government.  We held a classroom election where the students chose a classroom job to run for.  We then voted and elected students to those jobs for a week.  Pictures below are of the students filling out their ballots.

This conversation lead to who runs our town?  We contacted our mayor, Jason Resseman, and invited him to come to 2nd grade for a visit.  We brainstormed a list of questions we wanted to ask him.  We wondered what his duties are, if he campaigned, what his favorite part of being mayor is, what he most likes about Lanesboro, how projects are decided upon, and so much more!

Our questions lead to a great conversation.  We learned that he ran for mayor because he wanted to be really involved in the town he's raising his daughter in.  He also said that he works closely with the city council and the city clerk and administrator to get things done in town.  He feels Lanesboro is a fantastic place to live and doesn't necessarily need to be changed.  Mayor Reeseman said his favorite part about being mayor is getting out into the community and doing things like visiting our classroom.  We asked how we can impact Lanesboro as kids.  He said that just doing kind things like helping your neighbor or picking up trash when you see it is a way to help Lanesboro.

We loved our visit.  Thank you so much for taking the time to help us learn more about you and the duties of being mayor!

Cookbook "Wants" Purchases

After brainstorming a whole list of items that the class "wanted," they ultimately decided on a new bean bag as a reading seat and a smelly marker for each student in the class.  After researching a few bean bag options, they all very enthusiastically picked out this purple emoji bean bag for $35.  Three sets of smelly markers were purchased for $20, and each student picked out a color to keep.  They have been enjoying their new purchases all week!

Cookbook Purchases- Needs

Upon coming back from Christmas break we took care of our first order of business concerning our cookbook money- paying back the school for the cost of printing and supplies.  We invited Mr. Semmen into our classroom to share our total cookbook sales with him and to pay back $62.10 to the school.

The next thing we decided as a class is what we needed to purchase.  The class all agreed that we needed additional pencils and more sand to add to a word work bin.  This purchase cost about $20.  The students all received 5 new pencils each.

We then brainstormed ideas for what we wanted... more pictures to come on that decision!

Cookbook Sales Come to a Close!

We had a successful year of cookbook sales, and what a wonderful learning experience it is for the students!  It is so exciting each day to have customers come to our door to purchase our cookbooks!  A huge thank you to all of you for supporting this project by purchasing cookbooks to share with your friends and family and donating money and supplies towards this project.  This year we added additional advertising in the form of a commercial that was played in the commons over the TV.  How fun for all of us to see ourselves on TV!

We sold a total of 135 cookbooks and made $174.  That is really fantastic!  Our first order of business will be to pay back the school $62 for printing supplies.  Then as a class we will pick out something we need, something we want, and someone to help.  We'll keep you updated on the classroom decisions coming up!

Here is our commercial!

A few pictures of customers...

Cookbooks Going on Sale Soon!

We are so excited to start selling our cookbooks on Monday, December 10th!  We made advertisements and hung them up in the hallway yesterday.  Stop into 2nd grade to pick up your copy for only $1!

A Visit from a Student Business Owner

We've begun our economics unit in social studies.  The class has been learning about buying what we need and what we want.  We've discussed why we can't by everything we want, even if we want to!  Along with using money to buy what we need and want, the students shared why it's important to save money, and we recently added helping people to the ways that we can use money.  The class has been learning about the difference between a business that sells goods and a business that provides a service.

Isaac from Isaac's Eggs visited 2nd grade last week to share with us the details of his egg business.  Isaac is now in 7th grade, and he started his egg business when he was in 3rd grade.  His visit provides a great opportunity for the students to learn how Isaac came up with his idea, his favorite part of owning a business, about how much money he makes a week or month, what he needs to pay for to keep his business running, and the daily chores he must do to run his business.  The class asked Isaac many great questions!  This also provides the kids with the chance to see a young person who had an idea and made it into a business!  How inspiring!

Thanks for visiting Isaac!

We are getting closer and closer to completing our cookbook!  Sales will be starting at the end of this week!  We can't wait!