Financial Literacy
Dear parents and carers,
Welcome to the 3/4 blog for term 4, week 4.
Over the past fortnight the children have, for an hour a day, turned our Neighbourhood into a thriving economy with all of the booms and busts of the real world. A maths provocation was provided with a picture of children ‘playing shop’ and the response to this has been incredible.
Throughout our inquiry this year we have been investigating the ways in which play benefits development, and ‘playing shop’ has proven our claims that both academic and social learning can when children play out authentic experience together.
We have had children create bookstores, pizza restaurants with crackling fireplaces, bakeries with delicious buns and calm, french-inspired cafes. We have even had a group create a small river to catch and sell fresh fish.
Through this play, the children have been practising:
- Calculating change
- Calculating total prices
- Responding to market demands (raising, lowering prices)
- Tracking their shifts and collecting wages
- Responding to health and safety requirements
- Identfying Australian coins and notes
- Promoting their businesses
- Customer service
- Exercising agency by seeking and using feedback from customers.
The Neighbourhood economy has experienced a few challenges as well such as profit loss resulting in an inability to pay staff which has resulted in children leaving their jobs and busking for money. This has prompted a response from the local government (the teachers) to introduce a subsidy for businesses to re-hire their employees. We look forward to seeing the results of this subsidy.
Please check in with your children about this learning experience. You might even want to spend some time with them over the weekend looking at calculating change or talking with them about your grocery budget for next week!
