EdUCate! Funds Participation of University City 5th Graders in the Jr. Achievement Biztown Program!
What is Jr. Achievement BizTown? The JA BizTown program provides educators with lessons and resources to effectively integrate financial literacy and work and career readiness into the elementary school classroom.
The program supports critical thinking skills and student engagement, and helps students connect the dots between what they learn in school and the real world. It is a four-week economy curriculum culminating in a hands-on field trip to the amazing JA BizTown site where 5th graders enthusiastically spend the day operating a simulated city’s commerce as business owners and employees. Through the classroom program of daily social studies, reading, writing, and math lessons, Curie, Doyle and Spreckels students will be educated about the important elements of work readiness, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy. At the same time, a solid foundation of business, economics, and free enterprise education will be built.
Students learn about the circular flow that exists in a community:
- How to write and deposit checks
- How to interview for a job
- How to become a respected employer or employee
Through the active participation in the field trip to the simulated city, students learn to:
- Demonstrate hard work at their assigned jobs (some job examples are CEO of Mission Federal Bank, Photographer at Sea World, Nutritionist at Kaiser Permanente, and Editor of the Union Tribune Newspaper)
- Endorse and cash their paychecks
- Spend their JA BizTown money to keep the economy flowing
“The students walked away learning some amazing and important life-skills,” said Kelly Dudley. “I’m sure that they will always regard their experience at JA BizTown as their first introduction to the ‘real’ working world! Thank you VERY much EdUCate! for funding this awesome educational program and trip for our 5th graders again this year!”
History
In Spring of 2014, Kelly Dudley, 5th grade teacher at Doyle Elementary, requested a Teacher Grant for purchase of a Junior Achievement BizTown curriculum and hands-on field trip. Due to the success of this program we worked with JA BizTown to include a second University City elementary school in their program for the 2014-2015 school year. Today, all 5th graders at Curie, Doyle and Spreckels attend JA BizTown!