1. Newsletter Project Frank Priola Cat-250 Spring 2011

2. What is Project Based Learning? Project based learning uses cooperative learning groups and hands on activities to help students learn the course of study standards. It is based on the students learning and progress and not teacher centered.

3. Benefits The students must work together to learn how to create and run their own business. They will generate business ideas, assign specific jobs/ duties, learn and practice mathematical skills, and learn basic economical terms. This project will help them see the importance of cooperating learning, collaboration, and life long economic skills.

4. Why create a business? In this unit students will learn the basics about a business. They will learn about the roles and how each role has a specific job/duty and how they work collaboratively to make the whole business work. The students will also explore and learn how to add, subtract, make change, and create correct money amounts. The unit will present the students with real world experiences and prepare them for their future.

5. Questions Essential Questions How do you run your own business? Unit questions What did it take to manage your own business? What skills helped you succeed? Content Questions What is supply and demand? What strategies help you find the differences, sum, and change when dealing with money? What characteristics does a person need to be a successful business owner?

6. Standards Math: 2.) Write money amounts in words and dollar-and-cent notation. • Identifying equivalent units of money 6.) Solve problems, including word problems, that involve addition and subtraction of four-digit numbers with and without regrouping. • Estimating sums and differences of whole numbers by using appropriate strategies such as rounding, front-end estimation, and compatible numbers • Adding and subtracting decimals and money amounts Social Studies: 5.) Identify national and international trading patterns of the United States. • Differentiating between producers and consumers and imports and exports Examples: - producers-suppliers, sellers; - consumers-buyers; - imports-coffee from Colombia, pineapples from Hawaii; - exports-corn from Iowa

7. Objectives The students will be able to: Create and develop mathematical terms and amounts that apply to objects and materials Communicate through numerical sentences Apply real world supply and demand techniques to their own products Add and subtract large numbers Collect, analyze, and develop data Develop plans for success of a business