Last week, the fourth- and fifth-grade class at the Accelerated
Achievement Academy turned their room into a mock city complete
with restaurants, stores, a city hall, a bank and an unemployment
agency.
Last week, the fourth- and fifth-grade class at the Accelerated Achievement Academy turned their room into a mock city complete with restaurants, stores, a city hall, a bank and an unemployment agency.
The desks in Susan Bessette’s class Friday were pushed together into rows – with poster boards in front of them labeling each site as a business, government agency or residence. The students manned each spot, serving as bank tellers, an unemployment officer and as store owners or employees.
Bessette has been doing the city project with her classes for years as a way to teach them how municipalities work.
Besides the usual staples in such a mock city, the inclusion of an unemployment agency reflects the difficult economic times, especially in a county with a jobless rate surpassing 20 percent in the latest figures.
Each Friday through the end of the school year, the students will have a chance to set up Acadister – the name of their faux city, which was created by putting the names Academy and Hollister together into one word – for an hour. The kids earn a salary in Acadister bucks for turning in their assignments and participating in class. The money can then be used to purchase items from the stores and the shops in Acadister.
“We were told at the beginning of the year and everyone was excited,” said Alex Muñoz, a fifth-grader. “In March, we were getting more ideas. We had a ton of ideas, but we had to eliminate it to less. We wanted to have a face painter and balloons.”
The students all voted on what types of businesses they wanted to have in town. They ended up with such retail selections as books, used movies, toys and games, and works of art. They even had a movie theater, with a box office on one side of the room, and a TV in the corner of the classroom playing “Mr. Bean’s Vacation.” The kids also sold juice, smoothies, popcorn and baked goods. Each booth had a different price set for the items. Some movies or games went for $150 Acadister bucks, while a cookie went for $20 Acadister bucks.
The students have had several months to save up their money, and the students who applied to be store owners had to use some of their play money to purchase inventory for their stores. The store owners have to pay taxes and also had to purchase a business license before they could open, taking them through some of the steps required of real businesses. The students who didn’t own stores had to sign up to work at the unemployment agency to earn more money.
“You have to earn money to pay taxes and rent,” said Madisson Ricker, a fourth-grader who was employed at the movie theater while its owner was away. “Some students had to give up their job for the town to have enough customers.”
Jazlyn Verduzco, a fifth-grader, worked at a bookstore. She politely thanked her customers and told them to have a nice day as they walked away.
“The hardest part is having to have inventory,” Verduzco said. “If you sell out, it’s pretty crazy.”
On the grand opening of Acadister, Vivian Hernandez, who was elected mayor of the city, greeted guests at the front door and offered each person $50 Acadister dollars. Parents, school administrators and others stopped by to see the city.
Perhaps the busiest stop in the room was the Smoothie Hut, co-owned by Shelby O’Neil and Jack Wilson. The booth often had lines that were six deep.
“It’s kind of hard because a lot of people want smoothies,” said O’Neil, who used a small blender to mix up milk with a smoothie mix. “There is a super long line here so we have to move super quick.”
Despite the busy time, she said she learned a lot from the project so far.
“I learned you have to be really money wise and you need more than one person to run a town,” she said. “It can’t be one person. You need everybody’s help.”
While the mock city project allows the students to learn about how government and commerce works, Bessette said there is another reason she sets it up at the end of the year.
“The truth is I do it for the discipline, to keep them in check,” she said. “Right after spring break, the older kids have a don’t-care attitude. This keeps the focus going on.”
The students created rules for participating in the mock city, such as docking pay sheets for kids who are tardy or don’t turn in assignments. Those who missed more than a few assignments spent the hour in a mock jail outside of the classroom. On the day of the grand opening, several students were in jail.
See the full story in the Pinnacle on Friday.
