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| There's nothing "mini" in the efforts Students from Class 4G (pictured) and 4T put into their mini-bazaar. |
With a spirit of compassion and caring, ES Classes 4G & 4T worked together to hold a charitable mini-bazaar this past week to benefit earthquake relief efforts in Sichuan province. In total, the nine participating groups of students raised 6,500 RMB by selling everything from handmade notecards and bookmarks to Chinese language adventure books, flavored ice, popcorn balls and Fuwa pencils. While the focus of the bazaar was to raise money for charity, the students inevitably learned several lifelong lessons as they undertook the various tasks involved in organizing and carrying out the bazaar. In written reflections on the success of their event, students made concrete connections between their current PYP unit on Economics, and the realities of advertising, marketing and sales.
Advertising was the most interesting element to the sale for several students, including Veera, who said, "I thought it was fun to advertise and tell people to come and buy something from our shop."
Other students, such as Harriet, embraced the challenge of arranging display tables in a design that best maximized browsing opportunities for potential customers. "The table we used was made into a horseshoe so that people could walk around more easily."
With a total of nine groups selling overlapping products, several items, including the flavored ice and Rice Krispy treats, were big hits. Other groups sold unique items, such as Zhou Zhou's, which sold handmade origami balls, among other items. Zhou Zhou took away the lesson that orginality and innovation sell: "I think lots of people liked the origami balls because they looked different and interesting."
In addition to crafting 21 origami balls, the group made 103 Rice Crispy treats, 30 note cards and 60 cookies. Olivia, who provided these facts from her group's inventory, said, "I was really proud of my group's
work."
Olivia also learned that by lowering the price of her Rice Crispy treats from 4 to 3 RMB, she would move her product much faster, and in greater quantities. "I lowered my price to 3RMB and sold so much more,"
she said. "I couldn't believe it!"
Handling money and making change was another hands-on task that students had to negotiate. Sean spoke to the collaborative spirit between the nine groups represented at the bazaar: "When we had no change for a customer, we borrowed some change from Keifer and Arsalan. We had lots of fun."
For many students, one of the biggest challenges was managing their nervousness as they stood behind their booths, waiting for the bell to ring. According to Olivia, people came "gushing" into the Founders' Theatre almost as soon as the bell rang. Keifer appreciated the fact that parents and staff supported the bazaar, as well as students, and Giulia was quick to point out how much busier they would have been if the Grade 5 students hadn't been away at camp.
"I was nervous that I would not raise that much money," said Ji Woo. "I really wanted to raise a lot because the earthquake was a really sad thing, with people getting injured, losing houses."
Keki concurred: "My friend Ji Woo and I were very nervous. But when our first customer bought a marshmallow stick, other people started to buy them, too. That gave us the confidence to keep selling until the
end of break, and again at lunchtime."
The classmates were further encouraged when students responded to their "great promotion." Ji Woo elaborated, "One of our products was muffins dyed with food coloring!"
Promoting his group's products was also a fun task for Eric. "We did a lot of promotions to get customers to come. Buy one bookmark and get one free...or buy 2 bookmarks for 5 RMB, or 3 for only 7 RMB."
Despite the huge success, disappointment was also part of the learning process for some students. "The home made cards didn't sell well, but we put a lot of effort into making them," said Victoria. "But this bazaar was a great opportunity for us because Grade 4 is learning about economics."