Teaching Second Grade
By: Kim Cruz
Sarah Daggs
Melissa Garcia
What is Junior Achievement?
The Junior Achievement Program uses hands-on
experiences to help young people understand the
economics of everyday life. In partnership with
businesses, educators and the many volunteers
Junior Achievement brings real world situations to
students at a level each can understand. It is said
the altogether the Junior Achievement reaches
approximately 6.6 million students worldwide. Here
in the Costal Bend the Junior Achievement Program
is headed up by a Mrs. Jayne Woodall.
Junior Achievement Orientation

In order to do this teaching project, we first had to go to
orientation. The orientation itself lasted about an hour.

After filling out multiple papers, we were each assigned to a
school and a class of students, along with this we were
given a satchel. This included, a lesson plan for five weeks,
and all the materials such as stickers, worksheets, table
tents, posters, ballots, and play money. All of these items
would have been needed in order for us to deliver and
complete the curriculum.

Also at orientation we learned how to dress, how to contact
the teacher, prepare for our lessons, and we received
general knowledge about how to teach the class.
Dress Code: What to wear?
Students should wear:
 Slacks/Khakis properly sized and fitted
 Polo style or button up shirts
 College logo t-shirts/sweatshirts
 Closed toe shoes
 Skirts/dresses no higher than 2 inches above
the knee
 Hair must be neatly groomed
Dress Code: What not to
wear?
Students should not wear:
 Tank tops, halter tops, spaghetti straps,
midriffs, or low cut tops
 Muscle shirts
 Clothing with foul language/obscene images
 Torn clothing
 Hats or caps
 Flip flops
 Unconventional hairstyles
Preparing for Class
For each upcoming lesson my partner and I,
set aside time and got together the night
before class to review the curriculum. During
this time we gathered all the materials,
cutting and separating everything we needed
to complete the lesson, in order to fully
maximize our time teaching. We also took this
time and brainstormed for additional ideas we
could use to motivate the children to learn.
Lesson One
How does a community work?



In this first lesson the students studied a poster
illustrating a community to identify typical jobs. They
developed an awareness of how people live and work
together in a community.
In the activity we had the students place stickers on
their smaller posters that identified a certain person,
and asked them:
What is this person doing?
Why do we need this person in our community?
Do you know someone who does this?
Would you like to do this? Why or why not?
At the end of the activity we went around asking the
students what they wanted to do when they grow up,
and asked what sort of work their parents
Lesson Two
Sweet O’ Donuts




In the second lesson, the students learned about different
production strategies to see which one would make the
most donuts and the most money.
The students learned that there were two types of
production, unit production, where one worker makes a
complete product, and assembly line production, when
several workers make a product, each doing a special part.
They were separated into two groups, in the unit production
group each student cut out their donuts, put stickers and
colored them by themselves. They made 15 donuts in 3
minutes.
The assembly line production group was arranged in a line
and each student was assigned a different task, one student
cut donuts, different students put stickers, one student
colored. They made 9 donuts in 3 minutes.
Lesson Three
The Role Of Government



In lesson three, students learned about the
economic role of government in a community by
identifying services that government provides for
its citizens. They also learned about why the
government must collect taxes.
We talked about different jobs in the community ,
both government and civilian. And also what it
would be like if we didn’t have a firefighter, police
officer, etc.
In the activity 8 students were picked, each having
a different job, they were give 5 dollars play
money, and told that two of those dollars would
have to go towards paying taxes money that
businesses and people must pay for government
goods and services.
Lesson Four
A New Business





In lesson four, the students learned the importance of
decision making when they voted for a new store in their
community.
Three candidates were running for mayor and each one
wanted to bring a different business into the community.
The three options were: an animal shelter, skate park, or a
toy store.
We made a decision tree listening the pros and cons of
each business.
We had each student individual place their ballot.
In this lesson the students learned about decisions, and
how they are important, they also learned about voting,
making your sure your voice counts, and about how
majority votes win.
Voting time
The winning business at Meadowbrook
Elementary was the skate park.
The winning business at Flour Bluff
Primary was the animal shelter.
Lesson Five
Money Movers


In this lesson, the students learned about
how money flows through a community.
In this activity we had 8 students come up to
the front and each were assigned to work at
a different shop. To go along with this
activity, was a cassette that played a song,
showing how money travels from the back, to
the consumer and through the community
before finally reaching the bank.
How money circulates?
Graduation
At the end of the program, each child
received a Certificate of Achievement for
completing the Junior Achievement
Program.
Pre and Post-Questionnaire
1. Name two jobs that you would like to do in your
community when you are older?
2. What is unit production?
3. What is an assembly-line production?
4. Who pays the police officer and public school
teacher?
5. Why do people make choices?
6. What is money?
Pre and Post-Questionnaire
Answers
Questionnaire: Pre-Answers
Ouestionnaire: Pre-Answers
Percentages
28%
15
Number of
Responses
10
Series1
Series2
5
0
1
72%
2
3
4
5
6
Question Number
Questionnaire: Post-Answers
Questionnaire: Post-Answer
Percentages
Number of
Responses
15
10
5
Series1
Series2
0
1
100%
2
3
4
5
Question Number
6
Student Reactions




The students enjoyed the lessons and activities in
the book.
Their favorite activities were the donuts, voting
and the money movers, which were visual and
hands on activities.
The students were always excited when we came
to visit and were interested in the activities.
The students looked forward to us coming back
and asked us when we would next be there, they
would also hug us as soon as we walked in the
door, up until the time we had had to leave!
Working with a Partner
vs. Working Alone
I worked alone on the project and had 22
students in my Flour Bluff Primary class. I
never had a problem with passing out papers
or keeping the class busy.
 I asked different students to help me pass
out papers in the class and I came early
when they were still in P.E. and set up
everything that I would need to pass out that
day.

Working with a Partner
vs. Working Alone




Since there was two of us, and only 13 students so
things ran rather smoothly.
Each class day we would arrive 10 minutes early to
set up while the students were still working on their
math journal.
When we started the lesson we always had the
students sit on the carpet, this is where we had our
discussion, and when it came time for the activity
we had them return to their seats.
Each week we alternated one of us would lead the
discussion while the other lead the activity.
What we learned
In the program we learned:
 Patience
 Learning how to communicate with the
students at a level that they would
understand
 Discipline
 What it’s like to prepare and be a teacher
 Learn that all students are different in their
own unique way
The End