Year 5/6 Market Place

Term 4 has been an exciting time for our Year 6 students. Students began learning about

 needs and wants, profit and loss and managing finances. 

Engagement in our unit of work, ‘Market Place,’ has been high. 

Students started by designing their own house that needed to include basic requirements including number and types of rooms, size of the house and the items to be included in each room.

Once houses had been designed, it was time for students to apply for their Market place jobs. They either created a business or became a wholesaler, banker, rent collector or insurance agent. Students then made business signs and begun to create the products they would sell. The collaboration we have witnessed throughout Market Place has been outstanding, with students working together to ensure the products are prepared and ready to sell. 

Not only have students learnt about running their businesses and collaborating, they have also learnt how to fill in a pay slip, complete a Business Activity Statement for their business, complete a statement of income and expenditure and filling in deposit and withdrawal slips for the bank and making sure to keep track of their finances.

During Market Place, students had a list of items that they need to purchase for each room of their house. As well as those items, students also need to buy groceries and pay for their rent and utilities. There are other items for sale in Market Place that are ‘wants’ not ‘needs’ and students need to decide if they have enough money to purchase these. 

In our second week of Market Place we were lucky enough to have the year 3/4 students shop and stimulate our economy. Businesses coped extremely well with the influx of customers and learnt about the levels of stock that are required when you have a busy period.

It has been amazing to see the growth in understanding of these complex topics and seeing the excitement and joy that this unit of work has created.