It is a truism that a school is a microcosm of society, but nowhere is this more vividly illustrated than during a week each June, when the whole school literally is turned into a Mini-society. After the excitement and hard work of the Fair, children come to school on the next Monday with eager anticipation ready to start a new kind of work - that of paid employees in a corporate world of "bosses", unions (sometimes) and all the trappings of commerce. This huge week-long simulation game, that turns teachers into bosses and children into workers, allows them to explore the World of Work in a hands on way. It culminates in Market Day on Friday morning in which the school is transformed into a marketplace with stalls selling various handmade items, food concessions, games, spas, buskers, paid advertising and mobile vendors. It is much more than a training ground for young entrepreneurs, as it explores a range of workplace issues such as equity, benefits, savings, workers' rights, currency issues and more.
The week before, the all important detail of the name of the currency for this year's Mini-society is discussed and voted on by all the students in the school. Everyone is allowed to put forward suggestions, and an elaborate system of weeding out less popular (and sometimes inappropriate) names is done through several meetings. Over the years, some very imaginative currencies have seen the light - it always amazes me that names such as "Googoogagas", "Dylonges" or "Oodles" roll off the tongue so easily after a few days of use. Once the currency name has been decided, the older students create design for the different denominations and stacks of coloured, photocopied bills are produced ready to be handed over to the Mini-society "bank", run by Middle School students.
On Monday morning, the day starts with a whole school meeting, where the elementary children are divided into 5 multi-age producer groups, and reminded of some of the basic elements of Mini-society. They are told that they will be paid 12 oodles for their work from 9:00 to 10:30 each day (and one afternoon), that the 5 workplaces are Snack, Newspaper, 2 Crafts, and Gardening, and that on Friday they will have a chance to buy some of the crafts from a "warehouse" at wholesale prices and resell them during the marketplace, as well as items that they have made at home. They are told that after worktime is over, (at snack time), they will be able to deposit their money in the Mini-society bank, thus gaining interest over the week of 10%, but to be sure to save out some oodles to buy the snack (produced by the Snack group) and the newspaper.
Then off the various groups go to their workplaces, where they work with one or two teachers to make their product. The children are partnered up within their groups so that an older child is always looking out for and helping a younger one. Just before 10:30, the bosses pay the salaries to the workers, sometimes to the shock of a few children, docking pay for not working hard enough or giving bonuses for work beyond the call of duty. Then the children line up to deposit their earnings in the bank (the 5 branches are conveniently located outside each classroom workplace and staffed by Middle School students). Outside the lunchroom, vendors are hawking the daily version of the newspaper, hot off the presses, so that children have something to read as they munch on the daily snack, purchased from a stall within the lunchroom. Then, all the children run outside to be children again, ready to start all over the next morning in a different activity. Over the 4 mornings and one afternoon, all children experience each workplace and get paid for 5 "days" of work.
At 11:00, after play time, daily meetings reinforce some of details of how mini-society works as well as deal with issues that arise during the sessions. The younger children are often confused about what happens on market day, and don't understand why it's a good idea to trust their hard earned cash to the banks. Stories of lost or stolen money, as well as the advantages of earning interest are shared, but it always surprises me that some children refuse to patronize the banks and prefer their pockets instead. Issues of fairness or equity are raised: One year a student who was sick and missed a day of "work" thought it was unfair that she didn't get paid, so sick leave at half pay was instituted. Another year teachers forgot what the rate of pay the previous year was, and salaries were set at a lower rate, and a union was formed to agitate for higher pay. The system of handing out bonuses is often considered to be arbitrary by the children, and lots of discussion ensues about how to make it fairer.
What is actually produced during these work sessions? In the Snack group, the children make healthy but fun snacks designed to appeal to them and then sell them for 2 oodles at snack time. They also realize that advertising will promote their product, so a small group produces a roving commercial that visits all the other workplaces, singing or acting a jingle
In the Newspaper group, children brainstorm and are assigned various topics on which to report, and then despatched with clipboards to conduct interviews, polls and observations of what is happening in Mini-society that day. They are given a strict deadline in which to return, so that they can edit and finish their good copy on small pieces of paper which are then cut and pasted onto a 2 sided legal sheet of paper. A name is chosen for each paper, comics, games and puzzles are drawn and sometimes there is a theme that drives the topics chosen. On some days, ads are solicited (at a price) to promote some of the businesses which will be appearing on Friday. It can get very hectic towards 10:30 when the competing pressures of uncooperative photocopiers, unmet deadlines, a public clamouring for their daily read and employees needing to be paid can result in some palpitations on the part of the editors, but it is all worth it for the sight of a room full of children absorbed in reading their papers, while munching on the snack of the day.
A variety of items are produced in the two Craft groups each day. Most often the craft is something that can be made by children of all ages, and is appealing for children and adults alike. Friendship bracelets, hand-made diaries, mandalas, bubbleprint cards, origami animals, games, toys, and painted rocks are just a few of the types of items that have been produced. Sometimes a Craft group produces something that has a real, and practical use for the school. When the school was hosting a fundraising run, the children became button producers, and designed and made buttons to give out as participation medals. Another year when the Native garden needed a fence built to protect it from soccer balls (and players), the Craft session became a Fence Factory, where each child painted a fence picket. These were later assembled and installed into a colourful, funky picket fence that the children enjoy every day on the playground. But the main purpose of the Craft sessions is to produce items that can then be bought and sold on Market Day.
The Gardening group performs a real service. The children help with planting and weeding in the vegetable or Native garden, as well as pruning and labelling various crops. On rainy days, they create garden crafts to be sold on Market Day - painted plant pots, child-designed packets of seeds, bottle birdfeeders, or concrete paving stones to name a few.
Friday morning, or Market Day, is easily the most exciting, eagerly anticipated day of the school year. Some children plan what they are going to do months in advance. A few days before, all the children have had an opportunity to buy licenses for the particular business they and their friends are going to have. Food licenses are very popular, so there is a lottery to decide who gets them. Mobile vending licenses (the right to use the trolley carts from the kitchen) are also popular, and as there are only 2 of them, a lottery is often needed there too. Gaming licences are issued, as well as busking licences, and licences for retail outlets.
Market Day starts as the children withdraw all their money from the bank and then are called down in groups, according to a lottery system, to buy goods from the "warehouse". Items are grouped in batches of two or three, with a price designed to reflect the amount of work put into them - some items are made by one child alone in a session, while others are the work of several children together. This is the time where many children need to have it explained why they can't just buy the one item that they made themselves, and some need to be encouraged to "spend money to make money". Younger ones often need some counselling on what sort of mark up on the items they buy will allow them to make money, but not price themselves out of the market. If sales in the warehouse are not brisk enough, the teachers will reduce the wholesale price in order to stimulate the economy, and get the goods to the market.
While all this is going on, the other children are setting up their stalls in classrooms around the school, displaying licences and making price tags. The lunchroom is set aside as a Food Court, and all vendors are anxiously awaiting the warehouse to close so that they can set up. As soon as it is, the blenders come out and the trays of cupcakes and cookies are attractively displayed. At 9:30, the Market is declared open for business, and the school starts to buzz.
Groups of Littles and Youngs, accompanied by parents, start their shopping expeditions, with pockets bursting with cash. They take it in turns to leave their Littles Carnival or Youngs Marketplace, so that some are always on hand to run the stalls. The adults with them help them make the difficult decisions about what to spend their oodles on, and make sure that they are happy with their purchases. As they travel around the school, they come across a girl lying on the floor with her legs wrapped around her neck, and a hat out for donations. They hear the blare of music coming from
The week before, the all important detail of the name of the currency for this year's Mini-society is discussed and voted on by all the students in the school. Everyone is allowed to put forward suggestions, and an elaborate system of weeding out less popular (and sometimes inappropriate) names is done through several meetings. Over the years, some very imaginative currencies have seen the light - it always amazes me that names such as "Googoogagas", "Dylonges" or "Oodles" roll off the tongue so easily after a few days of use. Once the currency name has been decided, the older students create design for the different denominations and stacks of coloured, photocopied bills are produced ready to be handed over to the Mini-society "bank", run by Middle School students.
On Monday morning, the day starts with a whole school meeting, where the elementary children are divided into 5 multi-age producer groups, and reminded of some of the basic elements of Mini-society. They are told that they will be paid 12 oodles for their work from 9:00 to 10:30 each day (and one afternoon), that the 5 workplaces are Snack, Newspaper, 2 Crafts, and Gardening, and that on Friday they will have a chance to buy some of the crafts from a "warehouse" at wholesale prices and resell them during the marketplace, as well as items that they have made at home. They are told that after worktime is over, (at snack time), they will be able to deposit their money in the Mini-society bank, thus gaining interest over the week of 10%, but to be sure to save out some oodles to buy the snack (produced by the Snack group) and the newspaper.
Then off the various groups go to their workplaces, where they work with one or two teachers to make their product. The children are partnered up within their groups so that an older child is always looking out for and helping a younger one. Just before 10:30, the bosses pay the salaries to the workers, sometimes to the shock of a few children, docking pay for not working hard enough or giving bonuses for work beyond the call of duty. Then the children line up to deposit their earnings in the bank (the 5 branches are conveniently located outside each classroom workplace and staffed by Middle School students). Outside the lunchroom, vendors are hawking the daily version of the newspaper, hot off the presses, so that children have something to read as they munch on the daily snack, purchased from a stall within the lunchroom. Then, all the children run outside to be children again, ready to start all over the next morning in a different activity. Over the 4 mornings and one afternoon, all children experience each workplace and get paid for 5 "days" of work.
At 11:00, after play time, daily meetings reinforce some of details of how mini-society works as well as deal with issues that arise during the sessions. The younger children are often confused about what happens on market day, and don't understand why it's a good idea to trust their hard earned cash to the banks. Stories of lost or stolen money, as well as the advantages of earning interest are shared, but it always surprises me that some children refuse to patronize the banks and prefer their pockets instead. Issues of fairness or equity are raised: One year a student who was sick and missed a day of "work" thought it was unfair that she didn't get paid, so sick leave at half pay was instituted. Another year teachers forgot what the rate of pay the previous year was, and salaries were set at a lower rate, and a union was formed to agitate for higher pay. The system of handing out bonuses is often considered to be arbitrary by the children, and lots of discussion ensues about how to make it fairer.
What is actually produced during these work sessions? In the Snack group, the children make healthy but fun snacks designed to appeal to them and then sell them for 2 oodles at snack time. They also realize that advertising will promote their product, so a small group produces a roving commercial that visits all the other workplaces, singing or acting a jingle
In the Newspaper group, children brainstorm and are assigned various topics on which to report, and then despatched with clipboards to conduct interviews, polls and observations of what is happening in Mini-society that day. They are given a strict deadline in which to return, so that they can edit and finish their good copy on small pieces of paper which are then cut and pasted onto a 2 sided legal sheet of paper. A name is chosen for each paper, comics, games and puzzles are drawn and sometimes there is a theme that drives the topics chosen. On some days, ads are solicited (at a price) to promote some of the businesses which will be appearing on Friday. It can get very hectic towards 10:30 when the competing pressures of uncooperative photocopiers, unmet deadlines, a public clamouring for their daily read and employees needing to be paid can result in some palpitations on the part of the editors, but it is all worth it for the sight of a room full of children absorbed in reading their papers, while munching on the snack of the day.
A variety of items are produced in the two Craft groups each day. Most often the craft is something that can be made by children of all ages, and is appealing for children and adults alike. Friendship bracelets, hand-made diaries, mandalas, bubbleprint cards, origami animals, games, toys, and painted rocks are just a few of the types of items that have been produced. Sometimes a Craft group produces something that has a real, and practical use for the school. When the school was hosting a fundraising run, the children became button producers, and designed and made buttons to give out as participation medals. Another year when the Native garden needed a fence built to protect it from soccer balls (and players), the Craft session became a Fence Factory, where each child painted a fence picket. These were later assembled and installed into a colourful, funky picket fence that the children enjoy every day on the playground. But the main purpose of the Craft sessions is to produce items that can then be bought and sold on Market Day.
The Gardening group performs a real service. The children help with planting and weeding in the vegetable or Native garden, as well as pruning and labelling various crops. On rainy days, they create garden crafts to be sold on Market Day - painted plant pots, child-designed packets of seeds, bottle birdfeeders, or concrete paving stones to name a few.
Friday morning, or Market Day, is easily the most exciting, eagerly anticipated day of the school year. Some children plan what they are going to do months in advance. A few days before, all the children have had an opportunity to buy licenses for the particular business they and their friends are going to have. Food licenses are very popular, so there is a lottery to decide who gets them. Mobile vending licenses (the right to use the trolley carts from the kitchen) are also popular, and as there are only 2 of them, a lottery is often needed there too. Gaming licences are issued, as well as busking licences, and licences for retail outlets.
Market Day starts as the children withdraw all their money from the bank and then are called down in groups, according to a lottery system, to buy goods from the "warehouse". Items are grouped in batches of two or three, with a price designed to reflect the amount of work put into them - some items are made by one child alone in a session, while others are the work of several children together. This is the time where many children need to have it explained why they can't just buy the one item that they made themselves, and some need to be encouraged to "spend money to make money". Younger ones often need some counselling on what sort of mark up on the items they buy will allow them to make money, but not price themselves out of the market. If sales in the warehouse are not brisk enough, the teachers will reduce the wholesale price in order to stimulate the economy, and get the goods to the market.
While all this is going on, the other children are setting up their stalls in classrooms around the school, displaying licences and making price tags. The lunchroom is set aside as a Food Court, and all vendors are anxiously awaiting the warehouse to close so that they can set up. As soon as it is, the blenders come out and the trays of cupcakes and cookies are attractively displayed. At 9:30, the Market is declared open for business, and the school starts to buzz.
Groups of Littles and Youngs, accompanied by parents, start their shopping expeditions, with pockets bursting with cash. They take it in turns to leave their Littles Carnival or Youngs Marketplace, so that some are always on hand to run the stalls. The adults with them help them make the difficult decisions about what to spend their oodles on, and make sure that they are happy with their purchases. As they travel around the school, they come across a girl lying on the floor with her legs wrapped around her neck, and a hat out for donations. They hear the blare of music coming from
