Post JA Biztown Parent Volunteer Survey

Parents.....I cannot thank you enough! The group of parents I had supporting and helping this year was amazing. All of you really helped us have 2 great days. Now, I need one final favor from you. Could you please fill out the survey that is embedded below and let me know how your group went. I use this data to evaluate our trip and reward and honor some groups and students mentioned in your survey results. It should not take more than a minute or two. Thank you again for all your efforts and time this year.

6th Grade Goes to JA Biztown Next Week

   If you are a parent of a 6th grader at Carlisle, heads up! We are going on our JA Biztown field trip next Thursday and/or Friday. Half of the class will go Thursday and half will go Friday. If your child HAS NOT HAD YOU SIGN A PERMISSION SLIP YET, PLEASE EMAIL ME (ben.barry@carlisle.k12.ia.us) as these are past due! Here is a schedule of our field trip day (each day will have the same schedule and material missed from CORE classes due to being gone from the field trip will be taught each day so no child really misses any CORE instruction).

***Note: Students will need a sack lunch on the day they go to JA Biztown, but no drink is needed. JA Biztown asks that students purchase their drink with part of their Biztown paycheck so they can experience the process of sometimes needing to buy your lunch or drink while on the job***

8:10: School day starts, students report to 1st period
8:25: Students going on field trip use restroom and report to Commons to board bus
8:35: Bus departs for JA Biztown (61st and Grand Ave)
2:00: Bus departs for Carlisle Middle School, field trip experience done
2:25: Bus arrives back at Carlisle Middle School
2:25-3:10: Students report to 1 of 4 classrooms to meet with a Biztown teacher volunteer and finish the day doing some reflection and some thank you note writing.
3:10: Students head home for the day.

There will be NO Snack and Study this week due to the JA Biztown trips....Mr. Barry will be wiped out! It should be a great field trip and a great experience. Be sure to quiz your child on how their day went, what they learned, what went well, and talk to them about your job and workday and the biggest difference: when you return from your job at the end of the day, your job as a parent starts! For most of these kids, they will also be tired and wiped out and will find it amazing that you feel the same way, but can't just lay on the couch and wait for dinner like they might choose to do! If nothing else, it should open the students' eyes about what it takes to truly be an adult for a day. If you have any questions or concerns, please email me. Thank you!

Parent Volunteers Needed for JA Biztown Trip!

6th Grade parents, we are in need of about 10 more volunteers for EACH day of our field trip to JA Biztown. This trip is very interactive and a great experience not just for the kids, but for the adults too. I am amazed each year watching the kids work and live like adults for several hours during the day. They really impress me. I would love to include as many parents as possible. Some of you have already jumped at the chance, but like I said, I still need about 20 more total volunteers. Please email me at ben.barry@carlisle.k12.ia.us if you can help us out on our trip. Here are the basic requirements:

*1 training session for 90 minutes around the lunch hour or end of the workday on a day TBD in March.

*Attendance with us on the field trip from 8:30-2:30 on either March 29th or March 30th. You would go the same day as your child.

*Be ready to work a little and have a lot of fun!! :)

It truly is a great experience, one that some parents have even volunteered during years where they don't have a child going on the trip. Out of my current 9 volunteers, 3 of them have been on the trip before, so it must be a good time. Email me if interested. I am trying to get all volunteers in place by March 1st this year so that I can start sending them information about our trip. Thank you!

6th Grade JA Biztown Parent Volunteer Opportunities!

Parents/Guardians, listen up! We are hitting the key moments of our JA Biztown curriculum and your help and support will be even more important than before. In the next 2-3 weeks, students will be reviewing "Want Ads", applying for jobs, interviewing for jobs, and getting their JA Biztown job. Then, throughout February and March, students will be working with their business partners creating their business plan and getting ready to actually perform their job for a day at JA Biztown. Finally, after Spring Break, students will go to JA Biztown on either March 29th or 30th (1/2 class goes one day, 1/2 the class goes on the other).

So, where do parents/guardians fit in? Well, you fit in everywhere as I want you to ask the students every week about JA Biztown, what they learned, what they are doing, and let them figure ways of how this relates to your world and your job and your finances. But I also need many parent volunteers for the 2 big events: Mock interview day and JA Biztown field trip.

First, I have about 12 spots left for parents or guardians to volunteer to help interview 6th graders. Over the course of 3 days (27th, 30th, 31st of January), we will interview every 6th grader in our building for 6-8 minutes. But this means I need lots of interviewers. If you volunteer, you will not interview your child (I would not do that to them...or you!!) but would interview 5 or 6 other students. You will score them on a scoring guide that I give you. When I combine their interview score with their job application score, students will be given one of their top 3 job choices based on their total score. If interested in helping with this process, please email me as soon as possible so that I can get my schedule/list set up this week. Interviews start end of next week!

Next, I need 14 parent volunteers for each day of the JA Biztown field trip. As a volunteer, you would go on the same day as your child, but would not work in the same business. JA Biztown has a policy against that, but trust me, that is a good thing. Many parents tell me they actually like not being in the same business with their child. The whole experience is suppose to create the feeling of being an adult and being independent. Doesn't work too well with their parent at their side all day. But there will be time to shop, eat, and hang out with your child during the day...should you or they choose. Your day would be from 8:30-2:30 with us and does require about a 90-minute training in Mid-March. This training is really important as it will help your business and your "kid workers" go much smoother on the field trip day. This field trip is very interactive and very fun as the kids run a miniature town for the day. I frequently have parents request to come back with their other children and sometimes come back even though they don't have a child going. Even my parents want to help out! So, if interested in this opportunity, email me in the next 2 weeks and I will mark you down. If I get too many, I will put extras on a waiting list. Every year I have a parent or two that has to cancel at some point and it is always nice to pull from my waiting list. And sometimes I take an extra parent as a floater. So please email me if interested. Thank you!

And the 2nd semester will begin tomorrow which means we are 1/2 done!! And we have 1/2 left. I prefer to think the glass is 1/2 full!!

JA Biztown Trip This Week: Here's Our Day

JA Biztown is finally here!! We will be taking half of the 6th grade class each day to JA Biztown on Thursday and Friday. This means about 75 students, 15 parents, and 4 teachers will be invading the JA Biztown facility each day for a great day of fun and learning. Just in case you are wondering what your child needs and what their day will look like, here you go:

What your child needs for the day:

*A few pencils

*A sack lunch (no drink...they buy this with their paycheck)

*Their permission slip turned in (still missing some!!!)

What their day will look like:

*Come to school at normal time

*Report to 1st period with their pencils and sack lunch

*Be dismissed to Commons at 8:25 a.m. to line up for bus

*Head to Biztown at 8:30 and arrive at 8:50 a.m.

*From 9-11 a.m. students will work in their business and hold a town meeting to hear from CEOs, Mayor, Judge, etc. Biztown staff will also go over the rules and safety procedures.

*From 11 a.m.-1 p.m. students will continue to work, but will mix in a couple breaks where they also get to deposit their paycheck into their checking account at the bank. They also get to spend lots of Biztown money on some fun items!

*From 1 p.m-2 p.m. students will clean up and hold a final town meeting. Awards, thanks, and other items will be handed out and students will board the bus.

*Students will leave at 2 p.m. and arrive back at the middle school at 2:20 p.m.

*Students will fill out a JA Biztown post-experience survey, write some thank you notes, and talk about what they liked and didn't like. up until the 3:10 bell. This will take place with one of the volunteer teachers from the trip.

On the day your child does not go to JA Biztown, they will go through a fairly regular day of school. They do not actually miss any of their CORE class instruction because those teachers will teach the same thing on both Thursday and Friday since all 6th graders will be here one day and gone the other day.

The 6th graders are really excited for this trip and we should have a great time. When they are all done, they should have some souveniers, should be able to find some pictures I took of them to put in a scrapbook or give to their parents to scrapbook with, and will get to watch videos taken the day of JA Biztown in a future Life Skills class. So...tons of fun and tons of memories. Thank you for helping make this possible and keep discussing anything related to money, jobs, work, and "real life" with your kids even after Biztown has finished. Have a great week!

February: Biztown, Snack-N-Study Thursdays, Conferences, Oh My!

Parents of 6th graders....heads up! February is very busy for us and possibly for you as well. Here is a rundown of some things going on.

Parent/Teacher (and students?) conferences: Conferences start this week at the middle school. They are from 4-8 p.m. on Thursday, February 17th. We will have a 2nd night of conferences on Monday, February 21st from 4-8 p.m. as well. We invite you to bring your child along as they can learn a lot from listening to what the teachers have to say. I will use my conference time to give you some JA Biztown updates.

Snack-N-Study Thursdays: Back by popular demand is Snack-N-Study Thursdays for 6th graders. This is geared for students who struggle to keep up with the homework, have low grades, or have failed a subject in a prior quarter. We began last week with 2 students and will not have it this week because of conferences. But starting Feb. 24th, we will meet every Thursday after school from 3:15-3:45 for the rest of the year. What is it? Well, it is an after school study hall run by me where I help students get organized, do their homework, and plan to raise their grades. We do some grade goal setting as well. We call it Snack-N-Study because I provide a snack and drink each and every Thursday. If interested, you can contact me by email or phone to learn more. I limit the numbers as I want to keep it as a good study atmosphere, but I am willing to take any student that has high interest in this idea, might be looking to get more involved, and/or has low grades or missing assignments. I also take teacher recommendations.

JA Biztown: The trip is still on for April 7th and 8th, but we need many more volunteers for April 8th. We are full for April 7th. If you want to know which day your child goes, just ask them...they should know. If they are going on April 8th, we could use your help as a parent volunteer. You will go the same day as your child but work in a different business. This is a great experience for kids and parents and I usually here more excitement from parents after the trip when compared to the kids...and that is saying a lot. Contact me if interested.

By the way....congratulations to our 2 Mayors and 2 Judges elected by their classmates for the JA Biztown field trip. Travis Johnston will be Mayor and Kaleb Reed will be Judge for our April 7th field trip. JJ Orput will be Mayor and Tif Piper will be Judge for our April 8th field trip. We also have over 25 students who applied for a CEO position and received it and are now managing their own business and employees everyday in class. These current and future leaders are doing great and having lots of fun!

JA Biztown Interviews a Success!

First off, a big thank you to the following people who helped interview over 150 6th grade students. Each interview was about 5-7 minutes and students commented how "easy" it was. The volunteers were impressed with the 6th grader's maturity and interview skills. Hopefully, this experience will pay off in the next couple years as most of these students will be interviewing for their first part-time jobs. Look for a future post about what students decided were the "Do's" and "Don'ts" of a good interview.

But again, thank you to these people for helping with this year's interviews:

Dr. Keri Schlueter, principal

Andy Seiler, Dean of students

Leah Heidemann, HS counselor

Mrs. Caulkins, student teacher

Traci Lee, HS counselor

Tim Barry

Trudy Barry

Reagan Barry

Kristen Wilson

Hillary Harrison

Bobbi Jo Zeller

Peggy Wright

Ann Evans

Trevor Ahartz

Sarah Wyckoff

Tracy JohnstonPublish Post

Kelly Wyckoff

Patti Isley

Beth VanZante

Regina Overton

Jackie Garrett

Cassandra Halls

David Murry

James Slaughter

Lori Candee

Laura Baumgartner

THANK YOU!!!

Need Volunteers for 2 Biztown Opportunities!!!

Parents, I am need of some volunteers for upcoming Biztown events. But you won't just be volunteering, you will be actively participating and likely having a great time while doing it. Here are the details:

Mock Interviewers needed! First off, before students ever get jobs and long before they go to JA Biztown, they must interview. This is where I need some parents. I need about 15 parent volunteers who are willing to come in for an hour in the morning or for hour around lunchtime and interview 5 or 6 students. I will have the questions and materials all ready for you and the rating scale you can use to rate the students' performances, you just have to show up and visit with the students. It is a great experience and one that the students are nervous about but they realize how great this opportunity is because it will put them a step above their competition when it comes to their real interviews later in life. Here are the times I need volunteers (email me if interested)

8:00-9:00 a.m. on Jan 31st, Feb. 1st

12:10-1:10 p.m. on Jan 31st, Feb. 1st

9:00-9:45 a.m. on Feb. 2nd

10:30-11:15 on Feb. 2nd

JA Biztown Experience Volunteers: Alright, this is the big one and it is first come, first serve. We need 28 parent volunteers to help with our experience days, 14 go each day. You would go on the same day as your child, but work in a different business/store. Your duties would require you to be with us from 8:30-2:00, so you may have to take a half day from work or a full day. You would work in a store with about 5-8 other students who would look to you for information on what their store is supposed to produce. You would know what the store produces because you would attend a 1-hour tutorial session at the JA Biztown site just a week before our trip. So, all in all, we are asking for about 7 hours of total time from you, but the memories of this field trip experience will last a lifetime. Parents really, really have a good time on this trip and enjoy seeing the kids be "adults" for the day, especially their own child. Again, please email or call me if interested. Oh, by the way....the dates of the field trip are April 7th and 8th, 2011.

I will be sending these opportunities through email and through the school weekly update email. Please contact me as soon as possible so that I can start organizing all of this. Thank you and I look forward to working with you!

JA Biztown Curriculum in Full Swing for 6th Graders

Our 6th graders are now finishing their first unit of study in our JA Biztown curriculum. This means that students have learned about what it means to be a community (town, country, school, church, etc.), why we pay taxes and where that money goes, why we vote and what other rights and responsibilities a citizen may have, and also what it means to be a philanthropist. We even discussed how markets work and what supply and demand is all about. In fact, some students, if they were listening well, might even be able to explain how our economy basically collapsed over the past 3-5 years and why the stimulus package was designed and what it was supposed to do (and did to some extent).

Now, as we head into break and come back from break, students will be studying all about how banks, investing, spending, and saving work. This means that students will finally get their own practice checkbook and begin writing checks and balancing their checkbooks. What I hope you can do to help me is to include your child in virtually every spending and saving occurrence that happens over the next month, especially since it is the holidays! Show them how you write a check, talk to them about why you use your debit or credit card and what happens to the money when you use it, talk to them about why you may not write that many checks, and talk to them about the options you have to save your money: 401K, savings acct., checking acct., under the mattress :), stocks, bonds, etc. I can give them the basics in class, but seeing it in action with you can be a huge support. Let me know if you have any questions or thoughts on all of this. And Happy Holidays!