East Elementary Young Entrepreneur Craft Fair
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The East Elementary Annual Craft Fair is a hands-on marketplace designed to help our Kindergarten through 4th-grade students develop essential entrepreneurial skills.
This event is more than just a sale; it’s a real-world introduction to business fundamentals:
Product Development: Students take the lead in designing and creating unique products from scratch.
Pricing Strategy: To ensure a simplified "cash-only" economy, all products are priced between $.25 and $1.00.
Visual Marketing: Every business owner manages their own "storefront," complete with a visual pricing guide (1–4 quarters) to help their peers shop independently.
Customer Relations: Students practice pitching their products and managing transactions with their fellow classmates and community members.
Orchard Elementary Hat Parade
Kindergarten students from Orchard Elementary studied the effects of the sunlight in science and used an engineering process to use tools and materials to design, build, and test hats to reduce the effects of the sun. They proudly walked the halls in a parade to show the other students their final prototype.
Jackson R-2 Second Grade Integrated ELA and Science Unit
Jackson R-2 second-grade students explore paleontology and the changes of the earth through the unique lens of informational texts, drawing conclusions, and writing narratives. As part of the study, outside experts bring a traveling museum, allowing students to explore the career path of a paleontologist, examine fossils from long ago, learn about the changes of the earth, and dig for a real fossil to take home.
Jackson R-2 Middle School Biz Kids
This year’s Biz Kids event showcased the impressive entrepreneurial talent of 36 middle school participants. Moving beyond the classroom, these students took full ownership of the product lifecycle—from initial concept and market research to sales and customer engagement.
The event served as a vital bridge between our schools and the local economy. We are incredibly grateful to the community members who attended as the support provided students with real-world market experience. Through this collaboration, we are building a stronger and more vibrant community of creators and problem solvers.
Jackson R-2 Junior High School Short Story Fair
The Jackson Junior High Short Story Fair translates classroom analysis into four essential professional competencies:
Stakeholder Communication: Presenting to administrators (rather than just peers) mimics the "high-stakes" environment of reporting to a supervisor or client.
The "Elevator Pitch": Students must synthesize complex literary techniques into a brief, persuasive summary, mirroring how professionals pitch ideas under time constraints.
Information Design: Creating project boards develops Visual Literacy—the ability to organize data so it is scannable and professional, much like a corporate slide deck.
Handling Q&A: Answering spontaneous questions from staff builds the "soft skills" needed to defend a proposal or explain a strategy in real time.
From the Classroom to the Community
Jackson Junior High students recently completed an intensive project-based learning unit focused on urban nutrition. The challenge required them to:
Budget: Allocate resources for materials and maintenance.
Research: Identify the best crops and irrigation for high-altitude urban environments.
Design: Build detailed scale models to visualize the impact on our skyline.
By connecting math and science to social advocacy, these students are proving that you're never too young to make a measurable impact.
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