BES Students Prepare for Real World with BizTown

A classroom full of fifth-graders brought out their checkbooks and made their very first deposits on Tuesday. Then, they recorded the transaction in their check registers.

Checkbooks may be a little archaic in the modern world of credit and debit cards, but it's a practice that teaches kids a valuable lesson about financial literacy, said  teacher Bobbie Kesecker.

"The kids have really gotten into this. It's been eye-opening," Kesecker said. "It's the result of several weeks of planning and preparation. But I can tell you that it's been so worth it."

The checkbooks are a prop that comes along with a weeks-long lesson plan called the Junior Achievement BizTown, or JA BizTown. Each student has been assigned a job within a virtual town—bankers, advertisers, CEOs and even a mayor.

The JA BizTown lesson culminates on Thursday when every fifth-grader in the school will combine their job roles into an active economic model. Each student gets a paycheck, ranging from $8 to $9, which they can use to buy services or goods in the town. They'll man their booths in shifts and spend their free time perusing the other students' businesses.

Some of the lessons have already hit home. Kesecker described how one of her students saw her mom using a credit card at the supermarket and made an astute observation. 

"She said, 'Mommy, you have to pay interest on that,'" Kesecker said. "And that brought out a whole conversation about finances with the parent. It's just been great." 

Fifth-grader Shanley Honarvar, 10, said this has been one of the most engaging lessons she's had in school. She’s part of the radio station group, and they’ve been working on creating an advertising campaign.

"It's been really cool," Honarvar said. "It’s been a nice change from the typical textbook stuff that we usually do. It’s nice because it’s a taste of being an adult.”

Honarvar’s mother is a teacher at Benfield Elementary School, and she said kids at other schools are getting excited about BizTown as well.  

BES students will be in BizTown in Owings Mills on Thursday to work together to create their own town.