Weston School third-grader Brianna Berrocal was excited about the bake sale her classmates held last week, where she gained some valuable “on-the-job” cashier training.
By Mary Ellen Zangara Special Writer
”I am really surprised . . . I’m learning math and when you get a dollar, how much change you need to get back,” she said.
Brianna baked chocolate chip cookies with M&M’s with her mother and helped sell them at the sale, an annual event at the school aimed at helping the students apply their math skills.
Teachers Jenn Griffiths, Alissa Calandra, Rebecca Fosbe and Paul Gallagher all helped their students get ready for this experience. The teachers had the students handle marketing for the event (they made signs for the items they were selling), cost accounting (decide on the fair market value) and then close the deals (sell the goodies).
”This is a yearly event … right after we have done our math unit with money so the kids know how to count change and make sure their customers are giving them enough money,” said Ms. Griffiths.
Students brought in homemade or store bought items to sell at their desks. Students baked brownies, cookies, cupcakes and other treats with the help of their parents.
The math lesson also included measurements, mixing and telling time to make their goodies.
The students set up their goodies in their classrooms and invited all the other classes to come to their sale. Teachers signed up for each of the third-grade classrooms and came to shop.
”Now that the math curriculum has changed, and we are doing more with performance assessment, it fits right in with the curriculum,” Ms. Griffiths said. “It’s a really good way to see how money is used in the real world making money and selling something.”
But that wasn’t the only advantage of the event, Ms. Griffiths noted.
”They were having a really good time,” she added.

