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Learning Experience/Unit

Cookie Factory


Subject

Social Studies

Grade Levels

Elementary, 2nd Grade


Assessment

  • Graphing Results
  • Team Self-Evaluation Questions

    • Learning Context/ Introduction


    This interdisciplinary project allows students to work together to make decisions, solve problems, and learn about the world of work and economics. They will produce, promote, “sell”, and evaluate a product — cookies.

    Students Need

    • clean hands
    • a time card

    Duration

    1 week

    Assessment

    1. observation of students during teamwork and cookie factory
    2. photographs of teams and students performing cookie factory jobs
    3. performance of tasks and completion of product (team planning and factory operation)
    4. writing about the job they had and illustrating
    5. drawing conclusions about their work and reporting at employee meetings
    6. student-made surveys and graphs

    The photographs indicate the level of involvement the students had with their jobs.
    The survey informed us that the factory was a success.
    The completed research showed that the students could gather and compile information.
    The writing demonstrated how the team solved problems and that they understood their roles in the production process.

    Selected Examples:
  • Graphing Results
  • Team Self-Evaluation Questions

    • Procedure

    Introduce concepts and terms (factory, product, produce, employee, supervisor, survey, customer, production.)

    Students sign up for the team of their choice:

    Accounting

    • figure out cost of cookie, collect and count money

    Research

    • research prices of cookie dough, frosting, and sprinkles
    • find out how many cookies we would need (take orders with or without frosting)
    • graph results later

    Management

    • decide sequence in making cookies
    • define jobs needed and write job descriptions
    • collect feedback from workers
    • write a note to workers about how to change jobs (if they want to)
    • create a time card to use

    Design

    • design cookie cutter size and shape
    • decide on frosting, color, and sprinkles

    Customer Service

    • design a survey for customers
    • compile results

    Advertising

    • talk to classes about sale of cookies
    • decide on factory name
    • make advertising signs and write notes to classes
    • collect feedback in regards to advertising
    1. Meet in small groups to accomplish team goals. (Teacher facilitator)
    2. Meet as a whole group to brainstorm ingredients and utensils needed to make sugar cookies. (Teacher facilitator) For homework, research a sugar cookie recipe to find out what the ingredients are and compare it to the prepared dough we will be using.
    3. Sign up for jobs:
      • roller
      • cutter
      • mover
      • remover
      • froster
      • sprinkler
      • janitor
      • deliverer
      • (Teacher is baker)
    4. Factory opens and students do jobs (use time cards). Our factory opened three times. The first time, the cookies were given as free samples to all students K-2. The second time, the cookies were “sold”, after calculating the cost per cookie. Students in other classes “paid” in paper money that they had to “earn” in a manner decided within their own classroom. This money was counted later by the Accounting Team. The third time, the cookies were given to parents at our end of the year Celebration of Learning.
    5. Have an employee meeting(s) to evaluate the factory. (Use Robert’s Rules of Order). This may lead to smaller team meetings and eventual oral reports to group. (Teacher facilitator)
    6. Students write a description of their jobs.
    7. Possible extension activities: graphing (computer), design and have technology department make their own cookie cutter, visit a bakery in the community to compare, counting money, and letter writing, as needed.

    Reflection

    We work in a small primary building (K-2). Our project involved the whole student body and staff. The project was expanded further into the school community when the technology department constructed the students’ design for a new cookie shape. Finally, the project was carried outside the school into the local community when we visited a real bakery.

    Possible problems might develop if your school has any policies about giving away food or does not celebrate holidays, which two of our factory openings centered around. However, the project could be easily adapted to any activity that has a sequence. Some examples might include other foods, such as pizza, crafts, or growing plants to sell.

    Authors

    Valerie Jodoin and Billie VanCour
    West Chazy Elementary School
    Beekmantown Central School
    West Chazy, New York 12992

    Source

    Jodoin, Valerie and Billie VanCour. "Cookie Factory." Social Studies Resource Guide with the Core Curriculum. New York State Education Department, 165-168.


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