Tricks of the Trade is an integrated inquiry unit encompassing HASS, English, Digital Technologies and Mathematics for Year 5 and Year 6 students in a composite class. Throughout the duration of this unit, students will engage in learning of business operations, decision-making and finance and budgeting. To provide students with a real life experience, each student will work either independently or in a group to create a market stall to sell a product or service to the school community.
Students will participate in lessons using Excel spreadsheets to build their knowledge of the various functions and formulas that can be used, as this has been identified as a need in previous terms. They will also undertake lessons where budgeting skills are taught to ensure they have access to the skills required to successfully complete their market stall.
This is an 8 week unit split into two sections (weeks 1-5 and weeks 6-8) but can be adjusted as required as the term progresses. Following the Market Day, students will need to calculate their profit from their income and expenses and complete a reflection. After all profits have been calculated, the class will determine what the money should be spent on (e.g. class party, excursion, fun day, etc.). As a class, students will break into small teams or committees to plan the experience and transfer the skills learnt throughout the market stall process (budgeting, decision-making, planning, time management, working as a team).
This is a unit that is taught across all 5/6 classes and the same assessment is used to ensure consistency. Each classroom teacher develops their own lesson sequence to suit the needs of their class.
Inquiry Learning Journey 