By SARA BERGQUIST

sbe007@latech.edu

 

A.E. Phillips Laboratory School second grade students caravanned Oct. 12 to Tech Farm Sales and received hands-on experience in using currency.

“The idea was to give the students a real-life experience in buying things,” Natalie Williams, a second grade teacher at A.E. Phillips, said.

“We also wanted to make the trip meaningful, so we decided that we would buy plants for the senior citizens in the community.”

The plants for purchase were pansies, and the students purchased 36 of them. 

“We bought pansies because they do really well in the winter time,” Williams said.

Altogether, 26 students brought with them Ziploc bags filled with change and contributed collectively to the sale price of plants, Williams said.

“Students wrote down all transferring money; how much they had started with, how much the item cost and how much money they had left over,” Williams said.

Krystal Thompson, a sophomore early education major, went on the field trip with Williams’ class as part of her observation hours for her education curriculum.

She agreed that the trip was a success.

“The kids learned a lot,” Thompson said.

“They really learned how to put money into perspective.”

Students also learned at Tech Farm Sales that some tropical plants will not make it though the winter.

Williams said A.E. Phillips students were told the greenhouse at Tech Farm lacks the resources to provide enough heat for these tropical plants.

“The students were sad, and wished that they had enough money to purchase all the tropical plants, so they would not be lost in the winter,” Williams said.

Students will take another field trip Oct. 28 to a local nursing home to deliver the plants that were purchased, Williams said.   

“After purchasing plants, students were able to buy ice cream,” Williams said.

“The kids really enjoyed this experience. Some were running up to me showing me how much money they had left over.”

Maxine Holtzclaw, store manager for Tech Farm Sales, said A.E. Phillips students usually take a trip to Tech Farm every year.

“The children were a really good behaved group of people,” Holtzclaw said.

Any extra money that students had left over in their Ziploc bags will be used to purchase nine volt batteries for the battery drive A.E. Phillips is currently running.