Fun story!

Today the Webb children came over and I thought I'd have a mini trading day today. I had them earn pebbles today for participating in fun activities, picking up trash lol, sharing, etc. I then set up a small snack shop with junk food for them to use their pebble's.

Ive never seen such cooperative children. They were so willing to work and were scrambling around looking for more trash to pick up lol. The kids had a blast.

Would love to hear all of your fun stories this summer!

BTW: I do not normally give out pebbles. I am using a point system and will cash them out the day of, which they could trade in for currency they could use during summer trading day.

oxoxo

Pokemon Cards

Asa bought this stack of Pokemon cards for $1000 rocks. He actually paid for these before actual trading day ... he was working his negotiation skills lol. I was happy he didn't use REAL money! Pokemon cards or any type of cards is something I hate to spend real money on because his younger brother's and cousins get into them and ruin them.

Summer Trading Day updates (hope this helps)

Trading Day will be on Monday August 1st at 6pm at the grassy area near your home. Everyone bring a picnic style dinner.



We will have a currency exchange so all the kids have the same type of "money" to use.



Bring tables,blanket,signs... any items for your kids to set up their shop. They can bring items from home, treats and goodies, anything you want to get rid of.



Please put prices on your items. The dollar tree has the little garage sale sticker tags.



Earning "money"- Your "money" can be 3 different colored beans, colored popsicle sticks..decorative pebbles, buttons etc.

You can use any type of "money" to pay out to your kids during the summer. We use rocks in amounts of 1,10,100..then everything should be added up before trading day. You come to the currency exchange and let us know the amount each child deserves to be "paid" out.



Here are some ideas we came up with and reasonable amounts for them. You come up with your own. Everyone has different things they are trying to encourage in their own home.



1's

saying polite words

being kind to someone

taking plate to the sink

washing hands for meals



You will notice that 1's and 5's will be given out often throughout your day to encourage lots of good behavior.



10's

finish a book

work on math or word flashcards

do math worksheet

caught being good

doing something the first time after being asked

making a bed

doing something around the house without being asked

being ready to leave the house on time



100's

Caught doing something REALLY good

Kind deed

mowing the lawn

after reading a set number of books

attained a big goal you set with him/her

cleaning a large room in the house

Reading scriptures and praying on own for a week

Information meeting

Hi Everyone,

In case you haven't heard we are having a kick off / information meeting for our Summer trading day on Tuesday June 14…Northfront Park (Alamaden Way in Springtown, TakeNorthfront to Herman Ave, to Rubicon Way, Left at Alamaden Way )

This is the same park and time the mommy play group will meet ...

Everyone is welcome ...

hope to see you there!

Pebbles

Hi Everyone,

these are the pebbles I found at a yardsale for $1.00. The picture with the jar is something I found at Target but seems a bit pricey. I also heard you can get them from Dollar Tree or maybe check freecycle. OR you could just use rocks.

I also am thinking that I will hang on to the pebbles for Ammon and Aaron because they would probably eat em or lose em lol ...

this is not meant to be a lot of work in keeping track and records, cause I am so not good at that. I will probably do my best to keep track maybe a tally mark of some sort that the kids could see... and just pay off the kids on trading day.

I really like Kathie's idea of some sort of treat after earning 10 or so pebbles.

post a comment and dont forget to click follow ...

Pictures from Mrs. Pedersen's Ohlone Trading Day May 2011

Hope the parents of these children don't mind me posting pictures of their kids lol cause I did not ask permission.

What is Ohlone Trading Day?

We got this idea from Asa and Lauren's 3rd grade teacher Mrs. Pedersen.

Throughout the year, the students would earn rocks or little pebbles for diffferent things, such as: good behavior, doing well on 3 minute tests, etc. By the end of the school year each student would have earned a substantial amount of "rocks/pebbles."

At the end of the year which was a few weeks ago the students had what they called "Ohlone Trading Day." Each student brought fun items from home that they wanted to sell/trade for their rocks/pebbles.

I was able to attend this event and it was such a fun and creative idea! I love Mrs. Pedersen, she has such wonderful ideas to involve the kids and to get them to love to learn.

On trading day some students went all out and brought tables, chairs, snack bar which included candy, fruits, junk food, drinks, homemade baked goods, all kinds of toys ... some of them even made posters advertising what they were selling. While I was there I could hear some of these cute little 3rd graders yelling "get your strawberries here," " come buy your mom a mother's day gift here." The students were so into this activity. Many of them bought items for their parents and younger siblings. They learned so much on that day, running their own little stores, bargaining, keeping track of their pebbles/rocks and making sure to give back exact change.They are such business people.

I was so proud of Asa when he said he wanted to save all of his pebbles. LOL! I told him that in this case it would be a good idea to spend most of it, since no other stores accept pebbles or rocks.

Dena and I thought this was such a great idea that we wanted to incorporate this with friends and family for this summer! All is welcome to join! All you need is to get some of those clear pebbles, I'll post a picture. Mrs. Pedersen had 3 different amounts:

$1.00
$10.00
$100.00

The pebbles are fairly cheap. I found a few bags at a yard sale. You can determine which one's are worth what. Mrs. Pedersen had clear pebbles worth $1.00, colord pebbles worth $10.00 and bigger size pebbles were worth $100.00. I think it would be easiest if each household determines the amount for their pebbles ... we'll probably have to label them some how so there's no confusion during "Trading Day."

This summer the kids could earn their pebbles. I am planning on giving pebbles for even a simple task such as saying please and thank you. Some of those kids had up to $1000.00 plus pebbles. I don't know if we have enough time that much but I was just giving you an idea.

I was thinking of a few rules and you are welcome to give your ideas. I came up with this rule because I had to stop myself from doing this when I went to visit Trading Day.

1) very little to no help from parents lol

when I went to visit the kids were doing such a great job ... I went to check out Asa's little blanket of items and I immediately took over ... he even had several customers lined up and I started to take over that too! he even let me and wanted me to ... but I had to remind myself that this was Asa's "thing" his opportunity to learn and not depend on mom. So, that's rule #1 let the kids do all the work and us mom's will sit back and not interfere.

2) location. I think it needs to be somewhere where the kids are not distracted with playground sets or other fun toys. I think that would take away from the Trading. Mrs. Pedersen had the kids in her "Indian Village most of the day. The kids took a break for lunch. I was thinking 2 hours would be good enough time.

Those are the only rules I have so far. Please post a comment if you'd like to add.

post a comment if your in. This blog would be so much fun if we would post little stories throughout our day! Please post and get your pebbles. You could get them from Dollar Tree.

I will post pictures of Mrs. Pedersen's Ohlone Trading Day ...

Thank You,

Tui