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Vanderstar Village teaches community economics and entrepreneurship

Children in the foreground are preparing food at a table, while adults stand behind them in a classroom setting.

Community Economics Story
Students in Taylyn Vanderstar’s class at Sanfordville Elementary have spent the past month exploring what it’s like to run a business, as part of their ongoing economics lessons. The project culminated in “Vanderstar Village,” when their classroom was transformed into a “downtown” of unique, student-run storefronts, each offering a different product… from jewelry to pizza!

Throughout the unit, students learned the ins and outs of business ownership, earning classroom cash, using it to pay rent, taxes, and even fines! In balancing all these factors, they also gained very important knowledge and skills about spending and saving.

Children and adults gather around a table with food and supplies in the foreground, while a classroom setting with shelves and equipment is visible in the background.

The small businesses one can find on a trip through downtown Vanderstar Village include the bracelet shop and pizza place, as well as a smoothie stand and a café. Using recycled materials and craft/construction supplies, the entrepreneurs even built their own storefronts by hand, including eye-catching marketing and merchandising signage.

Children in the foreground stand at a cardboard smoothie stand, while a classroom with colorful posters is visible in the background.

They developed their product lines, bought their inventory, set their prices, and eventually invited other classes—not to mention their Principal and Associate Principal—to come by and shop! Everyone’s excitement created such a lively, interactive retail environment that it was easy not to notice the key lessons the students were being taught in the moment, specifically how to make change, preparing and expediting goods, and the communication skills it takes to provide quality customer service.

“The students got to explore things like supply and demand, they practiced making sales, and they also got to see firsthand how competition affects profit,” Ms. Vanderstar said. “This has been a hands-on project that was a fun and memorable way to deepen their understanding of community economics and entrepreneurship, and I am so proud of what they’ve learned and accomplished, and how they represented our classroom to our shoppers.”

Children in the foreground play at a cardboard cafe, while adults and other children are visible in the blurred background.

Retail day in Vanderstar Village was a success by all accounts, and the event, along with all the learning leading up to it, helped students become informed and inventive problem-solvers, strong collaborators, clear communicators, and community-minded in their overall understanding and approach.

A teacher in a red shirt guides young students gathered around a table covered with a blue tablecloth displaying small colorful objects, with a colorful rug on the floor and a classroom environment in the background.