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Our Products

One of our key tasks as Problem Solvers is to explore a problem or need and find creative solutions. We do this on a small scale with smaller problems. We do this on a larger scale as a group creating motivational treats called "Teacher's Theme Treats." All of this is in preparation for individual product creation.

Product Project Overview

Goal: Demonstrate learning of 7th grade math topics in a real world application.

Task: Create a product related to a career of personal interest.

Sub-tasks:

1. Research 2 or more careers.
2. Create a product related to one or more of the careers.
3. Create a logo, enlarge it, and create a "Graphiti" version.
4. Create an ad to be placed in a magazine.
5. Create the packaging for the product.
6. Write a business plan.
7. Present all of these in class during week of June 1st.

IMPORTANT INFORMATION:

• This project was designed to allow you to express your creativity, explore career options, and see the math in areas you are passionate about. This should be fun!
• This project is required of all students.
• This project allows you to show what you've learned (a test without the stress).
• This is a SIGNIFICANT part of your final grade.
• You will have several computer-lab days and in-class days to work on this project, but the majority of the work will need to be done outside of class.
• Deadlines have been provided for parts of the project to help you with organizational skills.
• These deadlines also ensure that you have learned the concepts to the depth expected.
• Two tasks (proposal and final specifications) require a parent signature to ensure that communication and expectations are clear.
• There will not be extra credit options in this project. But, "extreme wow factor" adds up.
• Challenge/Honors students will be expected to produce work demonstrating depth of understanding of each of the concepts covered, especially in the "connection between the product/game and the career" in the report and the "reflection on what was learned."

Completed project due date:
Friday, May29th, 2009

ABSOLUTELY NO LATE WORK WILL BE ACCEPTED!

This project has 12 essential parts.

Item	Mathematical topic/life skill
Research related to career	Graphing
Profit and loss statement	Algebraic equations, decimals
Logo & enlargement	Scale factor
Advertising	Proportional reasoning
PROPOSAL must include: description of "company" description of product/game materials to be used dimensions of product/game explanation about how #1 and #2 relate to the career(s) parent signature	Various topics include: Planning, measurement, fractions, decimals, statistics, & graphing.
"Graphiti" of logo	Integers and coordinate graphing
FINAL SPECIFICATIONS: description of "company" description of product/game materials to be used dimensions of product/game explanation about how #1 and #2 relate to the career(s) parent signature	Various topics include: Planning, measurement, fractions, decimals, statistics, & graphing.
Packaging	3-dimensional geometry
Research related to career	Probability
Report Cover and/or package design	Transformational Geometry
Reflection on what was learned	Meta-cognitive learning
The product	Creativity
Presentation	Speaking skills, organization skills.

 

 

Product 1 – Teacher's Theme Treats

 Introduction

Teacher's Theme Treats is a young company; I started it in June of 2007. As a teacher, I realized the distractibility of my students in June. I too began to daydream about the joys of summer. Desperate for some encouragement, I looked through catalogs of toys and things. I saw candies with designs to celebrate specific holidays. Here is where I was able to combine two of my great loves: teaching and candy!

I am the sole owner, candy maker, accountant, public relations person, salesperson, and the shipping department. Since candy has a very long shelf life, I make the candies over the summer. I advertise only on the Internet to keep my business small and to target my specific market: teachers. With my online service, I can take orders and payment and I ship my candies on weekends. (I couldn't let my business interfere with my teaching!)

My favorite is the Theme Taffy. This is a cylindrical shape 1 inch in diameter and 1 inch tall. The designs vary from American Flags for U.S. History teachers to Pi symbols for Math teachers. I have three sized packages: 25 for elementary teachers, 150 for middle and high school teachers and 300 for college professors. The number of candies reflects the number of students in each teacher's roster.

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