Santa's Biz Kidz
Business Basics Workshop &
Holiday Flea Market
Are you looking to teach your children valuable business skills while also decluttering your home this holiday season?
Join Ms. Webb as she guides your kids through
organising, advertising, and operating a real flea market in downtown Saskatoon!
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Together we will investigate the psychology of letting go of childhood belongings and show how giving these items new homes can benefit others in need. They will also have opportunity to expand and be creative with their business ideas and over the 14 hours of instructional time, carefully structured and relevant homework assignments each team will develop their marketing and sales strategies, giving participants as much opportunity to get involved as they are willing to invest of themselves. ​
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In business today, values matter so students will be encourage to reflect upon their own and structure their plans to reflect those values. We will choose a charity to support with a portion of their earnings, while also saving some money for their own financial goals.
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All of this will culminate in a full day flea market downtown at The Banks on the corner of Avenue B and 19th street on Saturday, December 14th, right across the street from the Gather Local. The night before the flea market, we will host a special soft launch event where invited guests can get a chance to shop first with a catered reception and opportunity for teams to make a presentation and do a bit of networking.
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Don't miss this chance to teach your kids the importance of letting go and giving back this holiday season.​​
Program Logistics:
3 team sessions to choose from, repeating weekly for 5 weeks prior to market.​
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Team 1: Fridays 5-7pm: November 8, 15, 22, 29, December 6
Team 2: Sundays 1-3pm: November 10, 17, 24; December 1, & 8
Team 3: Sundays 4-6pm November 10, 17, 24; December 1, & 8
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For all participants in all teams:
Soft opening event Friday, December 13
4-6pm for set up and final preparation instructions
6-8pm Reception for friends and family
Flea Market Saturday, December 14, 9-3 pm; open to the public
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Wrap Up Sessions: These will be offered the following week, but since this is also the final week of school and schedules are still uncertain, sign up times will be available closer to the end of November for participants to choose and will be based upon parent availability surveys.
That's a total of 14 hours of instruction 8 hours of public interaction!
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Limited registration available - Teams limited to 12 participants
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Homework: Students should be prepared to spend about two hours each week for some homework. This will include going through their stuff, potentially canvassing for more stuff, working on marketing designs, doing a bit of reflective writing to develop core principles, and practicing their sales strategies and honing math skills. Keeping up with this work will ensure they are prepared and have a product ready to sell the day of the flea market - they will get as much out of the program as they put into it! Accommodations will be made to ensure that all students are able to complete the work and that students are able to achieve success through this program, not become burdened by more work than they are able to handle. Communication and flexibility from an experienced teacher that focused on teaching kids strategies for success, including time management and setting realistic expectations.​
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Additional drop in times for working on assignments and some bonus lessons will be announced throughout the program and scheduled by demand. This may include research excursions to other flea markets and extra classes to target skills that might come up throughout the program!
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Storage space also provided on site so once it's out of your house, only the stuff they decide they will keep will return home!
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Price
In order to make this program accessible to more students, we are offering a sliding scale. Please choose the option that works for your family:
Pay it forward fee : $500 per student
If your family can afford another game console and already has too many, please consider if you are able to afford to help a lower income student join this program by choosing this option.
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Standard Fee : $400 per student
This is the basic cost of the program and the best option for most families.
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Support fee : $300 per student
If you are struggling this holiday season, this is the option for you! If this is still a barrier and your child is very eager to join, please contact Ms. Webb to discuss options.
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**Fees include:
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14 hours of classroom instruction & workshop from a licensed Saskatchewan teacher!
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Weekly lessons designed to achieve multiple learning objectives - 4 weeks of preparation, flea market weekend events, and a reflection lesson at the end.
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Storage space between each week
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Two hour soft opening event & reception for friends and family.
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Six hour flea market stall they will work cooperatively with their team!
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A lot of fun and a lot of learning with a new group of friends!
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The chance to do something really unique!​
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Location:
The first 4 sessions will be at the WebbSprout classroom in Confederation Park. The final weekly session will be on location at The Banks on 19th street, across from the Saskatoon Farmer's Market Flea Market, as will the soft launch and our market on December 14th!
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How to register:
Open to students in grades 4 and up, younger students are welcome as part of a team with older students to help. We encourage students to join as a team, although once we are together as a cohort there will be opportunities for all students to collaborate and share tasks, even if they join alone.
If you wish to register a group, please indicate on the registration form the names of the other students they wish to work with.​
Instructions for payment can be found at the end of the registration form.
What students will learn:​
Essential Life Skills
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This program focuses on the 4C’s of education for our modern world, Collaboration, Communication, Creativity, & Critical Thinking
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Understanding our attachments to items and the difference between sentimental value and value to others based on a foundation of psychological research, how to decide?.
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Working collaboratively to have power of the direction of a project - students will be really helping creating & directing the project as active decision makers.
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How to assess values, set personal goals, and use those to guide motivation and focus.
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How charitable giving works and how to be a force for positive change in the world.
Math skills enhancement!
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Making change (all sales will be cash only so kids can practice)
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Setting prices
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Using spreadsheets
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Real life math calculations like percentages and measuring spaces
Business skills
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Strategies for building a brand and deciding what to sell
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Appreciating values in business
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Setting realistic financial goals
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Basic marketing psychology
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Practice making eye catching print posters or digital designs that may be used for the actual marketing campaign,
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How to display merchandise and talk to customers
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Potential to take on specialized roles within the business! There isn’t time for everyone to learn everything in this program, so we will combine our skills and focus on our assets to contribute to a community oriented event where we all support each other... although some friendly rivalry between the 3 cohorts will be encouraged to see what different strategies each group can develop and how each works. This will allow each student to engage in those things they are best at while working to enhance areas of weakness.
Benefits to parents:
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Kids will have motivation to clean their spaces and reduce clutter!
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An experienced educator to coach kids into understanding how to let go.
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Provide your kids with a unique opportunity to learn a lot of life lessons.
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Can find a way to downsize your stuff without posting each item to Marketplace or hosting a garage sale.
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Your kids will learn lots and have fun.
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An opportunity for you to shop and be proud of your child at the Soft Opening Event on December 13!
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Items to consider:
Used but good condition, gently loved and sanitary items only.
Things you have outgrown, don’t want anymore but another kid might! Also stuff that you think might make good things for kids to give as gifts to grown ups, but not a bunch of boring grown up stuff like a boring garage sale, so ask your parents if they’ve got any old gifts, looking for new homes that might be appropriate without hurting any feelings
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Books!!
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Puzzles & board games
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Electronics & gaming supplies
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Toys & collectibles
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Sports equipment
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Decorations & holiday themed stuff
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Accessories & clothing
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School & craft supplies (also stuff you made?)
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Baking, service, and performance based sales also possible if kids have an interest!
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Others? Sure, although this is a kid-focused, cash based market, so keep it in those limits
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Don’t have enough stuff? Ask around and see if any family or friends have things they no longer need and are willing to add to your inventory. We’ll discuss strategies for how to canvas their community to ask for donations or make a deal to work on commission!
Too much stuff? We'll happily accept donations for kids to sell and any leftover stuff will be donated to the cause of the students' choice or returned to original owner.