Lemonade Stand - Project Overview

In this project you will create your own business that sells a product.  You will be using Microsoft Excel, Google Docs, and Google Maps.

You will complete the following assignments for this project:

1. Creating a business - following your passion
2. Comparison study - who has sold this product before, and how will you do better?
3. Finding a market - where will your business be located?
4. Tracking income and expenses
5. Advertising
6. Presentation - going public

Grading your project:

• Each individual assignment will be graded on whether the directions are followed.  For most portions, this will involve the Sum key in Excel, so now would be a good idea to review your work with the Sum key in the "What's My Grade?" assignment.
• A portion of your project grade will be based on the outcome of the following:
1. Your classmates will be given a certain amount of money to spend
2. You will need to convince them in a presentation why your product is the best to buy
3. Your classmates will either choose your product or someone else's!
1. Note: if no one buys your product, the lowest you can get is a C on that portion of the project.

For reference, this is what my Business Plan looks like.

Lemonade Stand: Using Excel to Calculate Business Expenses

If you have not already, download my Business Plan to see what your formating should look like.

In your Business Plan Excel document, rename Sheet 3 to "Expenses"

• In column A, enter the following (the parenthesis tell you which cell to enter the text in):
• Employee #1 (cell # A2)
• Employee #2 (A3)
• Rent (A4)
• 10 [product you are selling] to stock (A5)
• Leave row 6 blank
• Total Expenses (A7)

• In row 1, enter the following headings:
• Hourly (B1)
• Weekly (B2)
• Monthly (B3)
• Yearly (B4)

• First expense: employees
• You will have two full time employees
• Check my Business Plan to see where you should enter the information.
• Find out what the minimum wage is in your selected location.
• I Googled "Boulder CO minimum wage"
• The first hit was a news article from 2010 that had the minimum wage ($7.24) in the title, but I wanted to confirm with a government source.
• The sixth hit was from colorado.gov, so I knew it was a government site that would probably have current information.
• I clicked on the link and confirmed that the current minimum wage in Boulder is $7.65.  It's a good thing I double checked the government website!
• Notice that I entered in the minimum wage in the Hourly column on the row labeled with my two employees.
• Use the Sum function to automatically calculate the weekly wage of an employee by multiplying the hourly wage by 40.  The average work week is 40 hours.  
• This is the formula you should use to multiply a cell by 40:
• =SUM(B2*40)
• Use the Sum function to automatically calculate the monthly and yearly salaries of your employees.

• Second expense: rent
• Determine how much space your product needs
• 100 sq. ft - Small (Beads, Comic Books) $500/month
• 1000 sq. ft - Medium (Blenders, Baseball Gloves) $5,000/month
• 5000 sq. ft - Large (Cars, Furniture) $25,000/month
• I think I will be able to fit enough bikes in to a medium space, so will enter my monthly rent as $5,000/month.
• Notice that I used the sum function key to automatically calculate the yearly amount.  This will be useful later if I need to move into a larger space.

• Third expense: products
• You can't open a store with zero products in it, can you?
• In Step 3 of the last post, we calculated the cost of our products.  The average price of a mountain bike in Boulder is $2,399.20, so the cost is half that at $1,199.60.
• Add the price and cost of your product to your expenses sheet.
• I put mine in cell D9 and D10.
• As a one time expense, let's buy 10 products to fill our shelves.
• Remember, it's best to use the Sum key to automatically calculate formulas in Excel.
• Use this formula to automatically calculate the cost of 10 products: 
• =SUM(D10*10)

• Total your expenses using the Sum key.  When selecting which cells to sum, be sure you have the correct cell selected!
• Explore my document to be sure yours looks like mine.

• Ask a neighbor to glance over your expenses, and ask if your Expenses sheet matches Mr. LaTorre's.

• Add your Total Yearly expenses to the Lemonade Stand Project Spreadsheet.

Advertising Your Product and Company - Lemonade Stand

Now that you have done the research of what you will sell, where you will sell it, and how much it will cost to operate, you will need to convince investors to give you money to start your company.

You will have two minutes to give a presentation to your classmates.  How you spend these two minutes is entirely up to you, but keep in mind that your classmates will be making a decision of what to do with their money based on how well you have planned out your business.  People don't like to invest in businesses that don't have a good plan!

Another portion of what will make a convincing presentation is if you already have an advertisement for your product.  Like I mentioned, there are no requirements for the two minute presentation, but I believe that having an advertisement for your product will help you attract investors.
I know what you are thinking: "But wait! How will I be graded on this assignment?"  Answer: I will not be grading the actual presentations.

How you will earn your grade:
Your classmates will be given a sum of money to invest in a limited number of companies.  Your grade will be based on whether you convince enough of your fellow students to invest in your company, and the investments you collect are more than your expenses.

Creating a Business

As you create your business plan, you can use my business plan for guidance.  Download my document and save it in your student drive for future reference.

Step 1

Start Your Business Plan

Open a Microsoft Excel document and save using the class saving guidelines. (File name: "YourNameBusinessPlan")

At the bottom of your document, you will see that there are already three sheets that have been created.  Rename Sheet 1 to Overview.

Come up with a product that you would like to sell.  When deciding on a product to sell, keep the following in mind:

• Is this a product you know something about, and/or would be willing to learn more about?
• Is this a product that you can feel passionate about?
• Is this a product that people would buy?

If your answer is yes to all of the above (and your product is school appropriate), you have found your product!  Enter in the following in your Business Plan Document on the Overview page: "Product: [your product]"

Navigate to the Lemonade Stand Project Spreadsheet and fill in your information.

Step 2

Find a Market

Now that you have found a product to sell, you will need to find the best location to sell your product.

• Come up with a place that you would like to sell your product (SE Portland? Beijing? San Francisco? North Dakota?)
• Navigate to maps.google.com
• Search for your place.  My place is Boulder, Colorado.  After searching for your place, the map screen will show a zoomed out picture of your chosen location.

View Larger Map

• You should now search nearby for vendors that sell products similar to yours. I clicked on "Search nearby", then entered in "Mountain Bike"
• I have found that there are about 10 vendors in Boulder that sell mountain bikes. Side note: this could mean one of two things: either there are too many mountain bike shops in Boulder (too much supply), or there are a lot of people who want to ride mountain bikes (high demand).
• Bonus point! (Not required) In your business plan overview sheet, defend why your product supplies the demand in your chosen location.

View Larger Map

Step 3

Market Research

You will need to do some research to find out how much to charge for your product.

• In your Business Plan Excel document, rename Sheet 2 to "Market Research"
• Accross the top row (Row 1) of your Market Research sheet, create the following headers, one per cell:
• Company
• Product
• Price
• Fill in the Market Research sheet by searching the shops you found in your area.
• My first shop I found is "Redstone Cyclery" in Boulder.
• I went to their website and found a mountain bike for sale, then entered the information in my Market Research:
• Under the Company column, I entered "Redstone Cyclery"
• Under the Product column, I entered "Tomac Primer 220 Mountain Bike"
• Under the Price column, I entered "$2,349.00"
• I repeated this process for as many companies in the area that I could.
• Once you have at least 5 companies and products recorded, find the average price of the products in your area by selecting all the prices in the price column, then clicking the Sum key drop down menu, and selecting "Average".
• The average price of a mountain bike in Boulder is $2,399.20.
• Let's assume that to purchase your product from a supplier, you will pay half of the price you will sell the product for.
• I used the Sum key again to automatically divide the average price in half =SUM(C8/2)  This will be useful later if I find that the price of bikes changes and I need my calculations to stay current.
• Now that you have divided the average price of your product in half, you have found out the cost of the product.

Step 4

If you have finished all of the steps above, it is time to use Excel to Calculate your Expenses

Lemonade Stand Class Spreadsheet Guidelines

Google Docs is a great place to compile information from a large group of people, say, three computer technology classes.

I have created a Google Document where you can enter your information about your Lemonade Stand Project so that others can see your work.  Before you enter your information, however, we should observe a few guidelines:

1. This document can be edited by anyone.  Please respect others' work.
2. Do not delete or edit others' work.

Here is the link to the Lemonade Stand Project Spreadsheet.

What's My Grade? Microsoft Excel Assignment

Microsoft Excel is a very powerful tool.  Like many powerful tools, it is also sometimes complicated.  While this is an individual assignment, you may need to work with your neighbors if you get stuck.  Asking a question in Google and using the Help menu are good, too!

-Open Microsoft Excel, and save your file using the class saving guidelines.

-As your header, add a title (What's My Grade?), name, and class.

-Across your first row, create some column headings: Assignment, Earned, Possible, Percentage


-Format your first row in Bold.

-Log in to EdLine, and record your assignment names in your first column under Assignment


-Enter in your earned credit for each assignment in the Earned column.

-Enter in the total possible points in the Possible column.

-Now format your Percentage column.

1. Right click on the letter above the column to highlight the entire column.
2. Select "Format"
3. Under the "Number" section, select "Percentage"
4. Click OK

-Now find the percentage earned for each assignment.

1. Select the top most cell in the percentage column that is in the same row as your top assignment.
2. Click the sum key.  The sum key is represented by the greek letter Sigma: 
3. Note that the automatic function of the sum key is to sum or add a string of numbers together.  It probably looks something like this: =SUM(B2:C2). Excel guesses which numbers you want to add and highlights those cells.  In this case Excel has probably chosen both the Earned and Possible points to add together.  Unfortunately adding the two numbers together will not give us meaningful information so we need to...
4. Edit the function.  We find the percentage of a number by dividing.  So you convert this sentence: "I earned 6 out of 10 points for First Assignment" to a function like so: 6/10.
5. But what if we resubmit the assignment for more credit?  We want to be able to enter in the new number in the correct box and have the percentage represent the new number.  So change the function in your selected box to =SUM(B2/C2), then press enter.
6. You should now see the percentage in the box you edited!
7. Okay, how about the other assignments percentages?  Do I have to redo the same process for every assignment? No, you don't!
8. Hover your mouse cursor over the lower right corner of the cell you just added the function to.
9. Your cursor should turn to a solid black cross.
10. If you drag the cross down and release, it will copy the function to every cell you highlight.

-Okay time for your totals.  Use the Sum function to total up your Earned, Possible, and Percentages columns with separate totals.

-Download my template to see what your file should look like.

-If your document looks like mine (including functions!),  you may save, then attach to a professional email to teacherlatorre@gmail.com No earlier than the last 10 minutes of class!.  If you finish the minimum requirements before the last ten minutes, add a sheet to your document and repeat the process for all of your classes.

Cyberbullying Project Reflection (Individual)

Your reflection should be written on a Word document then sent as an attachment to teacherlatorre@gmail.com.
Use the same format that your group used for the Proposal.
Please include:
-An appropriate file name
-Date
-To
-From
-What happened?
-Was this a success? Why or why not?
-Include a compliment to one of your group members for something they helped your group to accomplish.
-Finally, assign yourself, your group members, and your group over all a grade (A-D).  Defend and explain your decision.  It should look like this:

[example]:
Grade
Mr. LaTorre (me): A-
I worked hard but there was one day I was tired and did not help out as much.

Phillip Group guy: A+
Phillip did a ton of work, and even got some things done outside of class.

Gene Group guy: B-
Gene wanted to do another topic, and it took all day to get him to help.  Eventually he was really good at doing research and adding it to our project.

Group Grade: A
We worked well together even though we had some disagreements.  We learned a lot about cyberbullying, and were able to compile our facts into a presentation that made sence and was educational to others.

Cyber Bullying Presentation

Once you have completed the action portion of your project, you will need to create a Microsoft Powerpoint file to share your project with the class.

Steps:

1. Choose one group member to navigate to docs.google.com, and create a presentation document.
2. Add all group members to the document as editors.
3. Using the rather plain presentation below as your template, create a much more creative presentation to share with the class that will describe your project.
4. Download your Google presentation as a PowerPoint presentation, using the class saving guidelines.
5. Attach your file to a professional email from your Outlook account to teacherlatorre@gmail.com

Follow this example while creating your presentation:



Grading for this assignment:

• Students will be graded as a group, not individually for this portion of the project.
• I will be looking for the following components in determining your grade for the presentation:
• Title Page (group members listed?)
• Project Overview (how did your group decide what to do?)
• Action (Is it clear what your group has done?)
• Outcome (All questions answered?)
• Conclusion (lessons learned)
• Thank You/Questions page
• Works Cited (MLA format)
• Proper spelling and grammar
• Each of the above requirements is worth 5 points each, totalling 40 points for the presentation.

Elementary Presenters

If your group is hoping to present at an elementary school, please fill in your information in the spreadsheet here.

Cyberbullying Group Project Overview

In small groups (3 members), you will conduct a project to learn more about cyberbullying.  You may focus on causes, effects, history, culture, awareness, technology, or other aspects of cyberbullying.  The learning in this project will not be guided by the teacher - each group will need to be their own guide (I am available to help you when you need it, however).

Project goals:

• Collaborate using Google Documents and email.
• Discover more about cyber culture.

Project components:

• Proposal
• Action
• Presentation
• Works Cited
• Reflection

Grading:

• Each of the project components will be graded according to whether the group each individual follow instructions.
• Group members will assign each other collaboration grades
• Individuals will assign themselves an overall grade
• The teacher will assign an effort and participation grade

Cyberbullying Project: Action

This portion of the project may be interpreted freely.  The only way that this portion of the project is graded is whether it appears that the group spent the allotted time working on their project or not.

Some action portions of the Cyberbullying Project by past students:

• Create a presentation and leading a discussion in an elementary classroom.
• Make an informational video.
• Create informational posters to hang about the school.
• Create an informational model.
• Write an article to submit to a local paper.
• Write a research essay.
• Create a board game.

Cyberbullying Project Research Requirement

You will need to gather information from several sources to ensure that the information you use in your project is accurate and meaningful.

While gathering information for your project, you must use information using the following resources:

1) At least one article found using Gale Power Search

2) At least one article found using SIRS Knowledge Source OR Opposing Viewpoints

3) At least one news article found using Google News

4) At least one website that you trust as a reputable source

As you collect information, be sure you keep your sources in a works cited page.  Let me know which requirement you are fulfilling in your works cited page by including the resource where you found the article.  For example:

Works Cited

1. Acohido, Byron. "Hackers Invade iTunes Accounts." USA TODAY. 26 Aug 2010: B.1. SIRS Issues Researcher. Web. 07 May 2012. (Found using SIRS Knowledge Source)
2. Molina, Brett. "Study: More People Using Cellphones for Real-time Info." USA Today. Gannett, 07 May 2012. Web. 07 May 2012. <http://content.usatoday.com/communities/technologylive/post/2012/05/study-more-people-using-cell-phones-for-real-time-info/1>. (Found using Google News)

Cyberbullying Project Proposal

Be sure you have completed your group brainstorm document before starting your Project Proposal.

Project Proposal

1. One group member create a Google Document.
2. Title the document "Cyberbullying Project Proposal"
3. Designate all group members as editors using the "Share" button.

Write what your group plans to do with this project, addressing all of the following:

1. Is your proposal written in a Google Document, using clear formatting, correct spelling, punctuation, and a file name that is descriptive and appropriate?
2. What is the date that you are submitting the proposal?
3. Who is submitting the proposal?
4. Who is the intended audience of the proposal? (hint: Mr. LaTorre)
5. What action do you plan to take?
6. Where will your project take place?
7. Why will it be important to take this action?
8. How long will this project take?
9. What materials or help will you need?
10. Are each of the sections that answer these questions titled and clearly separated (where necessary)?

Proofread your document carefully.  Taking turns reading aloud is a good method of finding mistakes.

Once you are sure that your proposal is ready to submit, designate one group member to follow these instructions:

1. Click "File", then "Download as", then "Word"
2. Save the file using class saving procedures.
3. Draft a professional email in Microsoft Outlook.
4. Add all group members to the "Carbon Copy" (CC) section.
5. Add teacherlatorre@gmail.com to the "To" section.
6. Approach Mr. LaTorre to let him know your proposal has been submitted.

After the teacher approves your project, you may take action.

Class Discussion: Online Identity

Hyperlink to this blog from your blog

1) Create a new post on your blog.

2) Write the following message:

"This blog is a class project of a student at Lake Oswego Junior High School. Contact the class teacher at latorrem@loswego.k12.or.us with any concerns.  The assignment requirements for this project can be found here."

3) Highlight the word "here".

4) Click the word Link in your toolbar to open the hyperlink dialogue box.

5) Paste this web address in the "To what URL should this link go?" box:

http://lojtechnology.blogspot.com/2011/12/blog-assignment.html

6) Name your post and publish your post!

Online Identity Survey

Click here to take the updated survey.

Blog Assignment

1) Think of a topic that covers all of the following categories:
+ Something you care about
+ Something that others may like to find out more about
+ Something that is easy to research
+ Something that is not too specific
+ Something that is not too vague
+ Something that you would not mind writing about once per class meeting for the rest of the term
+ Of course, must be school appropriate

2) With parents/guardians:
-Discuss topic for approval
-Create blog using the Google account your parents created for this class on www.blogger.com
-If necessary, your parents may be required to verify your account by receiving a code by text or voicemail.*  If you are not prompted to enter a verification code, your account was not randomly selected to be screened!
-Discuss whether to write under your real name or pseudonym

3)  Navigate to Blogger.com to create your blog!

4)  In the "Blog Description" section, you must include the following:

"This blog is a class project of a student at Lake Oswego Junior High School. Contact the class teacher at latorrem@loswego.k12.or.us with any concerns"

You may also include any other information that may be helpful in describing what you plan to blog about for visitors to your blog.

*Note: if you have to verify your blog using a phone, you may start your blog in Microsoft Word, and copy your content to your blog after you have verified your account.

Individual Assignment: Your Personal Infomation

1) Create a draft message in Gmail, with a subject heading of "Online Identity Questions".

2) In a professional email to teacherlatorre@gmail.com, answer the following questions:

-How is your personal information useful to people who know you personally?

-How is your personal information useful to people you meet in person for the first time?

-How is your personal information useful to people you meet through the internet?

-How is your personal information useful to companies?

3) Proofread your email and send.

Should I Check My Email?

via the Rumpus

COPPA Assignment

You discussed COPPA (Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act) with your parents when you completed the Google account assignment last week.

Note that the Google account that your parents created for the assignment last week is theirs, and they are choosing to allow you to access that account.

Step 1:
-Open a Word document, and save using save procedures (YourNameCOPPA.doc)
-Create a Works Cited page in MLA format.

Step 2:
-Come up with at least two questions to answer about COPPA, and write them in your document.
-Add your title, name, and class to your paper in the header.

Step 3:
-Research COPPA using any resources you have, including the resources that Mrs. Doyle showed us.
-As you collect information about COPPA, add it to your research paper.  Be sure to add every source you use to your Works Cited page!

Step 4:
Once you have collected enough information to answer your two questions, write your answers in essay form at the top of your document.

Step 5:
Repeat steps 2 through 5 as many times as necessary.

Step 6:
-Proofread your document (Make sure it looks professional)
-Ask a classmate to proofread your document, and allow them to type their first and last name at the bottom of your document like this:

Proofread by: Their Name

Final Step (to be completed no earlier than the last ten minutes of class):
-Save your document (Ctrl + S)
-Attach your document to a professionally written email to teacherlatorre@gmail.com

Integrity in Your Research

Cite Your Sources: Why? by Mrs. Doyle Slide Show Here Can I Trust This Source? by Mrs. Doyle Slide Show Here Love Your Library Databases by Mrs. Doyle Slide Show Here Cite Your Sources! Go to www.easybib.com for an easy worksheet that will help you put your source in the correct format.

If easybib is not working out for you, go to http://cm.oslis.org/MLACitations/secondary/ for another option!

Open Thread: Post a Link to Your Blog Here!

Please add a comment to this post that contains the following:

1) Name, class (Bill, A3)
2) A short description of your blog (1-2 sentences)
3) A hyperlink to your blog.

Once you have posted your comment, test your link to be sure it leads to your blog.  Take some time to read your classmates' blogs, and leave some nice comments!

Cyberbullying Group Brainstorm

Be sure that you have read the Cyberbullying Project Overview before continuing.

You will need to start with a document that all group members can edit at the same time.

1. Start by navigating to docs.google.com, and sign in using the Google account your parents designated for you to use in this class.
2. Choose one person from your group that will create a new document.
3. Click on the title of your new document (currently "Untitled Document") to change the name to "Cyberbullying Brainstorm"
4. Use the share button to add every group member as editors on the document.  Enter their Gmail address to add them.
5. Every added group member should now see the document on their Google Docs homepage.  Make sure that every member is designated as an editor (you can check this by clicking the "share" button again).
6. Do not add the teacher to your share list.
7. Every person added to the share list as an editor can now edit the document in real time.

Great! Now that you've got a document that you can all work on simultaneously, gather some research and ideas.

Use the research tools that Ms. Doyle showed the class, as well as other research methods that you know to collect some data that you find relevant to your topic.

Once you have collected a good amount of data and ideas, you may start you Project Proposal.

1st Assignment!

1) Open a Microsoft Word document

2) Save using save procedures.  File name: "NameClassFirstAssignment"

3) Write a few sentences on any subject.

4) Attach your document to a professional email to teacherlatorre@gmail.com


You should receive an emal back confirming that I received an email.

Email Etiquette and Guidelines

Click here for a full screen version of this slideshow.



Remember! Every email you compose and send in this class must follow these guidelines, regardless of who the recipient is:

1. Subject line is short and descriptive
2. A greeting is included ("Dear Bob," "Hello", "To Whom it may concern" etc.)
3. The message is free of spelling and grammar errors, including ALL CAPS and txt spk.
4. A salutation is included ("Sincerely," "Thank you," etc.)
5. All emails sent outside of this room must be approved by the teacher.

Activity - Adding a bookmark to Firefox

1) Open Mozilla Firefox

2) Navigate to lojtechnology.blogspot.com

3) Open a new tab by pressing "Ctrl + T"

4) In the new tab, navigate to Mozilla's page on creating bookmarks.

5) Add lojtechnology.blogspot.com to your bookmarks

Computer Technology - Lesson 1

Click here to access this presentation in full screen.

Goals for Computer Technology Class

• Cyber Safety
• Managing online identity
• COPPA
• Safe web navigation
• Google search filters
• Viruses, trojans, malware
• Scams
• Cyber Citizenship
• Email etiquette
• Communication
• Leaving meaningful contributions, comments
• Taking others' feelings, culture, and perceptions into account when using the world wide web
• Microsoft Office
• Excel
• Create tables
• Use formulas to calculate totals, percentages, and averages
• Use charts and graphs to visualize work
• Word
• Customizing page layout
• Customizing formating
• Customizing tabs and indentations
• Powerpoint
• Creating effective presentations
• Customizing transitions
• Google Aps
• Collaboration with each other
• Documents
• Uploading documents from your computer
• Collaboration/Sharing/Publishing
• Creating a survey
• Creating a slideshow/presentation
• Maps
• Calculating distances
• Google Sites
• Create a multi-page website
• Collaborate with others in design
• Blogger
• Create a blog
• Research
• Compiling information
• Identifying credible sources
• Creating an MLA formated "Works Cited" page
• Professionalism
• Saving files
• Converting files
• Taking screen shots