CRUNCHING THE NUMBERS: PRODUCTION SCHEDULES, FINANCIAL PLANS KEEP KIDS BUSY

With products sporting such creative names as Castle Crunch, Fireballs and Rainbow Krispies, local fifth-graders are gaining skills that will help them run summer lemonade stands or future enterprises.

This week, three Alma Schrader Elementary School fifth-grade classes will prepare snack foods daily and take them to the school cafeteria to sell during lunch periods. Advertising teams in each class prepare commercials to pitch their wares over the school intercom system, hoping to win new customers and convert customers loyal to their competitors.

"We're team teaching to make sure they understand the economics of it and to teach healthy competition," said teacher Mary Ann Stamp, who, along with teachers Roselyn Conrad and Sherry Spencer, guides the students in running the businesses. "They need to learn firsthand that when you sell a pencil for 10 cents, you don't get to keep the whole 10 cents."

Learning the business

For the past month, the students have developed production schedules and financial plans to help them understand the economic principles used to run a business. Each class elected a board of directors to pick a snack food that would be strong seller and to secure financial backing -- a $50 start-up loan -- from school principal Frank Ellis.

The loans are to be repaid with accrued interest before the end of the school year. Remaining proceeds will be used to finance a field trip to the St. Louis Zoo this spring.

"They're learning the principles of what goes into pricing a product and how to watch where every penny of the money they earn goes," said Stamp.

David Berry, 11, is the treasurer of the Castle Crunch board of directors. Although he admitted to being "pretty good at counting money," Berry said he does not plan to operate a business when he grows up because of the stress of watching the bottom line.

"People can steal the money, for example, or pieces of the product," he said as he watched a production crew work Wednesday morning. "I thought it'd be a really good job for me, but I'm not interested in it for later."

Looking to the future

Katie Bowles, the 11-year-old who chairs the Castle Crunch board, said the economics project has sparked her interest in business as a career, but she's unsure what she would want to sell.

Bowles said the key to a successful business is having a good product and keeping costs low, but it's also important to have a good advertising and sales team.

"I ask what they're doing every once in a while, but they keep coming up with new commercials and things to get people's attention," she said. "You just have to taste it. It really is good.".