Have you ever wanted to play the stock market - just to seek if you could? Without any repercussions? The students in the Personal Finance class are getting that opportunity. Through a on-line program called SmartStocks.com, they students are allowed to buy stocks with 1 million dollars that has been left to them by their beloved "great-aunt".  
 
The SmartStocks program gives the students an opportunity to research and purchase stocks. Because they do not actually purchase the stocks, it is a safe environment where they can see how the stock market works and how they could manage their money if they were stock brokers. 
 
For the 4th quarter the students will be working on a simulation that will incorporate everything they have learned in this course. This will count as their 4th quarter grade.  
 
At the end of the year, they will be taking a test that was developed by WISE (Working In Support of Education), through the New York Financial Literacy Coalition. If the students score high on this test, they will receive a Financial Literacy Certificate and Andes Central School will have the opportunity to become a Blue Star School. 

Posted by: Katherine Whittaker

The Advanced Accounting students have been learning more about the financial activities of corporations. They have been able to record purchases and payments, sales and receipts and have calculated and recorded payroll by departments.  
 
As part of the financial reporting for a corporation, they have realized that each department is reported separately, as well as the corporation as a whole. This has been further emphasized as they learned how to plan and validate the inventory for each department and the corporation as a whole. We are now moving into accounting for noncollectable accounts and the various methods of depreciation. It is my hope that we will be able to complete Corporate Accounting (Unit 4) before the end of the year. 

Posted by: Katherine Whittaker

The Accounting I students have been moving right along in the book. We have begun a new accounting cycle, working with a merchandising business formed as a partnership. The students have learned how to account for merchandise purchased for re-sale, and they will begin working on payroll and payroll taxes for a partnership. Soon they will be working on an accounting simulation in class, learning how to use the computer to journalize and manage financial information.  

Posted by: Katherine Whittaker

The Senior Class research papers should be completed as of March 28, 2008. The students have been working hard on getting their papers done and formatted correctly. Now the fun part of the Senior Project begins.  
 
On their own time, the students are to be working on the projects they chose. They are to be working with their mentors and getting their projects ready to present to the judges in June.  
 
In class the students will be working on resumes, letters to the judges and oral presentations and their presentation techniques. During the practice oral presentations, the students will be videotaped and then will be able to watch themselves as they present. As a class we will critic the videos of every student, using constructive criticism. This will give all of the students an opportunity to view each others video and pick out techniques that work the best. 

Posted by: Katherine Whittaker

The Computer Applications students have completed the Excel portion of learning Microsoft Office. They have had the opportunity to create payroll schedules for employees who are paid both monthly with an annual salary and bi-weekly on an hourly basis. They have also created a budget worksheet for 4 departments and have linked the worksheets to create an end-of-fiscal period worksheet. They have taken this worksheet and created a graphic chart in Excel and have exported that chart into an unbound report. They then created a second page where they have included information from the worksheet. 
 
On April 25th, I am planning on taking the students to a competition at The Utica School of Commerce-The Business College, in Utica, NY. Eight students will be competing in various areas of business excellence. I am looking forward to seeing our students compete for the first time in many years. They have the opportunity to win scholarships, awards and honorariums.  
 
The next step for the students in this class is to learn how to create correct PowerPoint presentations. They will then format a presentation for the "business" they are working for in the simulation.  
 
After we finish the PowerPoint section of the course, the students will be working on the Career Unit. They will be searching on-line and in newspapers for jobs they can do as teenagers, create a resume and write a letter of application for this job. After this has been completed, I will send all of the job descriptions, letters and resumes to members from the community who have agreed to be on an interview panel. The students will be working in class on interview techniques and correct business dress. As their final grade for this section, the students will be interviewing with the panel in May. 
 
If there is time, I will be also working with students teaching them the basics of web page design and html. 
 
The last quarter of this year is going to be an exciting one for the students. 

Posted by: Katherine Whittaker

Hey everyone, take a minute to log onto Andes Central School Radio Station, WACS and listen to the students as they create their own radio programs. So far there are programs from the 2006 - 07 school year and some from the 2007 - 08 school year. Take a minute to listen. 
 
The students have finished their talk shows and they have been uploaded. In the 3rd quarter (February/March) they worked on theme programs where they picked out a specific theme and will be giving tidbits of information on the songs they play. Soon the class will be working with Open Eye Theater to create storytelling on the air. This will be similar to the programs that were listened to on "The Old Tyme Radio" programs. Students will have the opportunity to write their own material and produce it on the air. It will be exciting to hear what they come up with for their "Storytelling Theater". 
 

Posted by: Katherine Whittaker

Business Education Teacher 
Andes Central School 
PO Box 248 
Andes, NY 13731 
Phone #: (845) 676-3166 Ext 29 
email: kwhittaker@andescentralschool.org 

Posted by: Katherine Whittaker

Accounting I 
Advanced Accounting 
Senior Project 
Computer Applications 
Personal Finance 
Media Communications 

Posted by: Katherine Whittaker