Junior Achievement (JA) BizTown – 5th Grade

The Junior Achievement of Wisconsin's BizTown program combines classroom lessons with a daylong visit to an interactive, simulated town with a City Hall, restaurant, newspaper, radio station, banks, retail stores, utility companies and other businesses.

The classroom lessons introduce topics that include entrepreneurship; goods and services; producers and consumers; supply and demand; opportunity costs; taxes; spending and saving; banking concepts; writing a resume; applying for jobs and creating a business plan. The curriculum provides students a foundation for their understanding of financial literacy at a time when many students are transitioning from asking a parent to purchase things to having some personal financial responsibility.

Students apply, interview and are hired for jobs to perform at BizTown. During the daylong visit, students serve as workers, producers and consumers, run businesses, bank, earn paychecks, serve as mayor, vote and much more. The interactive exercise bridges understanding between what they learned in the classroom and their participation in the local economy.