How the Second Grade Got $8,205.50 To Visit the Statue of Liberty,
        by Nathan Zimelman
Harcourt Brace and Company
32 pages
ISBN 0-15-309680-2

Summary: The second grade class makes several attempts to earn enough money to visit the Statue of Liberty. The report includes the expenses, income, and profit of each business venture.

Concept: Profit

Definition: Profit is the difference between the money people make when they produce and sell a good or service and all their costs of production.

Comprehension Questions:

What sales revenues were earned from the paper drive? ($30 paid by Mr. Abner Carmody, recycler of everything) What were the expenses? ($2 paid to five younger brothers and sisters to borrow their wagons; $10 to Mr. Abner Carmody, recycler, to get back Johnny Paine's father's comic book collection; $5 for a parking ticket) What was the profit? ($13)

Describe each attempt the children made to make a good profit.

• (lemonade stand: expenses - none, everything was donated; profit - none, due to a catastrophe which caused the lemonade to have to be poured out before opening the business; income - $10 donated by Mr. Norbert Norvill)
• (baby-sitting and dog- walking: expenses and profit - no; nobody trusts a second grader to baby-sit; all the dogs walk each other)
• (candy sales: expenses - no charge for 3 lbs. of chocolate fudge, $1 for one box of aluminum foil but this was refunded when not needed; income - $7.50; profit - $7.50)
• (car wash: expenses - $25, no charge for 3 boxes of detergent received in trade, $5 paid to Mr. William W. Williams for the use of the empty service island, $20 for sponges, towels, and buckets; income - $8,200 received in reward money from the bank; profit - $8,175)

Explain how the children determined their profit. (income - expenses = profit)

Identify the most profitable activity. (the car wash-what started out as a disaster when Mr. Hope's car went through the bank windows resulted in bank robbers being caught. The reward from the bank helped the car wash to be a very profitable activity. Note: Some students may say the most profitable activity was when the parents got together and collected enough money for the trip since it would take forever to get the reward money. This was not an activity performed by the students.)

Other Concepts: Income, Expenses, Production

(From KidsEcon Posters©: www.kidseconposters.com)