Red Barn lessons for Lakewood Ranch students

Nick Leduc’s fourth grade Braden River Elementary class has learned to haggle with the best of them.

“When I was a kid, my parents would take us to the Red Barn Flea Market and give us a list of items. We would have to run around and find all of the items,” said Leduc. “I do this with my class on a Saturday every year and all of the kids usually love it. They get to haggle for items.”

All of the students who participated Oct. 6 brought $5 to the Red Barn Flea Market, and Leduc split them into three groups of four, making their total spending money for each group $20.

The teams had to find items on a scavenger list, and some weren’t specific items. Leduc would ask the students to find something “small and red.”

“There’s nothing about this really rooted in the curriculum,” Leduc said. “I just want them to be creative and learn new skills.”

Some of the items on the list related to a book, “The Tale of Despereaux” the class had just read. The story is about a mouse who likes reading books and eventually goes on a quest to save a human princess. Leduc knew the students would be able to find Despereaux merchandise in the Red Barn.

“It was a lot easier than we thought it was going to be,” said fourth-grader Parley Hansen. “We had to haggle on the (Despereaux) masks that we wanted. We got them down to $2.”

Fourth-grader Molly Neary said the students were forced to communicate, even though that was difficult when everyone’s attention was being pulled in different directions.

Ginger Neary, Molly Neary’s mom, said it was a little funny but also frustrating watching the group of fourth-graders trying to make decisions as a group.

“They’re getting distracted by everything that’s going on,” Neary said. “They keep talking to the parents instead of to each other.”

Parents were brought to supervise. However, the parents were asked not to interfere.

At the end of the hour-long exercise, the students returned to Leduc to show what they had collected.

Fourth-grader Kennedy Zaller said she was proud she could make a key contribution to her team.

“I found a cat, which checked ‘spooky and sneaky’ off the list,” Zaller said. “It took us forever, but I thought of it.”

The students said they had fun even though they were pushed outside of their comfort zone.

“It was so fun,” said fourth-grader Jennifer Lopez. “I liked looking for stuff.”