The Lemonade War

Use these questions or activities to help gauge students’ familiarity with and spark their interest in the context of the work, giving them an entry point into the text itself.

Short Answer

In English, there is a popular expression about turning “lemons into lemonade.” It means that if you are given something that seems not to be worth very much—or that may even be bitter and unappealing—you can use your own hard work and creativity to turn it into something more appealing or valuable. Can you give an example of a time when you or someone else turned “lemons into lemonade”?

Teaching Suggestion and Helpful Links: Ask students to share what is important about the ability to “turn lemons into lemonade” in the scenarios they generate. Why do we prize people who can do this? Guide them toward an understanding of this as an important life skill before talking about the more specific case of how adding value applies to business practices.

• some inspirational examples of turning lemons into lemonade from Goodnet
• an Investopedia entry that explains the concept of value-added in economics

Short Activity

In the story you are about to read, children compete to see who can sell the most lemonade. Break into small groups. What if you and your group were trying to sell more lemonade than the other groups in this classroom? Work together to create a script for a 30-second television advertisement that will convince customers your lemonade is the best. You will present this advertising skit live to the rest of the class, so be sure not to write more parts than you have group members, and keep any props and settings simple and easy to create here in the classroom.

Teaching Suggestion and Helpful Links: Talk about how persuasive the different advertisements are, and why. Guide students to see how advertising affects a business’s reputation and is related to best business practices. If competition is motivating to your students, you can ask groups to vote for the best advertisement.

• This video by 6th grade teacher Argie Duncan explains advertising strategies to students.
• Adam Hayes defines “best practices” in this article from Investopedia.