Martin Cabrera announces his sponsorship of a new Statewide award at the January 19 SMG Awards Reception at the CBOE.

The Stock Market Game™new award, programs

New Statewide Award

The Stock Market Game program, sponsored in Illinois by ICEE, announces a new award for top student teams! Through the generous funding of Martin Cabrera, Cabrera Capital Markets, Inc., two top teams in the state will be rewarded with trips!

At the conclusion of the spring 2007 session, the top high school team in the state will be awarded a three-day trip to New York City! The top grades 4-8 team in the state will be awarded a two-day trip to Chicago!

Teams will visit their city's financial district, enjoy a special group dinner, and visit sites special to that city.

These top awards will be based solely on the equity in portfolio on the final day of the session. Teams must adhere to all SMG and portfolio rules. Teachers participating during the Spring session will receive full details on these Statewide awards. For information, contact Marty Paul at mpaul@niu.edu or go to The Stock Market Game web page on the ICEE web.

New Programs

New SMG pull-out programs have developed this school year. The Illinois Capitol Challenge, (see the newsletter's lead article) linked participating teachers and students with their school's legislator. Awards include a trip to Springfield, receptions, gift cards and certificates. The program resulted in increased visibility for ICEE programs, the school and the teacher - and helped link the school more closely with their legislator.

"Take Stock in Chicago" (TSIC) was piloted at Beasley School in Chicago this past fall as part of a special initiative funded by Citigroup Foundation. TSIC  is a curriculum for grades 4-5 that helps students learn about the stock market through learning about local businesses that make up the state or city economy.  Students participate in the regular SMG simulation, but are limited to selecting stocks from a list of firms that are based in or strongly represented in the Chicago area.  A similar curriculum, “Invest in Illinois“ connects to firms based in or strongly represented in the state of Illinois.  These specialized curriculum packages fit into the social studies requirements of Grades 4-5, in which students study state and regional history.

The “Take Stock in Chicago” initiative at Beasley School included training for teachers from grades 4-8, provided curriculum materials for all grades, and funded the team fees for participating classes.  The pilot has been extended to include the current spring semester.

The DeKalb County Challenge (DCC) provides teacher training and team fees for schools in DeKalb County for the Spring 2007 SMG program, with participating teams competing in a special competition.  Participating teachers can also register to compete against each other with their own teacher portfolios. Sponsors of the spring session are Castle Bank, DeKalb and Edward Jones Investments, Sycamore. This is a pilot program for localized marketing of the SMG and other ICEE programs.

The DCC pull-out program will provide awards and a reception in May.

The Fall 2006 National InvestWrite essay competition resulted in four national winners from Illinois. In addition, one State Winner was selected in each of three grade-level competitions. See the SMG Awards page for a complete list of these students. Awards receptions or assemblies are being held during the month of February to recognize these winning students and their teachers. One student-teacher pair will each be receiving laptop computers as part of their award!

InvestWrite is the language arts component of the SMG program, and is available only to teachers who are currently registered with student teams. Essays for the current session must be submitted no later than April 13. For information on InvestWrite, go to www.investwrite.org.