Unit Title: Economics

Class: P3/2nd Grade

Author: Sandy Henderson, Sharon Pinkel, Ruth Roberts, Janie Strunk and Karla Vanhooser

School: Pulaski Elementary

Approximate Timeline: 5 weeks

School Level: Elementary School

Area(s) of Core Content: Social Studies, Arts and Humanities, and Practical Living

Targeted Standards:

1.5 – 1.9 Students use mathematical ideas and procedures to communicate, reason, and solve problems.

1.11    Students write using appropriate forms, conventions, and styles to communicate ideas and information to different audiences for different purposes.

2.18    Students understand economic principles and are able to make economic decisions that have consequences in daily living.

2.30    Students evaluate consumer products and services and make effective consumer decisions.

5. Students shall develop their abilities to think and solve problems in school situations and in a variety of situations they will encounter in life.

5.2 Students use creative thinking skills to develop or invent, novel, constructive ideas or products.

Essential Questions:

1. What is a consumer and at what cost do they obtain wants and needs? (SS-E-3.1.2)

2. How do buyer and sellers work in the free enterprise system? (SS-E-3.3.1)

3. How do producers and consumers exchange goods and services? (SS-E-3.4.1)

4. What is profit? (SS-E-3.2.4)

Culminating Performance:

Students will invent an item to sell at Winter Bizarre.

Critical Resources:

Necessary materials are listed in each lesson plan.

Instructional/Assessment Activities:

Essential Question: What is a consumer and at what cost do they obtain their wants and needs?

Targeted Standard:   2.18

Major Content: Comparing Wants and Needs, Calculating Costs

Activity: 

• Read Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday  
• Classify wants versus needs
• Calculating costs

Objective: 

• Understand the difference between wants and needs. 
• Classify character's purchases as wants and needs. 
• Calculate amount spent on wants/needs.

Materials: 

• Copy of Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday
• Chart paper

Procedure:

1. Introduce terms cost, want, and need. Explain to students the difference and give examples. Have students brainstorm and give examples.
2. Read the story Alexander Who Used to be Rich Last Sunday.
3. Discuss the story and identify what Alexander purchased.
4. List items and classify as "wants" or "needs".
5. Reread the book and calculate the "cost" that Alexander paid for the items.

Evaluation: Teacher observation and group discussion

Lesson 2

Essential Questions: What is a consumer and at what cost do they obtain their wants and needs?

Targeted Standard: 2.18

Major Content: Classifying wants and needs

Activity: Classifying wants versus needs using twelve common items children would have.

Objective: 

• Understand the difference between wants and needs. 
• Classify twelve items as wants and needs and prioritize the items in each group.

Materials: Copy of twelve items for each student, glue, scissors, paper

Procedure:

1. Review terms cost, want, and need.
2. Have students identify their most valuable want and most valuable need.
3. Give students a copy of twelve common items containing wants and needs.
4. Have students cut items apart and classify into groups of "Wants" and "Needs".
5. Have students rank the items in each group by its importance. Rank the items from highest priority to lowest priority.
6. After discussing classifications, have students glue items into appropriate categories.

Evaluation: Teacher observation, group discussion, and student completed group

Lesson 3

Essential Question: What is a consumer and at what cost do they obtain their wants and needs?

Targeted Standard: 2.18

Major Content:

Activity: Survey consumers on preferred wants

Objective: Students will design and conduct a survey on possible items they would want to purchase at a craft fair.

Materials: Survey, paper, pencil

Procedure:

1. Have students brainstorm ideas for items that could be sold at a craft fair.
2. Observe video (if available) on a craft fair and how vendors display and sell items.
3. Discuss the types of items that are/could be available.
4. As a group create a list of items that the students would like to purchase and a list of items that adults would like to purchase.
5. Create a tally chart together of suggested items.
6. Have students take the survey to parents and friends that night to collect preferred choices.
7. On class chart tally the totals for each items. Create a graph representing the information.
8. Discuss the information and determine the most popular items and least popular items.

Evaluation: Teacher observation, group discussion, and student completed tally chart and graph.

Lesson 4

Essential Questions: What is a consumer? At what cost do they obtain their wants and needs?

Targeted Standard: 2.18

Major Content: Consumption, Consumer, Goods, Services

Activity: Classification, Writing

Objective: Define opportunity cost of a decision as what has been given up.

Materials: 

• Poem – Charlie’s Chocolate Choices
• Journal

Procedures:

1. Introduce lesson with the poem called Charlie’s Chocolate Choices. After reading the poem ask the students what they think they are going to learn about.
2. Ask the class, one student at a time, to name the nine things that Charlie had to choose from in the poem, while the teacher lists them on the board and the students write them on the first journal worksheet.
3. After all nine of the items have been listed on the board, ask the class the following questions:

1. Could Charlie make all nine items with chocolate?
2. Why or why not?
3. What did Charlie have to do?

    4. The last question will lead into a discussion about          making a choice. Write the word choice on the board and discuss, as a class, what the word means.

    6. They will then draw their first choice on the journal worksheet labeled "Charlie’s First Choice" and their second choice on the worksheet labeled "Charlie’s Second Choice". On the worksheets, the students will need to list reasons why they chose the object to be their first and second choices. Make sure the class understands that their first choice is the one they want Charlie to make.

    7. Have the students present their drawings to the class and explain why they made the choices they did. With each student, ask the following questions:

1. What did you choose for Charlie’s first choice?
2. What should he make if he can’t have the first choice? Why?
3. If Charlie picked the first choice you chose for him, would he have to give something up? If so, what?

    9. Have the students work individually on the rest of the worksheets in the journal. Explain that on the fourth page they will construct their own story or poem, like Charlie’s, about their nine favorite pieces of candy. Next, they will draw their first choice and tell why they chose it. Then, on the next page, they will draw and explain their second choice. On the last page they will write what the term opportunity cost means to them, their definition.

Evaluation: 

• Completed journal
• Teacher observation
• Class participation

Extension: Teacher’s choice of cooking activity which would include math skills, reading skills, and following directions.

Charlie’s Chocolate Choices

 

Chocolate, chocolate, for chocolate’s sake.

Give me chocolate so I can make

Chocolate liver, chocolate peas,

Chocolate biscuits, if you please.

Chocolate squash with chocolate chicken,

Make a meal that’s finger lickin’.

Chocolate donuts, chocolate bars,

Chocolate cakes and chocolate stars.

I want them all for my desserts

I’ll eat until my stomach hurts.

Alas, there is not near enough

For me to make all of this stuff.

So now I know I must choose;

I’ll make just one, the next I’ll lose.

Lesson 5

Essential Question: How do producers and consumers exchange goods and services?

Targeted Standard: 3.4.1

Major Content: Goods and services, Consumers

Activity: Read The Big Green Pocketbook. Map out the businesses visited by the mother and the child in the story.

Objective: 

Students should understand the differences in goods and services. They should be able to map out the businesses visited by the mother and child in the story.

Materials: The Big Green Pocketbook, poster paper, crayons or markers, $20 bill, index cards labeled goods and services.

Procedure:

1. Introduce the terms goods and services. Discuss with the students the differences in a good and a service.
2. Hold up a $20 bill. Tell the students that they will help decide what to do with the money. For example, buy goods, buy services, or save the money. Make a list on the board or chart paper.
3. Read the story, The Big Green Pocketbook. Tell the students to watch for different types of workers throughout the story and the goods and services that they provide.
4. Have the students tell you types of workers from the story. Write them on the board.
5. Pass out the cards labeled goods and services. Call on the students to come up to the board to read the name of the worker and then decide whether they provide a good or a service. Students will tape the card next to the worker.
6. Add some more names of workers to the list so that each child will get a turn.
7. Divide the students into groups of 3 of 4. Have the groups draw and color a picture of the bus station, home, and businesses from the story.
8. The students will then help the teacher to display a map of the places the characters went during the story.

Evaluation:

Students will be evaluated on class participation and teacher observations. They will be evaluated on correctly identifying a good or a service.

Lessons 6-7

(will extend over 2-3 days)

Essential Questions: How do a buyer and a seller work in the Free Enterprise System?

Targeted Standard: 2.30

Major Content: Consumption, Consumer, Goods, Services

Activity: Buyer\seller search

Objective: Understand that people are consumers when they use goods or services. Give examples of goods and services.

Materials: 

• Copy of Consumer Search for each student.
• Yellow pages from a local telephone directory for each group

Procedures:

1. Explain to students that when they consume or use a good or service, they are consumers. Write the words goods and service on the board. Define a good as something people want that they can hold or touch. Define a service as something that one person does for someone else.
2. Ask each student to complete the following statement with a specific economic activity: I am a consumer when I ______________. (i.e., buy a CD, get my bike washed, etc.) Have students identify whether they consumed a good or a service, and write their answers under the appropriate heading.
3. Divide students into groups. Give each group a copy of Consumer Search and the yellow pages from a local telephone directory. Tell the students that the yellow pages provide a way for consumers to find what goods and services are available in the community. Ask the students to search through the yellow pages to find an advertisement of a good or a service that all members of their group would like to consume. Tell them to use the advertisement to answer the questions on the Consumer Search activity.
4. Allow all groups to share their advertisement choices and some of their answers. Discuss how the directory helps the consumer find goods and services in a community.
5. Have each student compile a four-page booklet entitled We Are All Consumers. The booklet should have four sheets of paper that are bound with construction paper and staples. Write the starter sentences below on the board. Instruct the students to write the four starter sentences at the top of each of the pages in their booklet and then compose their endings. Have students illustrate each page.

Starter Sentences:

• All people are consumers. My family consumes ______________________.
• A consumer uses goods. Some of the goods my family consumes are ____________.
• A consumer uses services. Some of the services my family consumes are _________.
• We all use limited income for consuming or saving. Some of the choices my family made about what to do with our limited income are ______________.

Lesson 8

Lemonade

Essential Question: How do producers and consumers exchange goods and services?

Targeted Standard: 3.4.1

Major Content: Producers, Production

Activity: Using available resources to produce a product

Objective: Identify productive resources as natural, human, and capital. To understand that production involves the combining of resources to create something.

Materials: 

• Copy of Hidden Resources puzzle for each student
• Ingredients and supplies for making lemonade

Procedures:

1. Explain that producers combine, or put together, resources to create a good or service. Inform the class that they are going to be producers and make lemonade.
2. Write the following recipe for lemonade on the chalkboard:

½ lemon

3 ice cubes

                       level tablespoons sugar

water to fill 16 oz. cup

Squeeze the juice from ½ a lemon. Place juice in 16 oz. Drinking cup or shaker. Add sugar, ice cubes, and enough water to fill the cup. Stir or shake for one minute and serve.

Procedures:

1. Help students determine the quantity of resources needed to make enough  lemonade for the entire class.
2. Ask students what other things, in addition to the resources listed in the recipe, are needed to produce and consume enough lemonade for the entire class. (Spoon, measuring spoons, measuring cup, workers to make and serve, pitcher, cups, juicer) have students produce and consume the lemonade.
3. Explain that productive resources can be divided into three categories: Natural resources come from the land; human resources are the people and their effort used to produce a product; and capital resources are manufactured goods used produce other goods and services. Ask students for examples of each type of resource used to make lemonade. ( Natural – lemons, water; human-workers to measure, stir, pour, and serve; capital-spoons, cups, measuring cups, pitcher, juicer)
4. Distribute Hidden Resources. Have students find in the puzzle the resources used to produce lemonade, and write each resource under the correct heading.

Evaluation:

• Student work.
• Class participation.
• Finished product.

Lesson 9

Essential Question: What is profit?

Targeted Standard: 3.2.4

Major Content: Identify profit opportunities

Activity: Identify profit opportunities from story The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs By Phoebe Gilman

Objective: Understand the character’s profit opportunities

Materials: Copy of The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs

Procedure:

1. Have students review terms of wants, needs, cost, goods, and services.
2. Ask students why they go to stores? Is it to satisfy wants or needs? Do they purchase goods or services?
3. Brainstorm places students go to be a consumer.
4. Ask students why there are stores, shops, and various businesses?
5. Introduce the term profit.
6. Discuss why business people must make a profit to continue offering goods and services.
7. Introduce the book The Wonderful Pigs of Jillian Jiggs
8. Read the story listening for opportunities for Jillian to make a profit from her pigs.
9. Identify her problem. How does she change from wanting to offer goods to offering a service?
10. Does she make a profit from her pigs?
11. Have students create a drawing of something they could produce to sell. Would they be able to sell lessons for their product?

Evaluation: Teacher observation, group discussion, and student drawing and writing

Lesson 10

Guest Speakers

(Will extend over 3 weeks)

Essential Question: How do producers and consumers exchange goods and services?

Targeted Standard: 3.4.1

Major Content: Meeting and observing producers of products

Activity: Guest Speakers from the community who are business owners and producers of various products

Objective: Understand what products are made in their community and how producers make, market, and sell their items

Materials: Various materials supplied by the guest speakers

Procedure:

Over a three week period, students will work with a community member in small groups. Efforts will be made to relate the students’ planned product to the guest speakers’ areas of expertise.

Lesson 11

Group Production

(Will extend over 3 weeks)

Essential Question: How do producers and consumers exchange goods and services?

Targeted Standards: 3.4.1

Major Content: Producing a product to sell

Activity: Students will be working in groups to produce an item to sell at the Winter Bizarre. They will be trying to obtain a profit.

Objective: Students must gather and purchase materials to develop a product. The students will then decide how many items to produce to make a profit.

Materials: Various materials needed per group of students

Procedure:

Over a three week period, the students will be placed in groups of 4 or 5. Each group will have to decide on a product to develop. They will be given a budget in which to purchase supplies for their project. The students will be responsible for gathering and purchasing items. The students will have to determine how many items they need to produce. Each group must have a completed project to sell in the Winter Bizarre. The students will have to determine a cost at which to sell their product. After the Bizarre is over, they will need to determine if they had a profit or a loss.

Evaluation:

Students will be evaluated on the completion of their product using the scoring rubric.

Culminating Activity

Major Content: Social Studies, Arts and Humanities, and Practical Living

Activity: Students will invent an item to sell at Winter Bizarre.

Objective: Students must be able to produce a product, design a poster for advertising their product, and be able to calculate profit/loss of the product.

Procedure:

1. Students will work in groups to develop a product to make.
2. They will be given a budget in which to purchase materials to make their product.
3. The groups will decide how many items to produce and how much to sell them for to make a profit.
4. Students will develop a sign/poster to advertise their product.
5. We will hold a bizarre in early December.

Materials/Resources:

Materials will vary according to the needs of each group.

Evaluation:

• Students will be evaluated on producing a product.
• Students must develop a poster to advertise their product.
• Students must calculate profit/loss of their product to determine success.

Scoring Guide