Open-ended Inquiry: Check out this historic image taken of a gas station and general store in Venus, Florida in 1939. Use the See Think Wonder strategy to analyze the photo.
Directed Questions: In the image they noted a gas station and a general store. Why do you think they called it a general store? What do you think you could buy in a general store? Compare and contrast the historic image of the gas station to the picture below of a modern gas station and variety store.
Here are some standards-based questions for Florida Financial Literacy
Use the News Extension Activity
Search through your newspaper for articles about gas prices. How do rising gas prices impact decisions on the kind of car people buy? For example, would you rather buy a car that gets ten miles per gallon or thirty miles per gallon? What would be the difference in cost over a year if you filled up your tank weekly? Check out this historic photograph of Grocer Vincenzo Di Bona in his store at 110 Main Street, West Tampa. Use the See Think Wonder visual literacy strategy to "read" the photo and start an investigation, by finding answers to the questions you have!
This picture was taken about one hundred years ago. Compare and contrast this with grocery stores today.
Now, use some of these Florida Financial Literacy standards-based questions for different grade levels! Use the News Extension Activity
Check out the classified ads in your newspaper. What types of jobs exist for grocery stores? Now, think about the food before it arrived at the grocery store. Search for some jobs that are related to farms, food processing, and food distribution centers.
Open-ended Inquiry: Look at the image. What do you see? What do you think? What do you wonder? Use the visual literacy strategy See-Think-Wonder to engage students in asking questions they can use for inquiry about the image.
Currency is the money used by a country. Sometimes people use credit cards to pay for goods and services. When people use a credit card, they promise to make a payment at a future time. Here are some standards-based questions to use with students!
Directed Florida Financial Literacy Standards-based Questions:
Use the News Extension Activity
Search your local newspaper for articles about credit cards. What are some of the problems? What is some advice you found? Open-ended Inquiry: Use the visual literacy strategy See Think Wonder with the image above. Don't forget to tell your students to also use the captions when they are answering the questions. Then, once they make their own questions, they can conduct research to answer those questions and share their knowledge!
The image from the Florida Center for Instructional Technology shows a trading post from Colonial America. Florida Financial Literacy Standards-based questions:
Do you remember the original tale of Goldilocks and the Three Bears? Goldilocks took a risk in entering the house. In the financial literacy standards, risk is a very important concept. You can use the version of Goldilocks and the Three Bears by Jan Brett.
Before reading: Tell students to watch for risky behaviors as you read. During reading: When you come to a risky behavior, ask students to explain why those behaviors are risky.
After reading: Tell students to write a letter or email to Goldilocks to tell her how she can protect herself against risk. Alternatively, they can write an email to the Bears, informing them how they can protect their house against intruders.
Goldi and the Three Passwords? Now, check out the more modern Fractured Fairytale of Goldi and the Three Passwords below. Goldi and Baby Bear have become great friends and they are learning about online risks and how to take steps to protect themselves. Use the video and EconEdLink Lesson plan to how to make the just right password.
Did You Know? In older versions of the tale, Goldilocks was called Silverhair or Goldenhair? For example, check out this version on Lit2Go with the Three Bears and Silver Hair. You can also view the other versions below. What are the similarities and differences in the stories?
Open-ended Inquiry: While you examine the photo, first ask: What do you see? Students tell you what they see in the image. This is evidence. Then ask: What do you think? Students tell you what they think is happening based on what they see. They are making inferences based on the evidence they see. Then ask students what do you think? Once they write down their questions, they can conduct some online research to answer their own questions.
Directed Inquiry: The photo above was of astronauts from NASA. What other people might work at NASA? Have you heard about the movie Hidden Figures? The movie is about three African American female engineers and mathematicians who helped put the first people on the moon. Check out the NASA Career Corner to discover different jobs people do. How has NASA impacted the economy of Florida? Tourists can also visit the Kennedy Space Center to learn more about NASA. How has the Kennedy Space Center impacted the economy of Florida? Florida Financial Literacy Standards-based Questions Look at the image and use the visual literacy strategy See, Think, Wonder, to analyze the map. What questions do you have? Try to find answers to your questions by conducting online research!
Directed Questions. This is a railroad map of Florida from the Florida Maps at the Florida Center for Instructional Technology. How do railroads solve scarcity problems? How do they transport goods? Henry Flagler and Henry B. Plant built most of the railroads in early America. How did people transport goods before the railroads were built? Florida Financial Literacy standards-based questions: Use the News Extension Activity: Check out the Tampa Bay Times Newspaper in Education Supplement, All Aboard for more on the local history of railroads. Also, check out the Trace-based Case we created in collaboration with the Florida Center for Instructional Technology (FCIT).
Open-ended Inquiry: Check out the images above. Use the See, Think, Wonder strategy to "read" the images (file is available for download below). After you record your questions, conduct some research to find your answers!
Directed Questions: How much is the colonial currency worth? What are some differences between the currency of the past and present? Compare and contrast the coin to the paper money. What is similar? What is different? Use the Venn Diagram to record similarities and differences. Here are some Florida Financial Literacy standards-based questions you can use to learn more about money!
Fancy Nancy has a scarcity problem! One of the basic economic concepts is that we have unlimited wants and resources are scarce. Because of this scarcity problem, there is not enough for all who want it so we have to make decisions. In Fancy Nancy and the Fabulous Fashion Boutique, Fancy Nancy has a problem as illustrated in the web sampler provided by the publisher. Before reading, explain scarcity to the students and ask them to watch for Fancy Nancy's scarcity problem.
After reading the sampler, they can come up with ideas on how she can solve her scarcity problem. Then you can read the whole test, using the Fancy Nancy Read Aloud Bookmark, which provides read-aloud think-aloud questions to use with the text!
And More! Use the ReadWriteThink.org lesson to find more fabulous financial literacy with Fancy Nancy.
Explain to students that the workers who produce goods and services are called human resources. The skills people have is called their human capital. People can improve their human capital by learning new skills. Read Morris Goes to School to help students understand why it is important to improve their human capital.
As illustrated in the web sampler below, Morris has a problem: he can't read or count. Students learn how important it is to improve skills - and grow their human capital - so they can do jobs in the future.
Use the Morris Goes to School lesson by the Federal Reserve to further develop the concept. During the lesson, students name different workers and identify the human capital they need to do their jobs.
Have you ever worked hard as a producer on a project and found that no one would help you? Then when you got it all done, suddenly everyone wanted to participate, or consume your goods? You have something in common with the Little Red Hen! You can download a free copy of the original Little Red Hen at Project Gutenburg to compare with the Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza as illustrated in the animation below to teach about consumers, producers, and sellers.
Now, check out the lesson we created that was published on EconEdLink: The Little Red Hen is a Producer and a Consumer for more engaging activities to use with the book!
Extension: To help students understand the interaction between buyers and sellers, check out our informational text and lesson plan on buyers and sellers!
How can acts of kindness help us understand the benefits of saving, spending, and donating? This book is a good lesson on social-emotional learning and saving. Before reading the story, show Kid President's video.
According to Kid President, what are some things we should say more often? What are some things we should do more often? How can we help others?
Questions for Discussion! Here are some questions you can use to discuss the text.
•What does the mother do at the diner? •What goods and services are provided at the diner? •What does the girl do with the money she earns? •Why is the family saving money? •What choices did the family have to make after the fire? •What goods and services did their neighbors donate to the family? •What did the family do with the money in the jar first? After that? •How did the family benefit by saving money? •How did acts of kindness benefit the family? The neighbors?
Saving Activity: Here is an activity taken from the lesson plan from the Federal Reserve . In the story the girl saves money to buy her mother a new chair. What did she do to earn money for the chair? Draw a picture of something you want in the next jar. What can you do to earn money for the thing you want?
For more on Saving and Spending, use our informational text and accompanyinglesson!
A great book to use to help students understand spending and saving is Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday. It is a story about a little boy who receives some money and ends up spending it all! Below you will find the story read online by "Grandpa Tom."
Before Reading. Ask students: Why do you think the title of the story reads Alexander Used to be Rich Last Sunday? What do you think made him rich? Why isn't he rich any more?
During Reading. Ask students to discover clues to answer the questions: How did Alexander get rich? What did he do that made him lose his money? After Reading.
Lemonade in Winter is a great text to use for teaching elementary students about entrepreneurship and the basics of supply and demand.
Before Reading: Tell students: Supply is the amount that producers are able and willing to sell at all prices at a given time. Demand is the amount that consumers are able and willing to buy at all prices at a given time. After you watch the Lemonade in Winter clip, do you think the children have a problem with supply or demand?
Now, look at the image from the book.
The children tried to solve their demand problem by lowering the price. Do you think it will work? What do you think they should do to solve their problem? Then read the rest of the story to see if you had the same solution. Whose solution did you like better?
Your Turn! Did you get any good ideas in the book about starting a lemonade stand? What would you do better? Search online for some good recipes and design your stand!
Mathematics Extension: There are some great opportunities for creating mathematics problems from the text. Have your students create their own mathematics problems based on images in the text!
Currency is a word that comes from Middle English and means "in circulation." The word "currency" refers to money in any form (mostly banknotes and coins) that is used as a medium of exchange. Use the book or the readers' theater to explore the history of money and how it is used today.
Before reading, look at the cover above. Ask students: What do you think this book will be about? During reading, using the Readers' Theater or the first few pages from the text available in the sampler below, tell students to watch for things that were used currency in the past.
After reading, ask students to recall some of the things that were used as money in the past. Then, use The Characteristics of Money informational text and lesson to learn more about currency.
Extension: Check out more resources to use with this book on the website page we created for a recent workshop on One Cent Two Cents Old Cent New Cent!
If You Give a Mouse a Cookie is a delightful children's book about a mouse with unlimited wants. He wants many different goods and services. Sometimes he even provides services! Before you begin reading, use the Goods and Services slideshow below. Explain that goods are things you can touch or hold and services are things you do.
Read the book aloud or use the video below, where Laura Numeroff reads the book. While you read, ask the students to keep track of the goods and services. Remind students that goods are things we can touch or hold and services are things we do.
After reading, ask the students to name the goods that the mouse wanted. Then, ask them to name the services in the book. For a digital activity, students can also download the free ReadWriteThink.org Timeline App (Apple and Android) to create a timeline of the story.
When we make decisions, there are costs (bad points) and benefits (good points) that we can use to evaluate our choices. The Three Little Pigs is a great book to use to talk about the costs and benefits of decisions.
Use the classic Project Gutenberg version of the Three Little Pigs or one of the videos below. While you read or view, stop when you get to a problem point. Then, ask students to list choices and think about the costs and benefits of the decisions.
Tell students that a new reality show Pig Places just started and they are doing a feature on the best pig houses to protect against the Big Bad Wolf. Download the PACED Decision Making so students can decide which is the best house to protect pigs from the Big Bad Wolf. Students should list the choices from the stories, as well as one choice of their own, based on a house they have lived in or seen.
Then, to explore more economic concepts, use the Costs and Benefits of Choices in the Three Little Pigs slideshow below to discuss the story.
The Berenstain Bears Get the Gimmies is an engaging story to use to discuss wants and needs. The basic economic concept is that we have unlimited wants but resources are scarce. Therefore, we have to make decisions. There are health wants (needs) and other wants. You can read the book, or watch the first 11 minutes of the video below to see how the Berenstain Bears solve the problem when the cubs get the gimmies.
Before Reading: Ask students to look at the cover and predict what the story will be about. Ask: What are the gimmies? During Reading: Ask students to find places where the cubs get the gimmies and what they learn about making good choices!
After Reading: Use the informational text, and lesson What can I buy? After reading, ask: What advice would you give to Brother and Sister Bear after reading?
Extension: Use the Federal Reserve lesson plan to further explore economic concepts of scarcity, opportunity cost, goods, alternatives, and choice.
Resources are needed to make goods. In this lesson, you can elaborate on natural, capital, and human resources necessary to make tortillas. Resources include:
During Reading tell students to watch for the natural, human, and capital resources needed to make tortillas. When working with young children, you can ask them to describe the jobs people do and the tools or equipment they use.
After Reading check out the informational video from How it's Made. Here are some economic questions to use with the book and video:
Extension! Use Scholastic Community Club Books to have students conduct research on the different jobs people do. Have students create a page (picture and writing) that describes the job, the tools/equipment, and how the worker uses the tools/equipment to make/do something to satisfy our wants. Use information from the text in your product. These pages will be assembled into a class book (paper or digital).
Did you know that Jack from Jack and the Beanstalk has a grandson named Jack III? In the lesson I wrote for EconEdLink, learn how digital trails may help the Giant find Jack III. Using a video and an informational text students explore risky online behaviors and decide what is risky to share online.
According to the website information on Your Digital Footprint: Leaving a Mark every time you share information it becomes part of your digital footprint. For example think about the times you click "like" on social media. Now read about how this information is used in this article on LIKE farming. Scammers will use information to make money or launch online scams. This article from USA Today explains why you should be careful before clicking “like” on Facebook and other social media sites. Social media sites also make photo sharing easy. However, anyone can access online photos unless you take precautions. Did you know that your smartphone automatically applies geotags of location and time to your photos unless you disable the function in settings? Read more about geotagging on Common Sense Media's website . In addition to adjusting settings, there are other strategies adults can use to keep browsing private.One way is to sign out of your browsers and accounts when you are done. For more information on how to keep your browsing private, read the article, How to Keep Your Web Browsing Private. For more information about digital footprints, watch Common Sense Media's Follow the Digital Trail. Do you remember the Internet classic, "On the Internet, nobody knows you’re a dog." This is a popular Internet meme that shows a dog typing on the computer, meaning that you never know who is at the other end of the message you are receiving. In the lesson I wrote for EconEdLink students learn about Little Red Riding Hood's granddaughter: Red. Red has a problem. She isn't aware of risky online behaviors. She learns Stop, Think, Connect . In other words, she learns how to stop and think about the risks of sharing information before making a decision to share information or connect online.
What are some things you should consider before connecting? Did you know that when you are on social media and take a quiz line "Which-Harry-Potter-character-are-you" you are sharing PII (Personally Identifiable Information)? When you give out any information online, there is a risk that you are giving away your privacy and making yourself vulnerable to predators. After using some of the materials in the lesson, have children create their own posters, videos, or memes with information about how to protect against the Big Bad Cyberwolf!
Like most young people, Jamal and Ana love downloading and playing with Apps. According to a Pew Internet study in 2011 many parents downloaded apps for their children. Common Sense Media noted that the number of children using mobile media has doubled and the time spent using mobile apps has tripled. When working online, children aren't usually aware that parents have to enter a credit card in order to pay for apps on mobile devices. Although many apps are free, even free apps can have costs because many commercial apps have "freemium" options that encourage purchases. Although many of these apps are free, most commercial apps have options for in-app purchases. Parental gates can help protect you against unintentional spending! For more information, check out the Huffington Post article on parental gates that describes changes to Children’s Online Privacy Protection rule COPPA .
In the video series below, find out how Jamal helps Ana solve her problem. Can Jamal help Ana live 'appily ever after? You can further explore these ideas in this lesson I wrote for EconEdLink.org that uses the videos.
In How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World, a little girl wants to make an apple pie but she has a problem: the store is closed. So she decides to travel around the world to find the best ingredients for her pie. Travel around the world with her to find natural resources and intermediate goods she can use to make her pie. Natural resources are gifts of nature used to make goods and services. Capital resources are the tools used to transform natural resources into ingredients. When you buy goods (ingredients) to make another good, they are considered intermediate goods.
During the story the little girl searches for the intermediate goods to make her pie. She finds natural resources and uses capital resources (goods used to produce other goods) to transform the natural resources into intermediate goods Use the Apple Pie Economics video to help students identify the natural resources and dig deeper into other economic concepts. You can also use the How to Make an Apple Pie and See the World document to access a readers theater version of the story. Then, use the Federal Reserve Lesson (also available below) to reinforce the concepts of the different productive resources.
Barter means to trade goods and services without using money. People barter when they need to satisfy wants. Resources are scarce and we always want more than we can get. What was Jack’s scarcity problem? Use the FCIT Lit2Go version of Jack and the Beanstalk or the Reader's Theater document below. Use the EconEdLink Barter interactive to consolidate student knowledge about barter. You can also use the Econ Jack and the Beanstalk Slideshare below to consolidate the concepts of barter and the characteristics of money.
There is now a contest; the zoo is charging $1.00 per entry to name the baby. Animal Adventure Park is a small zoo located in Harpursville N.Y. and they are struggling with balancing the social media attention and preparing for the zoo's opening on May 13. So they made the decision to cut the live feed on Friday. Animal Adventure Park posted on their Facebook that they will have updates on how to watch the baby next week and noted that they will also post on the April the Giraffe website. According to the New York Times (article below) the April the Giraffe sensation has created a flood of media attention. What does the article say about the economic impact to the area?
Now use the decision tree to examine the costs and benefits of the decision to take down the feed. Consider scarcity. What happens when resources become scarce? The zoo is opening on May 13. Do you think more people might come to the zoo if they can't see the live feed? You can also use the decision making tree to consider a trip to the zoo or another facility that has giraffes. How will you have to change your budget if you want to take a family trip to the zoo? Kindergarten: Jamal was really excited about the birth of April the Giraffe's baby. How could he earn money to go and see the giraffes at the local zoo?
SS.K.E.1.3 Recognize that people work to earn money to buy things they need or want. 1st Grade: Discuss how the zoo needed to make choices because of scarce human resources. They needed to spend time getting the zoo ready for opening on May 13th. Use the decision tree to discuss the possible consequences–good and bad–of their decision. SS.1.E.1.6 Identify that people need to make choices because of scarce resources. 2nd Grade: Discuss how the zoo needed to make choices because of scarce human resources. They needed to spend time getting the zoo ready for opening on May 13th. Use the decision tree to discuss the possible consequences–good and bad–of their decision. SS.2.E.1.1 Recognize that people make choices because of limited resources. 3rd Grade: Aimee loved the baby giraffe and wanted to buy a stuffed giraffe but she didn't have any money. What could she do? SS.3.E.1.1 Give examples of how scarcity results in trade. 4th Grade: People really liked watching April the Giraffe. Check out the April the Giraffe website and find some goods and services that people might buy in order to increase their personal satisfaction or happiness. SS.4.FL.2.3 Identify some of the ways that people spend a portion of their income on goods and services in order to increase their personal satisfaction or happiness. 5th Grade: Check out the April the Giraffe website. How can people help raise awareness about the decline in giraffe population? SS.5.C.2.5 Identify ways good citizens go beyond basic civic and political responsibilities to improve government and society. Middle School Financial Literacy: Jess was really excited about giraffes after watching April the Giraffe. She asked her mom if they could go to a local zoo or park to see a giraffe. Research where she could go in Florida. Then make a recommendation as to what is the best choice. SS.8.FL.2.1 Explain why when deciding what to buy, consumers may choose to gather information from a variety of sources. Describe how the quality and usefulness of information provided by sources can vary greatly from source to source. Explain that, while many sources provide valuable information, other sources provide information that is deliberately misleading. |
AuthorDeborah Kozdras, Ph.D. Archives
February 2022
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