Kayla+Macadam

2nd Grade **Toys for Me: A Lesson on Choice**


 * Key Economic Concepts: **
 * Choice
 * Costs
 * Opportunity Cost
 * Scarcity
 * Wants

Students encounter the concept of scarcity in their daily tasks but have little comprehension as to its meaning or how to deal with the concept of scarcity. Scarcity is really about knowing that often life is 'This OR That' not 'This AND That'. This lesson plan for students in grades K-2 and 3-5 introduces the concept of scarcity by illustrating how time is finite and how life involves a series of choices. Specifically, this lesson teaches students about scarcity and choice: Scarcity means we all have to make choices and all choices involve "costs." Not only do you have to make a choice every minute of the day because of scarcity, but, when making a choice, you have to give up something. This cost is called oppportunity cost. Opportunity cost is defined as the value of the next best thing you would have chosen. It is not the value of all things you could have chosen. Choice gives us 'benefits' and choice gives us 'costs'. Not only do you have to make a choice every minute of the day, because of scarcity, but also, when making a choice, you have to give up something of value (opportunity cost). To be asked to make a choice between 'this toy OR that toy' is difficult for students who want every toy. A goal in life for each of us is to look at our wants, determine our opportunities, and try and make the best choices by weighing the benefits and costs.
 * Description: **

Students will:
 * Lesson Objectives: **
 * Explain why they cannot have everything they want because of scarcity.
 * Describe why scarcity is characterized by “this OR that” and not “this AND that”.
 * Define opportunity cost.
 * Explain how all choices have costs.
 * Identify five choices we make every day in preparing to go to school and identify the opportunity costs associated with each choice.

To know what Economics is about, you have to understand scarcity. Scarcity means that you always want more than you can have. Every person—-child and adult, rich and poor, U.S. citizen and non U.S. citizen—-has to deal with scarcity every minute of the day, because no one can have everything they want. You cannot have all the time you want. You cannot have every toy you want. You cannot have more of anything you want without having less of something else you want. All choices have costs. Not only do you have to make a choice because of scarcity, but the cost of making that choice means you give up the chance to get something else. This is called ** opportunity cost. **
 * Introduction: **

Therefore, the choice you make is very important. Not only do you have to make a choice, because of scarcity, but also, when you making a choice, you have to give up something.

> Provides numerous definitions and diagrams related to business and economics. > www.bized.co.uk/glossary/ [[|1]] > A database containing over 1800 economic terms and concepts. > A poem written by the author of this lesson, C.D. Crain. > interactive version and a version in a pdf format
 * Resources: **
 * The Biz/ed Glossary and Diagram Bank:
 * AmosWEB: GLOSSorama:
 * scarcity: www.amosweb.com/cgi-bin/gls.pl?fcd=dsp&key=scarcity [[|2]]
 * opportunity cost: www.amosweb.com/cgi-bin/gls.pl?fcd=dsp&key=opportunity%20cost [[|3]]
 * "Toys for Me"

In the story poem, Scarcity does not understand that the world is “this OR that,” not “this AND that”. In other words, when you make a choice, you have to give up something else, which is the cost of the choice. Scarcity is limited to one toy as a gift from Mother for her birthday. Then, Scarcity is limited to one toy as a gift from Mother for Christmas. But Scarcity does not believe it is fair, or right, to have to choose. She does not want to pay the cost of having to give something up when she makes a choice. She wants every toy that she can see.
 * Process: **


 * Discussion questions: **

1.Scarcity does not understand the difference between “this AND that” and “this OR that”. What is the difference?

2.Why does Scarcity want every toy on the magic tree?

3. There are 10 gifts on a tree. Select two gifts. Mother says it's OK to get one of the two gifts, but not both. You must choose between two gifts. What is the opportunity cost of this choice? Because of scarcity, we all have to make choices. No one, not even you, can have everything they want. Every time you make a choice, you have to give up something.
 * Conclusion:**

**We are Consumers and Producers**

Students are consumers and producers. So are their families. In this lesson students learn how they and family members fulfill these roles at home and in their community. They begin by exploring the goods and services that people use and they identify those that require the payment of money. To help show they can be producers, students sequence the steps in washing dishes. They discuss the fact that family members are often not paid for the work they do at home and as volunteers, taking account of the possibility that the benefits may outweigh the lack of pay. This lesson works well as a follow-up to Simple Simon Meets a Producer. ([|www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.php? lesson=EM464])
 * Key Economic Concepts:**
 * Consumers
 * Goods
 * Producers
 * Services
 * Description:**

Students will:
 * Lesson Objectives:**
 * Recognize the ways in which they and their families function as consumers and producers.
 * Identify goods and services that they must pay for.
 * Comprehend the importance of the work done by people at home and in the community.

Ask the students: Have you ever heard someone say he or she wears many hats? The hats represent the different roles or jobs that people have. People have many roles. At home one could be a husband or wife, parent, aunt or uncle, etc. The same person could also be a neighbor, instructor, and so on. Ask students: Introduce the two main concepts: Did you know there are two more hats you wear? You are a consumer and a producer. A consumer is a person who buys and uses goods and services. A producer is a person who makes goods or provides services. // [If you have not introduced these concepts previously, you will have to explain them.] //
 * Introduction:**
 * What hats do you wear at home? [Child, big brother or sister, grandchild, etc.]
 * What roles do you have at school and in our community?[Student, neighbor, scout, choir member, etc.]

Tell the students that in this lesson they will learn more about how they and others are consumers and producers. •Kids Care Clubs: Contains information on kids clubs. www.kidscare.org/ [[|1]] •USA Points of Light Campaign: Contains volunteer information and opportunity.www.pointsoflight.org/ [[|2]]
 * Resources:**

•Interactive Activity 1: Students can listen along with the above interactive to learn more about consumers.

•Interactive Activity 2: Students can listen along with the above interactive to learn more about producers.

•I Can Wash Dishes: Students need to put the pictures in the correct order and write a sentence to describe each activity.

•We are Consumers and Producers Worksheet: Students draw pictures of three goods and/or services they like to consume and three goods and/or services they like to produce. Instruct those who can print to make lists rather than drawings.

Have students complete the Interactive Activity 1 to learn more about consumers. For students with limited reading skills, audio clips of the text are provided. If you prefer, you can project these activities via an LCD projector or TV monitor and read the text to the students. Text and possible answers to the questions in the interactive activity listed above:
 * Process:**
 * Activity 1:**

People who use goods and services are called **consumers**. You are a consumer. The people in your family are also consumers. What are the consumers in the picture doing? //[Eating pizza]// What goods and services do you use? //[Food items, articles of clothing, books, school supplies, movies, bus rides, etc.]// People must pay money to buy some goods and services. At the end of this activity you will pick the goods and services that people must buy. What other goods and services do you buy with money?

Have students complete the Interactive Activity 2 to learn more about producers. For students with limited reading skills, audio clips of the text are provided. If you prefer, you can project these activities via an LCD projector or TV monitor and read the text to the students. Text and possible answers to the questions in the interactive activity listed above:
 * Activity 2:**

People who make goods and provide services are called **producers**. You are a producer. The people in your family are also producers. What good or service are the producers in this picture providing for their family? //[Moving boxes]// What goods and services do you provide your family? //[Wash dishes, weed garden, sweep sidewalk, make bed, feed pet, do homework, etc.]//


 * Activity 3:**

Have students complete the printable activity I Can Wash Dishes and discuss the following questions with them.

Summarize the main points of the lesson: Ask the class to discuss the work that families do. Is the work done at home is important or not? What do they think would happen if people in the family chose not to do the work? Ask the students to identify what goods and services they and their families provide for the community.
 * Conclusion:**
 * When we wear our consumer hats, we buy and use goods and services. To get some of these goods and services, we must give money to producers in the marketplace.
 * We also wear producers hats. We provide goods and services to our families. Likewise, the other members of our families are also producers. Family members depend on each other for goods and services.


 * Lesson Plan Comments

//Claire Stave://** Your lesson plans are well organized and prepared very well. I think the skill level is great for second graders, and the material is interesting. I like the diversity between technology and physical worksheets for the second lesson plan, We are Consumers and Producers. I think this lesson plan is very easy for the students to relate to their own lives, since many have probably helped wash dishes for their parents with rewards. Students love rewards, and the fact that they are not always given rewards for their hard work is an important lesson to learn and will be necessary for their future and professional lives. The interactive activities are informative and have a kid-friendly interface. Maybe they could be turned into a group activity to add even more diversity between different learning techniques. Wonderful job displaying your lesson plans, and great job over-achieving and summarizing two!

//**Danielle Booth:**// I really like both of these lesson plans! You have done a very thorough job on this. I think that the second lesson on Consumers and Producers is interactive and I like how there are images paired with words. This will make the lesson more fun to listen to and the kids will have more fun. The other poem is good, and I think you have provided a good frame work, however maybe you could have provided an idea about how to make this lesson plan more interactive. (Maybe you could do some group work with this lesson?) These ideas about scarcity are important ones and both of these lessons will help explain this concept to second graders and they will also allow the teacher to create good lesson plans for their students.
 * //Robyn Eshelman://** Just focusing on the Toys For Me: A Lesson on Choice, I think this overall idea behind the lesson is very important one: The concept that scarcity affects us and that we do not always get what we want. One side thing a teacher could do while teaching this to the class is take out a few things from the classroom to show the students exactly what it means to have limited resources. Maybe try taking away half the chairs one day and say that the only way to get them back is to trade with the books on the shelves and resort to projecting that lesson for a day. Or take away sitting in a circle or group project time, but only from a trade with it and the students snack time. This will allow the students to realize that they cannot have more of anything they want, unless they get less of something else. Although this separate lesson plan will not be sufficient by itself, it could be used supplementary to the lesson already stated above.