EGP 335

Michelle Blazofsky Lesson Plan

Lesson Title: Portfolio Work Day
Day Number: 12
Author: Harcourt
Unit: Unit 6 Working in Communities
Grade Level: 3rd Grade
Background Information
In this lesson students will be completing and reviewing activities from the unit in its
entirety. Students will be discussing their experience and thoughts on the unit.

Expected Duration: 45 minutes

Concepts
o Economics
o Workers and Consumers
o How Business Works
o Trading with the World
o Forms of Money
o Free Market Economy
o Earn, Spend and Save
o World Business
Vocabulary
o Producer
o Consumer
o Barter
o Supply
o Demand
Skills
o Planning
o Identifying
o Comparing
o Contrasting
o Analyzing

1.1 Integration of Learning Outcomes/Objectives

Students will be able to create a unit portfolio
Students will be able to reflect on pieces based upon key unit goals (workers
and consumers, how businesses work, currency, buying and selling (trade),
and how to earn, spend and save).
1.2 Standards

NCSS

6.1.3.A: Define scarcity and identify examples of resources, wants, and

needs.
6.1.3.D: Identify reasons why people make a choice.
6.2.3.A: Identify goods, services, consumers, and producers in the local
community.
6.4.3.B: Identify examples of trade, imports, and exports in the local
community.
6.5.3.G: Define saving and explain why people save.
NCSS.1.7.eDescribehowwedependuponworkerswithspecializedjobsand
thewaysinwhichtheycontributetotheproductionsandexchangeofgoods
andservices
D2.Eco.2.3-5. Identify positive and negative incentives that influence the
decisions people make.

1.3 Anticipatory Set

The teacher (T) will briefly review all of the activities the students (S) have done the past
11 days during this unit. For example T might say something like: Boys and Girls who
remembers when we made products to sell within our own free market economy in the
classroom? T will then invite S to engage in discussion by posing questions such as
What was your favorite activity? What did you learn from the different activities? T
should end by asking, What parts of the activities do the S still have to finish?
1.4 Procedures
o T will review with S a list of what projects/small activities they have worked
on through out the unit. T will then write the list on the board.
- Workers and Consumers business cards and worker paper cutouts
- How Businesses Work Paper explaining in chronological order and detail
the process of the activity, at least three examples of new information that
they learned, including at least three vocabulary words correctly.
- Currency, Buying and Selling (Trade) activity worksheet
- How to Earn, Spend, and Save Excel budget sheet
o T will then explain that all of those items will make up their unit portfolio.
o The S will have a minute to go through their notebooks and folders to gather
all of the materials listed on the board.
o T will then break the S up into 4 groups.
o There will be 4 stations around the room where the S can work on their
portfolio items.
o S will have 15 minutes at each station. There they will be able to either finish
their activities, help other classmates to understand/ complete the activity or
discuss their experience with other classmates (if all are finished)
1.5 Differentiation

For students who are struggling. They would be allowed to work with their
smaller groups or their partners who they have worked with on previous days for
the activities.

1.6 Closure
T will bring the S back together into a large group and discuss with the S
something new they learned after this unit and what they enjoyed about the
lessons throughout the unit.
1.7 Formative/Summative Assessment of Students
Formative Assessment: Teacher observations, class discussions and questions.
o What was your favorite activity?
o What did you learn from the different activities?
Summative Assessment: At the end of the class period the students will hand
in their finished unit portfolio.
1.8 Materials/Equipment/Resources
Business cards
Worker paper cutouts
Currency, Buying and selling worksheet
Excel Budgeting sheet
1.9 Technology
Excel
1.10 Reflection on Planning
Theres a lot of information that I need that I didnt have ready available which made it
hard to write the lesson plan. However, after asking other group members and looking
over other lesson plans I was able to complete the unit portfolio lesson plan.
We first had our unit plan as a lot of pieces and some unnecessary items included.
However after reviewing we chose to focus on main topics and ideas that we wanted the
students to walk away from the unit with the basic knowledge of.
1.11 Content Outline
Unit Overview

The Big Idea: Economics

o People depend on one another to produce, buy, and sell
goods and services. Good decision-making helps the
economy of a family or a community.
Ideas for independent reading based on various reading levels
(basic, proficient, advanced) contained in the teacher text
Relating Content to Prior Knowledge

Ask students to list things that they would like to buy

Ask students to make a list of ways they might earn money
Create a class list from individual students responses
Incorporate a discussion relating to wants versus needs
Look for appropriate resources that may help with
such a discussion
BrainPOP for Educators Needs and Wants:
http://educators.brainpop.com/bp-jrtopic/needs-and-wants/
Unit Vocabulary
o Preview vocabulary via images
Producer: someone who makes a product or provides
a service
Consumer: a person who buys a product or service
Barter: to trade without using money
Supply: the good or services that businesses supply
Demand: willingness to buy a good or service
o Perhaps look for images on the internet that can help to
extend this discussion. Such images may include
depictions of the content as it is related to various groups
of people around the world (i.e. comparing and contrasting
within a community; comparing and contrasting one local
community with another; comparing and contrasting one
country with another).
Starting with a Story: Alex and the Amazing
Lemonade Stand
o Identify how money can be earned and why people might
decide to share it
o Understand how one person can make a difference by
making good decisions about money
o Supplement this story with real images of Alex and her
family
o Have students connect to the story, as well as reality ask
them to think about and discuss the types of people that
they would like to help
Chapter 11: Working in Our Community
Pre-assess with a matching activity using vocabulary words
Preview some vocabulary using images
o Have students brainstorm
Different places where people work
Reasons why people have money
o
o
o
o

Lesson 1: Workers and Consumers

Lesson 1 Vocabulary
o Product: a good

Have students brainstorm some of the products that

they use in their everyday lives, both at home and at
school
Create a class list
Service: come up with an age appropriate definition
Have students brainstorm some of the services that
they and their families use
Producer: someone who makes a product or provides
a service
Entrepreneur: a person who starts and runs a
business
Consumer: a person who buys a product or a service
Have students think about products and services that
they and their families buy as consumers
Refer back to the previously created class lists, but
also try adding to them
Interdependence: depending on one another to buy
the goods that they make
Ask students to think about and discuss why this is
true
For instance, think about interdependence as it
relates to a local grocery store in the community.
What would consumers do without the grocery store?
What would the grocery store do without any
consumers?
Wage: the money that people earn at work
Income: the money that people earn at work

Lesson 1: Beyond the Vocabulary

For this lesson, we could use a chart to sort different types of objects
and people into 2 categories: producers and consumers.
A. People Work Together
a. People in their communities work to make things that they
need
b. People depend on producers to make their goods
c. Entrepreneurs start businesses to make and/or sell goods
and services
i. There is a lot of risk that comes with starting your
own business: sometimes it fails for various reasons
B. People Buy Things
a. Producers try to create new things for consumers to buy,
giving consumers more products to choose from
i. Think of Apple cell phones or HP laptops always
coming out with more products in hopes of

consumers buying their brand that fits the

consumers wants
B. People Help Each Other
a. Consumers and producers depend on one another to make
the buying/selling wheel complete
b. Consumers trade money for goods or services
B. People Start Businesses
a. Entrepreneurs start a business to provide goods/services to
other businesses or consumers
i. Oscar Weissenborn was an entrepreneur because he
began to make pencils and sold them
b. Workers depend on their jobs for money
i. Workers need an income and they complete the work
their job needs in order to earn that income
B. Madame C.J. Walker
a. Madame C.J. Walker was one of the first women in the
United States to start her own business and be successful
b. She sold hair products
c. Became a trusted community leader
Lesson 2: How Business Works

Lesson 2 Vocabulary
o Capital: money
o Raw Material: a natural resource that can be used to make
a product
Have students brainstorm different products that are
made from raw materials
Find and show students some examples
Human Resource: the workers who produce goods
and services
Have students go back to the products that they
brainstormed that come from raw materials. Are
human resources necessary in order to produce
these items?
Capital Resource: the tools and buildings a business
uses
Can the products previously brainstormed by
students be produced without capital resources?
Factory: a building in which products are prepared
and packaged
Manufacture: to use machines to make something
Find a video to show students of products being
manufactured in a factory. Discuss the video, and
relate it to the previously mentioned vocabulary
(from both Lesson 1 and Lesson 2).

Land Use: the way most land in a place is used

Land Use and Products Map in textbook
Find and discuss additional maps (i.e. perhaps one
that pertains to Pennsylvania)
Lesson 2: Beyond the Vocabulary
A. Businesses Start with Resources
a. Businesses need materials to create their products
i. Examples of raw materials: metals, rock, wood, and
water
b. Businesses also need human resources and capital
resources to sell and deliver the products
i. Not all businesses create things; some do things for
others like services that need human resources. For
example, an IT company who fixes computers relies
on men and women to complete tasks in order to fix
computers
B. Working with Resources
a. Some businesses need a factory to create their products
b. The Yogurt factory example shoes that there are many
steps in making and selling their yogurt; utilizing many
resources
c. The Yogurt factory uses machines to manufacture their
yogurt
d. Capital helps to buy the raw material and pays the factory
workers
i. Raw material is what the product starts-out as
b. Teaching It: Have children take part in a factory assembly
line by each spooning-in different candies or snacks into a
baggie and pass it down the line. Each student has their
own purpose and at the end they are consumers because
they will take home their baggie. They will learn about
supply and demand, an assembly line, needing materials
to make a product, and the importance of working (and
working as a team).
B. Read a Land Use and Products Map
a. Maps use symbols to show where products are made or
grown
i. These symbols are very valuable to companies and
help them to determine where their factories should
be located to lessen transportation costs

Lesson 3: Trading with the World

Lesson 3 Vocabulary
o International Trade: the buying and selling of goods
between countries

Import: a good brought into one country from another

country
Import/export maps in textbook
Find and discuss additional maps (i.e. perhaps one
that pertains to Pennsylvania)
Have students determine where some of the
products they use in their daily lives come from
Perhaps make it a whole-group activity (i.e. create a
bar graph [math] and map detailing the places that
students most frequently found that their products
came from).
Export: a good shipped from one country to another
Import/export maps in textbook
Find and discuss additional maps (i.e. perhaps one
that pertains to Pennsylvania)
Lesson 3: Beyond the Vocabulary
A. Depending on Each Other
a. Many products that consumers buy come from outside
their community
b. Living in different places creates circumstances in which
products can or cannot be made
i. Example: People in colder climates cannot grow
products that people in warm ones can
ii.
Not many raw materials that are grown can be
harvested from Hawaii. This means that they must
import a lot, which makes food and other things very
expensive to purchase there
b. Improvement in transportation helps products get from one
location to another; making trade possible in more places
i. Shipping is fast in time because of all the ways it can
be taken from one place to another
b. Modern transportation makes international trade possible
B. Where Do Goods Come From?
a. Countries constantly import and export products every day
b. The United States exports computers to countries all over
the world
i. The U.S. imports paper from Canada and cars from
Japan
b. China is one of the worlds main exporters of tea
c. Teaching it: We can use the smartboard to show different
export/import examples (a map with arrows going from the
US to other places vs. other locations to the US) to practice
the idea of what is importing and exporting
B. Volunteering
a. Volunteers donate their time, money, and skills to help
other people in need
o

b. The Red Cross is a worldwide organization that helps

victims of natural disasters
c. Thailand helped victims of Hurricane Katrina by donating
blankets, rice and other foods
Lesson 4: New Inventions
Lesson 4 Vocabulary
o Communication Link: a kind of technology that lets people
share information instantly
Have students brainstorm some different types of
technology (dont limit their thinking to just the
Internet)
Before moving on to e-commerce, have students
think about how they think technology has an impact
on the things that have been discussed thus far (i.e.
buying and selling goods)
E-Commerce: buying and selling goods and services
online, or on the Internet; commerce means
business
Advertisements: notices made to get people to buy
something
Have students think about and discuss all of the
different formats that are used for advertisements
(i.e. TV commercials, newspaper ads, billboards,
internet ads, etc.)
Bring in and show students various examples of
different types of advertisements (make sure they
are age-appropriate)
Brief idea that can be developed for integrating
literacy: have students come up with an invention
for a new product and write about it. You can also
have them create an advertisement for the
good/service.
Lesson 4: Beyond the Vocabulary
A. Moving Information
1. New inventions change the way that people do business
2. Telephones have adapted from only allowing people to talk
over them to now sending written and visual information
1. Many other technologies have adapted also
ii.
Many inventors created the internet and an engineer
created e-mail
1. Both made it faster and easier to communicate with
others
A. Electronic Buying and Selling
a. Communication links have changed the process of selling
because they can buy online versus face to face

i.

New apps make it possible to purchase things quickly

too: i.e. Amazon, Google, Target
b. People can also purchase products using the telephone
c. Many businesses advertise online
B. Tell Fact From Opinion
a. A lot of advertisements use facts and opinions
b. Fact: a true statement that can be proved
c. Opinion: a persons belief that cant be proved
B. Computers, Past and Present
a. The first personal computer was created in 1974
b. Computers store information and can be used to solve
problems, communicate, and play games
c. Computers are continuing to advance and there is software
that is intelligent that can help a human to find an answer
that they are looking for online or in its system
Chapter 12: Saving and Spending Our Money
Lesson 1: Forms of Money

Lesson 1 Vocabulary
o Trade: come up with an age appropriate definition
Create a class market that allows students to act as
producers and consumers as they buy and sell
products
o Barter: to trade without using money
Ask students to recall moments that they have
bartered in their daily lives (perhaps with one
another) without even realizing it (i.e. trading one
item for another when you have something that
someone else wants, and they have something that
you want).
o Money/currency: come up with an age appropriate
definition
Have students brainstorm the different types of ways
in which money is represented (not just different
coins and dollar amounts, but also checks, credit
cards, etc.)
o Mint: a place where coins are made
The United States Mint in Philadelphia
Explore online
Potential field trip opportunity

Lesson 1: Beyond the Vocabulary

A. Trading and Bartering
a. People use money to buy goods and services

i.

Teaching it: Fill out a worksheet with ideas of how

you are a consumer. What do they buy or use at
home? Ask if they realize that they use all of these
things on a daily basis?
b. In the past, people bartered for things
i. This is not always possible to do because some don't
want the good that is offered
ii.
In Roman times, they had their own currency also
b. Ways to purchase services
i. Coins and bills
ii.
Checks can be traded for services (bank takes money
from the persons account)
iii.
Credit cards (buy goods now and pay later)
B. United States Money
a. U.S. Mints
i. The U.S. Mint started making coins in Philadelphia in
1792
ii.
Our coins are made in Washington, D.C.
iii.
Paper bills made in Fort Worth, Texas
Lesson 2: Free Market Economy

Lesson 2 Vocabulary
o Profit: the money left over after all the costs of running a
business have been paid
Integrate math here (i.e. word problems)
o Free Market: people can make and sell any product or
service allowed by law
Have students discuss whether they think this is a
good thing or a bad thing. Have them brainstorm
ideas/a list of pros and cons to support their point of
view.
o Competition: the contest among businesses to sell the
most goods or services
Have students brainstorm how competition affects
the prices of goods and services
Have students compare and contrast the prices of
the same goods/products sold by different
producers/suppliers (i.e. grocery circulars from
different local grocery stores; circulars from different
local department stores; online sales from two
different websites)
o Demand: willingness to buy goods and services
o Supply: the products and services that businesses provide

Supply, demand, and prices facilitate a discussion,

and have students brainstorm how each of these
things are related to one another
Incorporate the use of data tables and graphs, etc.
Scarcity: the supply of a product is not enough to meet the
demand for it
What can happen to the price of a product when it
becomes scarce? Have students think about this, and
support their ideas.
Look for examples found in the news to share with
students

Lesson 2: Beyond the Vocabulary

A. A Free Market Economy
a. The United States government does not tell businesses
what goods to provide
b. Competition in a Free Market
i. Businesses are usually in competition with one
another in order to make a profit = prices are
lowered when competition is high
ii.
Competition affects the prices of goods and services:
must be high enough to make a profit, but low
enough to attract consumers
B. Supply and Demand
a. Teaching It: Introduce this topic by showing this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lPMoyzDiNo (Supply
and Demand for Kids)
b. The wants of consumers dictates what businesses make
i. Incorporate a discussion relating to wants versus
needs
ii.
Look for appropriate resources that may help with
such a discussion
1. BrainPOP for Educators Needs and Wants:
http://educators.brainpop.com/bp-jrtopic/needs-and-wants/
b. There can be a high demand for certain products and those
businesses must meet those demands (cost increases also)
i. Supply and demand affects the prices of goods
ii.
Swatch, a watch brand that was very popular 30+
years ago, was in high demand then. It now is not as
popular, which makes the demand go down.
iii.
Some products, such as Sperry, were popular in the
past then were not in demand, and are now in high
demand again. It is an always changing market.
b. Scarcity of products

i.
ii.

When there is a scarcity of a product, the cost

increases
Scarcity affects the prices of goods

Lesson 3: Earn, Spend, and Save

Lesson 3 Vocabulary
o Savings: the money that is saved
o Deposit: putting money into a bank
o Withdrawal: taking money out of a bank
o Interest: the money a bank pays people for keeping their
money there
o Invest: to buy something that will grow in value
o Budget: a plan for spending and saving money
Have students relate these vocabulary words, as well
as the story offered in the text to their own lives
Perhaps develop an in-class project that requires
students to work with their peers as family
members in order to go through some of the same
steps that the Wright family does in the textbook

Lesson 3: Beyond the Vocabulary

A. A Family Earns Income
a. Each member of a family can earn money
i. The son does yard work, the mother owns a
photography business, and the father studied how to
run a factory and is the manager in a steel factory
b. Class activity: Students could earn money for classroom
jobs they complete such as cleaning the whiteboard.
B. A Family Spends and Saves
a. It is important to make decisions about money as a family
b. Class activity: Have 3 envelopes with save, spend, &
donate written on them. Act as though we got an
allowance & explain the 70, 20, 10 % idea of splitting-up
money.
c. Spending money
i. Income is usually spent on things that a family needs
to use every day
1. Food, housing, clothing
ii.
Income that is left over can be used for wants
1. Karate lessons, movie tickets, or CDs
iii.
Some families do not spend all of their money on
themselves
1. Sharing money with groups that help people in
their community is called donating
iv.
Families can also save leftover money as well

1. It is very important to have a savings and you

can follow a rule that guides you in how much
to spend on needs, wants, and put away in
savings
v. Class activity: Create a classroom store. In the store
can be stickers, pencils, erasers, and notebooks.
Students can purchase these items with the money
they earn from doing their classroom jobs.
b. Saving money
i. Many families put their money into a bank account to
save it
1. Class activity: Create a classroom bank.
Students can learn how to deposit money into
their savings account and how to withdrawal
money when they would like to purchase
something from the classroom store.
ii.
A bank pays people for keeping their money there
iii.
Sometimes banks loan other people deposited in
their accounts
1. These are called loans = must be paid back in
increments
iv.
One kind of investment is buying part of someones
business
1. People hope to make money when these
businesses grow
B. Family Makes a Budget
a. Many people keep a budget to keep track of spending and
saving their money
b. Making a budget
i. Write down each family members job and the
income made from them
ii.
List ways they spend money and organize the money
into 5 groups: shelter, food and clothing, fun, giving,
and savings
1. Write the totals for each groups spending
iii.
The budget, when complete, shows the family how
they spend their money and can be economically
successful
iv.
It is now even easier to make a budget, as programs
such as Excel give templates to easily make one
b. Reaching Economic Goals
i. If a family follows their budget, they will reach their
goal
B. Make an Economic Choice
a. When you choose to buy a product, you are giving-up
buying another product

b. When buying a product, you will give up money to get what

you want
B. To wrap up this lesson, we could watch this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0k9K7dnDxKg about advice
from kids on saving money. It is not always accurate so it will be
important to talk about the correct answers to these questions
after. This is neat though because children may have these same
questions and will want to know the answers to them.
Lesson 4: World Business

Lesson 4 Vocabulary
o Cooperative: a group of workers who own a business
Have students think about and discuss the potential
pros and cons of each worker having a vote when
making business decisions

Lesson 4: Beyond the Vocabulary

A. A Business District
a. Different businesses have headquarters in different
countries; depending on one another
b. Businesses depend on one another
i. They use technology to communicate with one
another and share information
ii.
They depend on other companies for parts that they
use as well as transportation and storage
B. A Community Cooperative
a. Cooperative workplaces allow each worker to vote on
decisions about the company because everyone owns the
company
b. Cooperatives help the community
i.

Most of the money earned from the cooperative

helps that cooperatives economy and community