Lesson Ideas

Inquiry Tasks

• Open for Business, from EconEd, is an extended lesson with multiple activities that ask students to distinguish between businesses that produce goods and those that provide services. Ask students to investigate how entrepreneurs take risks in order to reap rewards in a market economy. Encourage students to explore the story of Arthur and his pet shop (videoclip read-aloud available) to weigh the risks Arthur took in order to become a successful entrepreneur. Invite students and their families to participate in the Welcome to Entrepreneurville "shoebox" project.

• Working Hard for a Living, from EconEd, introduces students to the economic concepts of labor, earnings, and human capital through an exploration of tasks students might do at home to earn money. Ask students to explain how their choices are influenced by factors such as pay, the amount of effort involved, job availability, and whether they will enjoy the work. Engage students in reinforcing their understanding of labor and earnings by participating in two online interactive match games.

• A Chair for My Mother, from EconEd, encourages students to consider how people are human resources who make goods or provide services for consumers, using a children's book to illustrate economic concepts (videoclip read-aloud available). Ask students to explain how characters in the book are human resources who save part of the income they earn. Assist students to identify other human resources and state how the mental and physical work of those human resources allows them to earn income. Extend student learning by providing an opportunity for students to match goods and services, using the Goods and Services online interactive, provided by the Council for Economic Education. 

• Moonjar: Teaching Money Basics, a unit of multiple lesson ideas, encourages students to examine why people save money and how budgets, even from small consumer items, can help students reach economic goals and security. Engage students in a simulation to save for a school carnival, practice math and money skills, and plan for sharing their earnings with others.

Primary Sources 

Secondary Sources 

• How to Buy Savings Bonds for Kids 

• Elmo Learns to Save, Sesame Street, 2-minute video. 

• Dollars and Sense, 3-minute videoclip from School House Rocks.