Curated OER
Checkbook
Develop life skills through the use of an AppleWorks Banking kit, a spreadsheet program, and a role play activity. This life skills instructional activity utilizes technology plus busines and social studies principles. Note: All...
Curated OER
Revolutionary Money
Examine paper money from the American revolution! Historians study the paper bills and discuss the history of money. How has money changed over the times? Activities are included.
Curated OER
Life of a Dollar Bill
Pupils examine the basic need for money and the circular flow of resources between households, businesses, government, and financial institutions. They discover how money gets into circulation and how it facilitates the production of...
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Borrowing and Lending
Fourth graders investigate the advantages and disadvantages of borrowing money. In this financial awareness lesson, 4th graders read the book Ben and Me and create a table displaying the advantages and disadvantages of borrowing money.
Curated OER
Touring Delmarva
Students plan a trip. In this trip planning lesson, students use a map to find where they would like to visit with a pretend family of 4. They get a specific amount of money and time and need to decide where they will stay and what they...
Curated OER
A Day in the Life of a Homeless Person
Learners examine the day in the life of a homeless person. In this humanitarian lesson, students examine the life of a homeless person while discovering the importance of social justice in our society.
Federal Reserve Bank
Cotton in My Sack
As part of a study of saving choices and opportunity costs, class members listen to a reading of Lois Lenski's Cotton in My Sack, and then evaluate the spending choices made by the Hutley family.
PBS
Cesar Chavez: Labor Leader and Civil Rights Activist
Cesar Chavez believed so much in the cause of farmworkers that he put his money where his mouth was. Chavez quit his well-paying job to organize them into labor unions. Using a speech, photograph, and short biographical video, pupils...
University of Texas
Scarcity
How can having too little of something impact your life? Scholars investigate the concept of scarcity in their own lives and in the overall picture of the economy. Brainstorming activities as well as student-parent work bring to light...
Curated OER
Civil War: The North History Lesson
Students demonstrate their reading comprehension skills, including reading strategies, inference, literal meaning, and critical analysis.
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Molly Brown and the Titanic History Lesson
Students practice using their reading comprehension skills by reading about Molly Brown and the Titanic. They answer questions related to the reading to test for comprehension.
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Economics
Fourth graders study the effects of economics in their daily life. In this economics lesson, 4th graders construct a list of wants and needs if they had an unlimited supply of money. Students discuss how economics help people make...
Curated OER
Harmony Day - Driven Out
Children explore what life might be like for refugees and people migrating to a different country. Each student lists the five most precious items he/she owns and is then given an extreme scenario to consider. By the end of the exercise,...
North Carolina State University
Construction
Engineering design projects serve as great opportunities for collaborative problem solving. In this case, students work in small groups designing, building, and eventually testing a structure that meets a teacher-specified objective. It...
San Francisco Public Utilities Commission
Water from the Well
How much water does it take to brush your teeth? How about to wash your clothes? Perform an experiment that measures water usage in everyday tasks and compares them to the days before indoor plumbing, specifically the California gold...
Arizona Cooperative Extension
Geocaching
Using GPS units, small groups participate in a scavenger hunt to find an object that you have hidden. They use coordinates for stopping points along a pre-planned path to get to the final cache. This is a terrific activity to include in...
Curated OER
A Penny for Your Thoughts
Students collect pennies to donate to Kiwanis International for their international effort to buy salt for children's bone development. They calculate the amount of money donated, calculate how many children will receive salt, and write...
Curated OER
Migration During the Great Depression: Living History
Young scholars interview immigrants of Central Florida and photograph them to learn their oral history and life stories. In this immigration lesson plan, students discover where people come from, and write about the life story of this...
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I Watch Babies Grow
Students examine the potential of human beings. In this philanthropy lesson, students research the life of peer as they interview them and create a timeline that features important moments in their lives.
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Distribution of Goods
Students study the concept of scarcity and that it requires people to make choices when trying to satisfy their unlimited wants. Groups are given bags of items and must distribute the items in the bag in a way that is acceptable to...
Curated OER
Mr. Popper's Penguin's
Fourth graders locate Antarctica and recognize it as the setting of Mr. Popper's Penguins. For this Mr. Popper's Penguins lesson, 4th graders understand the financial decisions made by Mr. Popper. Students discuss wise spending. Students...
Curated OER
Million Dollar Project
Young scholars calculate how they will spend a million dollars. In this millionaire math lesson, students complete a worksheet and then make a poster of how they would spend a million dollars. Each item and its cost must be shown. a...
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Serfs and Lords
Students determine what the roles of serfs and lords were in feudal society. In this feudalism lesson, students examine what life was like for the different classes by looking at farm and manor life. They listen to Till Year's Good End,...
Curated OER
Connection to the Past
Students learn basic interviewing and biography writing skills. They first identify a senior citizen in their community who remembers the Great Depression.