Salem Lesson Plan Format

GRADE/CLASS: 4th grade

SUBJECT AREA(S): Social Studies

UNIT TOPIC: North Carolina Economics

DAY: Wednesday

Desired Learning Outcome:

Students will understand that personal financial decisions can have benefits and consequences on everyday life. Essential Question:

What financial decisions can I make that will benefit my life?Common Core/North Carolina Essential Standard:NCES 4.E.1.3: Explain how personal financial decisions such as spending, saving, and paying taxes can positively and/or negatively affect everyday life.

Learner Prior Knowledge/Learner Background Experiences:

Students will have a working definition of wants and needs to base their decisions on. Students will have knowledge in NC industries and some basic understandings of finances (people make and spend money).

Materials and Resources:

several catalogues from different stores (enough for about 3 per table),large foam die, whiteboard and markers, document camera, notecards with options and information for category choices and pictures, 1/2 sheets of notebook paper for assessment.

Teaching Strategies:

Introductory Strategies

Students will begin the lesson in table groups. Each group will have a few cataloguesI will begin the lesson by showing students some department store and electronics store ads, piquing interest in the consumer market. What is one thing that you would buy? We will list items in prices on the board to get some idea of prices and splurge items that are regularly presented in the media. As a class, we will then brainstorm the other key items that families need to spend money on first, allowing all ideas, but the key needs of shelter, food, and transportation need to be present.

Developmental Strategies

Students will then be divided into three equal groups simply by numbering off, a random selection. Each group will begin with the same income and family status based on US census information. Students will roll the die to see which group goes first-highest number wins. Groups will choose shelter, transportation, grocery store budget, entertainment budget, and savings options in that order. There will also be 2 splurge opportunities, where any of the teams my choose to buy the item, if they have money. Since there will be three groups, there will be three choices for each category 1. luxury, 2. moderate, or 3. basic/frugal. The first roll of the die will determine only which group chooses first--with subsequent rounds, the group with the most income at the beginning of the round will have priority choice for the options. Note: the terms choice and decision must be emphasized throughout (i.e. team 2, has the advantage of choosing first. Talk about your decision with your team first. Which house do you choose? house 1, house 2, house 3). The remaining income for each team will be recorded on the whiteboard after each round. Discussion about rationale should not be explained immediately--allow for some hostility to build! - The object is that the team who makes the responsible choices be able to keep the financial advantage and continue to make the responsible choices. In the event that a team has to take on a choice that goes beyond their means, the team will have to choose a part time job and will automatically forfeit their splurge item.

Concluding Strategies

Back in table groups, now a mix of students from the three groups, students will be given 5-10 minutes to discuss the following questions:

-Did some teams end up having to choose options that they didnt want to take?

-Did one group end up with better stuff in the end?

-If you were going to choose all of these aspects of your life, which options would you choose and why?

As a class, we will discuss the benefits of choosing to live within your means and saving by noting which groups ended up with more or less money and looking at the choices that they made. Individually, students will complete a 3-sentence I learned of the activity and discussion that addresses the following question in at least one of the sentences: What are two things that I can choose to do with my money when I grow up that will be responsible choices?

Assessment:

Assessment will be formative for the effectiveness of the activity in achieving the learning goal. Individually, students will complete a 3-sentence I learned of the activity and discussion that addresses the following question in at least one of the sentences: What are two things that I can choose to do with my money when I grow up that will be responsible choices? They will complete this on a 1/2 sheet of notebook paper.