1.7 Overview Social Studies SOL

1.7 OVERVIEW

The student will explain the difference between goods and services and will describe how people are both buyers and sellers of goods and services.

SUGGESTED INSTRUCTIONAL STRATEGIES

Build background knowledge by discussing a family shopping trip. What items were bought and for what purpose?
Introduce and define the term goods as related to economics. Teach children the goods song below.

"Goods" to the tune of "Row, Row, Row Your Boat"
"Goods, goods, goods are things
people make and use.
They satisfy our needs and wants,
Goods are for you and me."
Read selected stories and books where examples of goods are demonstrated.
Brainstorm a list of goods for each letter of the alphabet. Compile a class ABC book of goods by having each student illustrate a good that begins with a specific letter of the alphabet.
Use the following Web site as a resource for grade one economics: http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/1st.pdf.
Use the following Web site, Economics and Geography Lessons for 32 Children's Books, to introduce basic economic terms: http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/socialstd/Econ_Geog.html.
Brainstorm a list of community jobs.
Provide an assortment of hats (or have students bring in hats) worn by various workers and discuss the types of jobs the workers perform. If hats are not available, provide pictures of workers. Ask students which workers produce goods.
Introduce and define the term services as activities that satisfy people’s needs and wants. Classify hats according to whether that worker provides a good or service. Discuss why services are needed.
Create a class ABC book of jobs that provide services. Review SOL K.6 for descriptions of work that people do and the job names.
Create a chart of jobs and classify whether those workers provide goods or services.
Write about a job students would like to have when they grow up. They can identify whether that job will provide a good or service and explain why.
Use a Venn diagram or other graphic organizer to compare and contrast goods and services.
Play various games in which students must identify whether something is a good or service. Have students create a flash card, writing the term good on one side and service on the other. As the teacher calls out an item, students will flash the correct side to identify if it is a good or service.
Build background knowledge about being a buyer. Tell the students to pretend they are getting ready to start a new school year. Discuss what things they do to get prepared. Make sure back-to-school shopping is identified. What supplies are on the list to buy? Explain to students that they become “buyers” to get ready for school. Brainstorm a class list of goods that are bought to use for school. Also discuss what services are paid for to prepare for school, for example, getting a haircut, getting shots . . . Explain that a buyer is a person who uses money to purchase goods or services.
Create a class store for children to role-play the act of buying.
Play an ”I went to the store” cumulative ABC game. The first student will state: “I went to the store and I bought an apple.” The next student should state, “I went to the store and I bought an apple and a blanket.” Continue adding goods beginning with each successive letter of the alphabet.
Read books or show a video that highlights a seller or a selling situation. Discuss how a seller is a person who sells goods or services.
Brainstorm a list of "sellers." Who are "sellers" in the community? Have students pretend to run a store of their own. What kind of store would it be? What would they sell? Write sentences and draw pictures to illustrate their sentence. (For example: The name of my store is Pet Company. I sell dog food, cat food, and fish food.)
Gather and classify information to explain differences between a buyer and a seller.
Create a classroom factory to provide students with opportunities to produce goods and then a market day to actively experience being buyers and sellers.
Reward students with play money. Students can earn money based on daily behavior or activities within the classroom and a class “treasure box” or store can be established so students can actively practice economics skills such as saving, spending, making choices, scarcity, etc.
Review how people are both buyers and sellers.

WEB SITES

http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM465
This NCEE lesson introduces students to work activities that grown-ups do to earn money. Students also explore tasks they might do at home to earn money.

http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM357
This NCEE lesson will help students become good consumers and producers by taking turns buying and selling things in a classroom-created market.

http://www.econedlink.org/lessons/index.cfm?lesson=EM269
This NCEE link provides a lesson plan for introducing and discussing buying by using the Norman Rockwell picture, “Curiosity Shop” as a discussion starter. It provides links to view the painting and also includes and interactive game to help students better understand goods and services.

http://www.econed-in.org/lesson_plans/pd1.html
Here is a lesson on goods and services from the Indiana Council of Economic Education.

http://www.mcps.k12.md.us/curriculum/socialstd/Econ_Geog.html
This Web site offers geography and economics lesson plans based on 32 primary elementary books.

http://www.pen.k12.va.us/VDOE/Instruction/info.pdf
This Virginia Department of Education resource provides a discussion of the economics concepts and principles in the economics strand of the History and Social Science Standards of Learning.

http://chumby.dlib.vt.edu/melissa/posters/firstposter.html
Social studies curriculum resources poster sets are available for grade one.

LITERATURE LINKS

The difference between goods and services

Cooper, Jason.
Money through the Ages. The Rourke Book Company, Inc., 2003.
This book provides a brief history of currency through the ages and discusses the concept of goods and services.