Grades K-2, 3-5
Communities: What They Provide For Us
Objective
Students will be able to:
- Organize goods and services provided by communities as well as the jobs people have in communities.
Standard
Standard: 1
- Students will understand that: Productive resources are limited. Therefore, people cannot have all the goods and services they want; as a result, they must choose some things and give up others.
- Students will be able to use this knowledge to: Identify what they gain and what they give up when they make choices.
Standard: 1
- Students will understand that: Most people earn wage and salary income in return for working, and they can also earn income from interest, dividends, rents, entrepreneurship, business profits, or increases in the value of investments. Employee compensation may also include access to employee benefits such as retirement plans and health insurance. Employers generally pay higher wages and salaries to more educated, skilled, and productive workers. The decision to invest in additional education or training can be made by weighing the benefit of increased income-earning and career potential against the opportunity costs in the form of time, effort, and money. Spendable income is lower than gross income due to taxes assessed on income by federal, state, and local governments.
Standard: 2
- Students will understand that: A budget is a plan for allocating a person’s spendable income to necessary and desired goods and services. When there is sufficient money in their budget, people may decide to give money to others, save, or invest to achieve future goals. People can often improve their financial wellbeing by making well-informed spending decisions, which includes critical evaluation of price, quality, product information, and method of payment. Individual spending decisions may be influenced by financial constraints, personal preferences, unique needs, peers, and advertising.
Concepts
In this economics lesson, students will create communities to learn how they provide goods and services.
Procedure
Warm-Up
Begin by saying:
“Let’s pretend! You are mayor of a new up and coming community. You need to make sure your town is safe so that many new people will move into your area. When you build your community you will need to match each worker to the job that she or he provides. Notice whether that person provides a good or a service to the community. It is important that both types of people live in your community in order for it to grow.”
Modeling
Open the PowerPoint You, Me, and Community and show the slides on a projector. The slide deck reviews concepts about goods and services within a community. A PBS video is included in the PowerPoint slide called PBS Kids song-You, Me & Community: Together We’re the Key.
Introduce the idea of building your own community. Distribute a copy of City Planning Designs to each students and discuss how different cities and communities can be organized as a whole class. The 6 different city designs listed in the attached City Designs Handout will help students prepare their community layout. Alternative: Simply choose one of the city designs to review with the class instead of showing all six.
While discussing the types of city design, have the class vote on which design they like best. Draw that design on your whiteboard, or on a sheet of paper. Have students list what types of businesses they think their community should have. Be sure to identify if the business provides a good or a service with the students.
Group Activity
Now that students have seen how to build a community, students will be building their own community in pairs. Instruct students to get into pairs and use a piece of blank computer paper to design their own community. For more space, have students tape 2 pieces of paper side-by-side. The blank page will be the land their community will be built on.
Review the PDF City Planning Designs again and explain that students can use one of these 6 designs to plan their community. Explain to each group that their community should have at least:
- 1 road
- 2 businesses that provide a service
- 2 businesses that produce a good
- 2 houses
Make copies of the House Cut-Out for students to use. Have students choose which goods and services businesses should provide by using the provided Business Labels and adding them to their building cut-outs. Note: it may be easier for them to add the labels before they cut their buildings. Students can create their own business if they prefer by using one of the blank labels. Remind students they will need to leave space for at least 2 residential homes. Remind students to think about what their ideal community would look like while they are planning their community.
Individual Activity
Reinforce to the class that a good is something people want they can touch and hold. A service is something that one person does for someone else. Have students work individually on a computer. Students will play the Goods and Services Drag and Drop Activity to determine which items are goods and which items are services. Have students right-click and print their work and write their name on the piece of paper. Students should submit their answers.
Assessment
Print copies of the Goods and Services Quiz. Have students complete the quiz and submit their worksheet to the teacher.
Extension
Activity 1
Have 2 groups of students combine their communities to see what happens when a community grows. Have the students work together to interview each other and discuss the following questions:
- Do you have any businesses in common?
- Do you think their new larger community is missing a provider of a good or service?
- Would you have planned your community differently if you knew it would grow over time?
- Can you think of any problems your new larger community might have?
Activity 2
Have students find 2 businesses that provide either goods or services in their community. Students should share out their businesses at the beginning of the next class as a bell ringer. They could write them down as a warm-up or have them write them on the board as they enter the class.
Activity 3
Project the YouTube video by PBS Let’s Build a City: Crash Course Kids. This video introduces students specifically to urban planning and might be a useful follow-up to the lesson for teachers to continue the discussion about different types of communities.
Resources
Related Resources
Grades K-2, 3-5
Goods & Services (Lightning Round)
Grades K-2
Matching Goods and Services
Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8