*NEW* Saturday Sancocho (PDF, 18 pgs., 1.98 MB)
By Leyla Torres / ISBN: 0-374-46451-0
Age Level: 8-10 years

Lesson Description: Students listen to a story and answer questions about a family in Central or South America that barters to get the ingredients for chicken sancocho, a kind of stew. The students complete sentences that record the various trades carried out by the family to obtain all of the ingredients for the sancocho. They also participate in trading activities that illustrate money’s advantages over barter.

On the Court with... Michael Jordan (PDF, 14 pgs., 189 KB)
By Matt Christopher / ISBN: 0-316-13792-8
Age Level: 9-11 years

Lesson Description: Students participate in a simulation to learn about choices, alternatives, opportunity cost and human capital. They learn the PACED decision-making model, apply the model and recognize that learning the model is an investment in their human capital. Student groups build a tower with paper cups. Each group has different physical abilities based on an assigned level of human capital.

Monster Musical Chairs (PDF, 12 pgs., 366 KB)
By Stewart Murphy / ISBN: 0-06-028020-4
Age Level: 5-6 years

Lesson Description: Students listen to the story and identify the scarcity problem the monsters had—not enough chairs for every monster to have one. Students wear a picture of a want they have drawn and play a version of musical chairs in which the chairs are labeled goods. Students learn that a good can satisfy a want. They also learn that, because of scarcity, not everyone’s wants are satisfied.

A Basket of Bangles: How a Business Begins (PDF, 16 pgs., 3.7 MB)
By Ginger Howard / ISBN: 0-7613-1902-6
Age Level: 9-11 years

Lesson Description: In this lesson, students listen to a story and answer questions about lending in Bangladesh. They complete a diagram that shows the impact of lending on a community. Working as a class, they compare the similarities and differences between banks lending in the United States and the Grameen Bank lending in Bangladesh. Students work with a partner to estimate profits based on Sufiya’s prices and costs in the book.

Less Than Zero (PDF, 8 pgs., 109 KB)
By Stuart J. Murphy / ISBN: 0-06-000126-7
Age Level: 8-10 years

Lesson Description: In this lesson, students learn about saving, savings goals, interest, borrowing and opportunity cost by reading Less Than Zero by Stuart J. Murphy. Students use a number line and a line graph to track spending and borrowing in the story.

The Pickle Patch Bathtub (PDF, 10 pgs., 294 KB)
By Frances Kennedy / ISBN: 1-58246-112-0
Age Level: 8-10 years

Lesson Description: In this lesson, students learn about opportunity cost, saving, savings goals and a savings plan by reading The Pickle Patch Bathtub by Frances Kennedy. Students will develop savings plans that lead to their own savings goals.

So Few of Me (PDF, 19 pgs., 308 KB)
By Peter H. Reynolds / ISBN: 076362623-6
Age Level: 7-9 years

Lesson Description: In this lesson, students learn about scarcity, alternatives, choices and opportunity costs by reading So Few of Me by Peter H. Reynolds. The class participates in an activity to help Perdita figure out her morning schedule at summer camp. The students identify Perdita’s alternatives, choose activities for her and identify the opportunity costs of those choices. Then, students work in groups to make choices and identify opportunity costs for Juan’s after-school schedule.