You only have enough money to spend on either the carnival or the toy not both. What would you do? Would you save it for the Carnival or spend it on the toy?
Social Constructivist Learning Theory Lesson Plan – This is a Two Day Lesson
Title: Community Economics – Social Studies
Grade Level: 1st Grade
Materials Needed:
- Monopoly Money and wallets for examples on discussions and to learn different currencies.
- Graphs to show spending and Job Charts to show how to earn an allowance.
iii. Paper and pencil for addition and subtraction and for personal graphing of their savings or spending.
Objective:
Learn about making Decisions on either Spending money or Saving money. By the end of the lesson students will be able to count their money, chart their savings and figure out if they have enough of money to purchase an item on their “wish” list.
When the students enter the room I will hand them each of them a wallet of money containing mixed currency and coin. I will be wearing a hat decorated with Monopoly money and have money taped to my top as well items around the room that can be purchase with price tags, small puzzles, snacks, finger puppets etc. There will also be blank and completed chore charts around the room for example purpose.
Once class has settled I will state our Learning Intention: Today we will explore decisions that people make about spending or saving money by “taking a stand”. And then state what our Success criteria will be that I can “take a stand” and debate what people should do with their money.
As a group, the class will open their wallets and ask them what they have and to also count it. This ensures that each student knows what each denomination is and can add up their money correctly. Once I am certain that everyone knows their bills and coins and can properly add them up with paper and pencil we will move on to various discussions
The discussion will begin with what can the do with their money? Buy their favorite food or their favorite toy? Save it for a really big item that you would like to purchase? Share it with a sibling or parent? I am hopeful that these questions and then by guiding their responses we can create a healthy conversation regarding their wants and needs. I want that toy because it is my favorite or I need that toy to complete my set or to give to my baby brother.
After asking the above questions I will then direct the conversation towards what their wants are, what are some things that you really want to buy and then list them on a chart. And then ask them how much do you think it will cost to buy those items? Next to each item I will add a price; ex: a red Slinky costs $3.50. After we have completed this exercise I will then move on to the next portion of this exercise.
How can we get the money to buy the things that we want? What can we do to earn the money to purchase the things you want? I will then discuss how they can do chores at home to help our family and explain that the money they get is called an allowance.
At this point I will set the children up in groups to discuss and to make a list of chores that they can do to earn money. I advise the children that we are going to create a master list together of chores and how much they think they should be paid for those chores.
After the children have sat an discussed this topic for 15 minutes we chart what they think their chores should be and how much they should be paid for those chores. I tell the children that they are to bring home these lists and go over them with their parents and ask for their input.
Day 2
Once the students are settled in the classroom and ready to begin the day we start back on our Community Economics lesson and review the prior days lesson. Upon completion of the review we begin with the next portion titled “Taking a Stand”.
Discussion and scenarios:
You have been saving your money for a long time. You really want to a new video game. You have enough money to buy it and your parents said they will take you on Saturday to buy it.
Then your friends tell you about the carnival that will open next week. There will be games , rides, food and prizes. All your friends will be their too!
Problem:
You only have enough money to spend on either the carnival or the toy not both. What would you do? Would you save it for the Carnival or spend it on the toy?
