Being Resourceful

Summary

Students will identify natural, capital and human resources. They will be able to explain the economic concepts of production and production resources.

Objectives

  • Students will identify natural, capital and human resources.
  • They will be able to explain the economic concepts of production and production resources.

Subject Area

  • Coins & Mint

Grades

  • 2nd
  • 3rd

Class Time

  • Total Time: 91-120 Minutes minutes

Materials

  • 1 copy of an age-appropriate text that relates to earning money, such as:
    • How the Second Grade Got $8,205.50 to Visit the Statue of Liberty by Nathan Zimelman
    • The Berenstain Bears' Trouble With Money by Stan and Jan Berenstain
    • The New Fire Truck by Mercer Mayer
    • Money Troubles by Bill Cosby
    • Owen Foote, Money Man by Stephanie Greene
    • The Cool Crazy Crickets to the Rescue! by David Elliott
    • A Chair For My Mother by Vera B. Williams
  • Copies of "Production Chart" and "Productive Resources" pages
  • Markers
  • Writing paper
  • Pencils
  • 1 copy of an age-appropriate text that relates to dairy production, such as:
    • Milk: From Cow to Carton by Aliki
    • Extra Cheese, Please!: Mozzarella's Journey from Cow to Pizza by Chris Peterson
    • From Cow to Ice Cream by Bertram T. Knight
    • The Milk Makers by Gail Gibbons

Background Knowledge

Students should have a basic knowledge of goods and services.

Lesson Steps

Session 1

  1. Introduce students to the selected text about earning money. As a group, preview the text and illustrations to generate observations about what is occurring at different points in the book.
  2. Read the selected text to the class and attend to any unfamiliar vocabulary.
  3. Ask your students how they would raise money for a special purchase they needed to make if they did not have any money and were not given money from the school or from their parents.
  4. Have the students conduct a Think-Pair-Share to brainstorm some ways in which the class could raise money to make their purchase. As the students share their ideas, list these on the chalk board.
  5. Point out that each of the ideas listed requires the students to produce goods or to provide a service to someone else (a consumer). Explain that when an item is made, grown, or refined in order to sell it to someone else, you are producing that item.
  6. Explain that for this activity they will pretend to produce a good that they would sell to raise the necessary money. Ask the students to eliminate any services that they might have listed.
  7. Take a vote to determine the good that they will be producing.
  8. Display a copy of the "Production Chart" for all of your students to see, and post it in a visible location throughout the lesson.
  9. Once a product has been decided upon, ask the students what steps are required to make this product. You will want to guide the students to list these steps in a sequential order. On the "Production Chart," write the steps in the proper order in the column labeled "Production Steps."

Session 2

  1. Revisit the activity from the previous day, asking students to explain what it means to produce goods.
  2. Refer to the "Production Chart" from the previous session and instruct the students to look at the steps that they listed. Look closely at the first step and ask how it will get accomplished. What will they need in order to complete this step of production? Have students list the materials and place them in the appropriate category (natural, human, or capital resources). Students will likely list natural and capital resources, but might need a reminder to consider human resources. Point out that you're listing their comments in three different columns.
  3. Ask the students what the items listed under "Natural Resources" have in common. Ask what they think a natural resource might be. Verify that a natural resource is one supplied by nature.
  4. Ask the students what the items listed under "Capital Resources" have in common. Ask what they think a capital resource might be. Verify that a capital resource is one used to make other goods (machines and equipment would fall into this category).
  5. Ask the students what the items listed under "Human Resources" have in common. Ask what they think a human resource might be. Verify that a human resource is a person who contributes to the production of a final product.
  6. Divide the class into groups based on the number of steps remaining in the production process for the class project (one group per step).
  7. Instruct each group to select a recorder to write down the information that they discuss, and a reporter to share this information with the class.
  8. Assign each group a step in the production process, and allow them 5 to 10 minutes to determine what natural, capital and human resources are required to complete this step.
  9. In the order of the steps, invite the reporter from the related group to share their information with the class. Ask the group recorder to add these steps to the class chart. If any resources are categorized incorrectly, ask if the resource might fit better in another category.

Session 3

  1. Describe the 50 State Quarters Program for background information, if necessary, using the example of your own state, if available. Then display the transparency or photocopy of the Wisconsin quarter reverse. Locate Wisconsin on a classroom map. Note its position in relation to your school's location.
  2. With the students, examine the design on this coin's reverse. Ask students to identify objects they recognize: a cow, cheese, and an ear of corn.
  3. Ask students why they think that Wisconsin chose to put these images on their quarter. Guide students to consider the project that they've been working on over the past two days. Answers should relate to the idea that Wisconsin is well known for its farming industry.
  4. Look closely at the items on the quarter and ask the students which items are resources and which are products. Are the resources natural, capital, or human?
  5. Introduce students to the selected text about dairy production. As a group, preview the text and illustrations to generate observations about what is occurring at different points in the book.
  6. Read the selected text to the class and attend to any unfamiliar vocabulary.
  7. Distribute a copy of the "Productive Resources Chart" to each student and explain that, as they listen to this book a second time, they will pay attention to how the product in the book is being created. As they hear resources mentioned, they should list them in the appropriate category on their chart.
  8. Read this book to the group again. Guide students through the process of identifying resources within the book. Direct students to add each resource to the appropriate column on their charts.
  9. Allow the students to compare their charts with a partner. While working with a partner, the students should discuss whether the resources have each been placed in the correct category.

Differentiated Learning Options

Provide additional time to students to complete their charts before comparing their work with a partner.

Assess

Use the worksheets and class participation to assess whether the students have met the lesson objectives.

Connections to Related Material

Common Core Standards

Discipline: Language Arts Domain: W.2 Writing Grade(s): Grade 2 Cluster: Text Types and Purposes Standards:
  • W.2.1. Write opinion pieces in which they introduce the topic or book they are writing about, state an opinion, supply reasons that support the opinion, use linking words (e.g., because, and, also) to connect opinion and reasons, and provide a concluding statement or section.
  • W.2.2. Write informative/explanatory texts in which they introduce a topic, use facts and definitions to develop points, and provide a concluding statement or section.
  • W.2.3. Write narratives in which they recount a well-elaborated event or short sequence of events, include details to describe actions, thoughts, and feelings, use temporal words to signal event order, and provide a sense of closure.
Discipline: Language Arts Domain: RL.2 Reading: Literature Grade(s): Grade 2 Cluster: Craft and Structure Standards:
  • RL.2.4. Describe how words and phrases (e.g., regular beats, alliteration, rhymes, repeated lines) supply rhythm and meaning in a story, poem, or song.
  • RL.2.5. Describe the overall structure of a story, including describing how the beginning introduces the story and the ending concludes the action.
  • RL.2.6. Acknowledge differences in the points of view of characters, including by speaking in a different voice for each character when reading dialogue aloud.
Discipline: Language Arts Domain: RL.2 Reading: Literature Grade(s): Grade 2 Cluster: Integration of Knowledge and Ideas Standards:
  • RL.2.7. Use information gained from the illustrations and words in a print or digital text to demonstrate understanding of its characters, setting, or plot.
  • RL.2.8. not applicable to literature.
  • RL.2.9. Compare and contrast two or more versions of the same story (e.g., Cinderella stories) by different authors or from different cultures.
Discipline: Language Arts Domain: RL.2 Reading: Literature Grade(s): Grade 2 Cluster: Key Ideas and Details Standards:
  • RL.2.1. Ask and answer such questions as who, what, where, when, why, and how to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.
  • RL.2.2. Recount stories, including fables and folktales from diverse cultures, and determine their central message, lesson, or moral.
  • RL.2.3. Describe how characters in a story respond to major events and challenges.
Discipline: Language Arts Domain: L.2 Language Grade(s): Grade 2 Cluster: Conventions of Standard English Standards:
  • L.2.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
    • Use collective nouns (e.g., group).
    • Form and use frequently occurring irregular plural nouns (e.g., feet, children, teeth, mice, fish).
    • Use reflexive pronouns (e.g., myself, ourselves)
    • Form and use the past tense of frequently occurring irregular verbs (e.g., sat, hid, told).
    • Use adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.
    • Produce, expand, and rearrange complete simple and compound sentences (e.g., The boy watched the movie; The little boy watched the movie; The action movie was watched by the little boy).
  • L.2.2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
    • Capitalize holidays, product names, and geographic names.
    • Use commas in greetings and closings of letters.
    • Use an apostrophe to form contractions and frequently occurring possessives.
    • Generalize learned spelling patterns when writing words (e.g., cage --> badge; boy --> boil).
    • Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.
Discipline: Language Arts Domain: L.3 Language Grade(s): Grade 2 Cluster: Conventions of Standard English Standards:
  • L.3.1. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English grammar and usage when writing or speaking.
    • Explain the function of nouns, pronouns, verbs, adjectives, and adverbs in general and their functions in particular sentences.
    • Form and use regular and irregular plural nouns.
    • Use abstract nouns (e.g., childhood).
    • Form and use regular and irregular verbs.
    • Form and use the simple (e.g., I walked; I walk; I will walk) verb tenses.
    • Ensure subject-verb and pronoun-antecedent agreement.
    • Form and use comparative and superlative adjectives and adverbs, and choose between them depending on what is to be modified.
    • Use coordinating and subordinating conjunctions.
    • Produce simple, compound, and complex sentences.
  • L.3.2. Demonstrate command of the conventions of standard English capitalization, punctuation, and spelling when writing.
    • Capitalize appropriate words in titles.
    • Use commas in addresses.
    • Use commas and quotation marks in dialogue.
    • Form and use possessives.
    • Use conventional spelling for high-frequency and other studied words and for adding suffixes to base words (e.g., sitting, smiled, cries, happiness).
    • Use spelling patterns and generalizations (e.g., word families, position-based spellings, syllable patterns, ending rules, meaningful word parts) in writing words.
    • Consult reference materials, including beginning dictionaries, as needed to check and correct spellings.
Discipline: Language Arts Domain: SL.2 Speaking and Listening Grade(s): Grade 2 Cluster: Presentation of Knowledge and Ideas Standards:
  • SL.2.4. Tell a story or recount an experience with appropriate facts and relevant, descriptive details, speaking audibly in coherent sentences.
  • SL.2.5. Create audio recordings of stories or poems; add drawings or other visual displays to stories or recounts of experiences when appropriate to clarify ideas, thoughts, and feelings.
  • SL.2.6. Produce complete sentences when appropriate to task and situation in order to provide requested detail or clarification. (See grade 2 Language standards 1 and 3 for specific expectations.

National Standards

This lesson plan is not associated with any National Standards.