School and the City

Teaching economics to elementary students is tough. I've been there - and I feel you! I've had to teach "financial literacy" to kindergarteners, then basic economics concepts as a second and third grade teacher. Years of experience has allowed me to learn a lot along the way about how to effective teach economics to elementary students. Invest in Picture Books I love to use my front-facing bookshelf to spotlight books related to our current science or social studies unit. It's a great way to consistently refresh the highlighted books and to give students extra exposure to content. It's great to expose students to a variety of new texts and help them learn those tricky vocabulary words. You can find a list of my favorite picture books for teaching economics in this blog post , or on Amazon . Of course, there's no need to spend your hard-earned money on books for every unit. I love to use the library for this! Integrate Conte...

Each year, 3rd graders participate in a "living wax museum" project during the last month of school. It's truly one of my favorite days of the year! We spend a few weeks reviewing nonfiction by studying biographies, then students get to bring biographies to life!  If you haven't tried a wax museum yet, you totally should. It is SO much fun - You will be so impressed by your students! We all have research standards, writing standards, and speaking/listening standards that can be taken care of with this project. Having students write speeches and present in front of an audience is not only meeting standards but it also an important life skill.  My team chooses for students to complete the project almost entirely at school. We spend a few days researching, a few days writing, and a few days making posters. At home, students practice their speeches (aiming to memorize) and put together a costume.  We also encourage artifacts to make our wax museum...

I've taught economics every year that I've been a teacher. (See my second grade plans here .) This year, however, I'm teaching third grade, and the standards are much deeper than what I've covered in the past! First, and foremost... BOOKS I'm doing my best to keep my classroom a print-rich environment for my students. I'm trying to keep my personal spending down by using my local public library as a resource. At the start of each new unit, I fill my car (then my bookshelf) with related texts! Check out my economics finds: Nonfiction books are always valuable! These books are fictional, but related! I found a few books about entrepreneurs who created brands that are popular with kids. (If you use Epic! as a resource, there are a TON on there, like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates!) Lastly, my favorite find was What Does It Mean to be an Entrepreneur ? I'll be purchasing a copy for myself. LOVE IT. Now for our culminating project:...

**This post contains Amazon affiliate links. By purchasing an item from Amazon using these links,  I will receive a small commission on your purchase.** Oh, econ. It was the bane of my existence in college. Fun fact: Econ was my second lowest grade in college.  (My lowest grade was the class that I met my husband in... I guess I was a little distracted.) So how in the world am I supposed to teach ECONOMICS to 7-year-olds?! Actually, the first time I taught economics, it was to kindergartners. It was during my student teaching, and I had to create my own unit and materials . When I started teaching second grade and realized I had to teach "financial literacy," a prettier name for economics, I was much more confident. I took my kindergarten unit and expanded it to meet the academic needs of my second graders.  I will admit that second grade economics is much easier than my college course. Elementary school econ focuses on needs vs. wants, go...

If you bribe kids with cookies... they'll work hard and be on their best behavior. If you give a teacher time to TEACH, she'll plan a fun and authentic lesson. That's rare; I know. I love to use If You Give a Mouse a Cookie to practice identifying goods and services. This was my third time teaching this lesson. Just like wine and Zac Efron, it's getting better with age! First, we reviewed prior knowledge. I define goods as "things we can touch and feel" and services as "things we do for others." We sang our goods and services song (more info here ) and the kids gave some examples of each. Today was the last day spent working on goods and services and the activity served as an informal assessment. Barnes and Noble's Online Storytime  includes a video / read-aloud version of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie . I don't usually use Online Storytime because it doesn't show the words, but it is a safe and quick option to hear t...