Open Wide, Look Inside

The book How the Second Grade Got $8,205.50 to Visit the Statue of Liberty, written by Nathan Zimelman, provides and fun and kid friendly introduction into the topic of economics.

Summary
This book is extremely fun and witty as it introduces the some of the basic ideas of economics through the use of expenses and profits.  The book chronicles a second grade class and their attempts to raise enough money to go on a class field trip to the statue of liberty.  The students try to raise money through several ways (many that could be deemed ‘childhood pastimes’) including lemonade stands, dog walking, candy sales, baby sitting, and car washing.  The book goes through the expenses and profits for each one of these ‘fundraisers’.  For example…

“Profit:  Our candy sale profit was seven and a half dollars which Geraldine Arthur’s mother gave us after her first beaming bite.  We are getting closer to the Statue of Liberty.”

However, even through all of their attempts to collect this money, the real reason for their profits comes unexpectedly at the end.

Curriculum Connection
I think this book would be suitable for a read aloud in grades 1-3, and for individual reading in 3-4.  The sentences are a bit long and take some focus in order to comprehend what is going on.
This book gives an excellent introduction into the basic ideas of economics.  It deals with earning money, saving it, expenses, and profits.  It also discusses the idea of failure (there are a few cases in which the students don’t earn any money).
This book can also be tied to a math lesson, if you wanted to include numbers and had the students add the expenses and profits while following along with the book.

Additional Resources:
1.  This website, Econopolis, offers several fun games and quizzes for children to play while learning about different economic topics
2. Here is a list of different economic books that can be used in the classroom (with suggestions for each grade)
3. This website has a variety of different economics posters that are a colorful, fun, and helpful way to help students remember the different vocabulary terms.

General Information:
Book: How the Second Grade Got $8,205.50 to Visit the Statue of Liberty
Author: Nathan Zimelman
Illustrator: Bill Slavin
Publisher: Albert Whitman & Company
Publication Date: 1992
Pages: 32
Grade Range: 2-4
ISBN #: 0807534315

Loreen Leedy's  "Follow the Money", is a humorous book that teaches children the various uses of currency.  Told from the point-of-view of a twenty-five cent quarter, the book starts by describing how money is produced and distributed in the United States.  Throughout the book, the reader is able to follow the journey of the quarter and see the its many uses.  Follow the Money uses pictures and phrases, similar to comic strips, to explain how currency is made in the United States Mint, placed into packaging bags, loaded onto trucks, and distributed to the Federal Reserve Bank and local bank.  It shows children how a certain amounts of money can be exchanged for various products.  For example, Follow the Money shows how money can serve as weekly allowance, a state quarter collection, and savings.  The book concludes at the end of the day with the quarter's statement, "I wonder where I'll go tomorrow?" (Leedy, pp. 29)  Follow the Money is an excellent way to learn about and relate to the world of currency.

Curriculum Connections
Follow the Money connects social studies, math, and economics to the world of currency.  The book incorporates math by showing how a customer may pay for an item and possibly receive change.  Math is also incorporated in the form of counting.  Instead of including traditional page numbers, Follow the Money uses currency for page numbers.  For example, page five displays a nickel at the bottom of the page to show the page number.  The book also connects social studies through pictures that explain the people who are displayed on each coin and paper money.  There are also a few captions that describe why that person is significant in history (1.3).  For example, George Washington's picture is displayed on the one dollar bill and he is described as the first president of the United States.  Last of all, Follow the Money can be used in a classroom setting to help students learn the value of money and how to save it for for future purchase and goods (1.9).     

Additional Resources

• This link includes other books that relate to economics in a way that children of younger ages can enjoy and understand
• Contains a writing assignment that allows students to create their own money character and write about its journey for one day.  The assignment assesses student's knowledge after reading Follow the Money!
• Need examples of ways that other forms of currency are used in the United States? This website has the story of the adventures of a dollar bill, penny, and many more.  The Adventures of Currency includes questions about the type of currency used in the story, ways to spend, and a trivia quiz at the end of each story.

Book: Follow the Money!
Author and Illustrator: Loreen Leedy
Publisher: Holiday House Publishers
Publication Date: May 2003
Pages: 30 pages
Grade Range:K-3
ISBN: 0823417948

Sally Gets a Jobwritten and illustrated by Stephen Huneck, is a book that will appeal to most children. This book is about an adorable black dog who watches its family leave for work and school each day. One day she wonders if maybe she should get a job. Sally contemplates many different occupations, some that children may have thought of themselves. “I could be a teacher.”  This book also introduces jobs that most students probably have never heard of. “Or maybe I should just focus on bones and become a paleontologist.”  Sally concludes that she has the best job in the world, “Taking care of my family.”

One of the best things about this book is the illustrations. Stephen Huneck is a popular artist and well-known for his paintings and sculptures of dogs.  Children will gravitate to this book because of its cover, a picture a cute dog reading the help wanted section of the newspaper. They will also enjoy the pictures of Sally driving a school bus full of dogs and thinking about cleaning up after an elephant.

Sally Gets a Job would be a great introduction in a unit to teach Kindergartners about various jobs. It would expose them to various careers in a fun way. (VA SOL K.6) 

Additional Resources:

• This is a lesson which includes a song “I Can Do Anything.”  This song would compliment the book really well in the classroom. 
• Another idea is to have the students create a picture (like a paper doll) of them in a uniform. Have each child select and color a ‘uniform’ from a choice of many paper cutouts. Then have the students paste a photograph of their face on the person. A similar activity concentrating on community helpers can be found on this website.
• When teaching about different occupations, I would have some of the parents come in a talk about what they do at work. If a doctor came in, I would have the children make stethoscopes for an art project.
• Here is a link to a lesson plan which uses another book about careers. It also has a great worksheet for a student to complete about what job they would like to do.

Book: Sally Gets a Job
Author/Artist: Stephen Huneck 
Publisher: Abrams Books for Young Readers
Publication Date: 2008
Pages: 32
Grade Range: K-3
ISBN: 0810994933

The Hard-Times Jar written by Ethel Footman Smothers and illustrated by John Holyfield explores the exciting ideas of economics by following the life of Emma Jean Turner and her family.  The Turner’s were migrant workers who had to follow the crops, so money was often difficult to come by in their house.  Emma’s mother, whom she referred to as “Mama”, created a jar that was called “the hard-times jar” to collect every little bit of change possible.  The hard-times jar was only supposed to be used in an emergency if the family runs out of something important before payday.  This colorful books explains  Emma’s desire to spend the money in the hard-times jar on a store-bought book.  The Hard-Times Jar teaches students  the importance of working hard for money and valuing the money they have.  The Hard-Times Jar also explains the idea of scarce resources and how those scarce resources can effect a family.  The students will enjoy following Emma as she leaves the family apple picking group, attends school, and eventually buys her first store-bought book.

Here are a few excerpts from the book.

• “Mama’s hard-times jar lay tucked between blankets.  It was just about half full of loose change.  Solid nickels.  Rusty red pennies.  Thin Dimes.  And every now and then a fat quarter.” (pg. 5)
• “There were lots of boys and girls just like Miss Miller had said.  But none were chocolate- brown like her.” (pg. 17)
• “That’s what the hard-times jar is for.  For hard times.” (pg. 29)

Curriculum Connections:
The Hard-Times Jar is an easy-read with wonderful illustrations to help students in second grade or third grade to learn about economics.  For second graders, this book will help students explain that scarcity requires people to make choices about producing and consuming goods. (VA SOL 2.9)  For third graders, this book will help students understand that because people and regions cannot produce everything they want, they specialize in what they do best and trade for the rest.  (VA SOL 3.8)

Additional Resources

• This interactive poem is great for teaching students about scarcity and how people have to make choices because they cannot have everything they want.
• This quiz provides some good questions for students so teachers can test students’ knowledge of the material.  The quiz is multiple choice and the majority of the questions test the students knowledge of vocabulary words and overall economics ideas.
• This interactive activity from beacon Learning Center helps students learn the difference between goods and services and producers and consumers.

Book: The Hard-Times Jar
Author: Ethel Footman Smothers
Illustrator: John Holyfield
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (BYR)
Publication Date: August 2003
Pages: 32 Pages
Grade Range: Second Grade and/or Third Grade
ISBN: 978-0374328528

Introduction and Summary
Round and Round the Money Goes (What Money Is and How We Use It) by Melvin and Gildar Berger, and illustrated by Jane McCreary, is a great resource to use when exploring economics with early elementary school students.  The book provides a detailed overview of the history of money, beginning with specialization of labor and trading.

“Long ago there was no money.  People grew or made everything they needed.  Then things started to change.  People did only one kind of work.  Farmers farmed.  Hunters hunted.  Weavers made cloth.  Woodcutters chopper wood.  Now people needed other things.  So they traded; potatoes for cloth, fish for meat, or fishwood for animal skins,” (pages 6-7).

Berger and Berger discuss how the problems associated with trade led to the institution of currency (the earliest of which were shells).  The authors also discuss the U.S. mint, as well as the ways that people use money and the cycle of money.  Berger and Berger point out the importance of saving, and provide an overview of interest, checking accounts and credit cards.  “Start saving your money at home,” the authors suggest.  “Find a good, safe place to keep it.  After awhile bring your money to a bank…They will give it back to you when you ask for it.  Banks will also give you back a little extra money.  The extra money is for letting them hold your money.  We call the extra money ‘interest.'”

Curriculum Connections
Round and Round the Money Goes (What Money Is and How We Use It), is a great resource to use when teaching kindergardeners, first graders, second graders, and third graders about money and the economy.  Pages 32-33 provide many useful examples to share with students when learning about how people work to earn money and to buy things they want (k.7 b).  Page 36 is a good resource to use when discussing how people save money for the future to purchase goods and services (1.9).  The beginning part of the book, pages 3-20, can be employed at the second grade level when teaching students about the difference between the use of barter and the use of money in the exchange of resources (2.8).  These pages also touch on the idea of scarcity, and how people must make choices about producing and consuming goods and services.   Pages 3-20 also convey the more sophisticated concept that people and regions cannot produce everything they want, leading to the idea of specialization and trade (3.8).  

Additional Resources:
-The “Fifty Nifty” economics cards and assessments found on the Federal Reserve website are a great tool to use when teaching economics. (Many games can be played, and activities can be done, using the cards.  See additional activities on the right-hand side of the webpage). 
-This site provides great activities to use when teaching economics in the elementary school classroom.
-This lesson plan is useful when discussing scarcity with students.
-This game is a great way to students to practice distinguishing between goods and services.

General Information:
Book: Round and Round the Money Goes (What Money Is and How We Use It)
Authors: Melvin and Gilda Berger
Illustrator: Jane McCreary
Publisher: Ideals Children's Books
Publication Date: 1993
Pages: 47
Grade Range: K-3
ISBN: 0-8249-8640-7

The book Let’s Trade: A Book About Bartering , written by Nancy Loewen and illustrated by Brian Jensen, is part of the Money Matters series, meant to help children better understand economics. This specific story is about how Mr. Wallace’s third grade class discover that money isn’t always used to get the supplies that people need.  Mr. Wallace devises a game that shows the class how different things can be exchanged among people, explaining that cash and coins aren’t always necessary to obtain the things they want.

“‘A long time ago,’ Mr Wallace said, ‘people didn’t have money. They had to trade for the things they needed. Someone might trade a basket of wheat for an ax, and that was fine as long as both people wanted those things. But what if the person with the ax already had plenty of wheat? The person with the wheat might trade for something else first– a pearl necklace, maybe. Then, he would trade the necklace for the ax.'”

The illustrations used in this story are big and bright, and really help to show the “bartering” that is discussed in Mr. Wallace’s class.  Other nice features in this book include “Fun Facts” (offered by a mini piggy-bank on each page), a glossary, additional resources to help kids with economic ideas, and an activity page.  The activity gives students different scenarios where they get to decide what a “fair trade” is:

 “You and your friend both buy a pack of baseball cards. Your friend got your favorite player’s card. You trade him three of your cards for one of his. Did you make a fair trade?”

Curriculum Connections 

“Let’s Trade” is a great resource for children just learning about economics.  The story explains how bartering works in a very simple manner, and also gives some background information about the history of money.  In addition to the students learning the difference between using bartering and using money in exchange for goods (VA SOL 2.8), this book teaches that students have to make choices between goods because they cannot have everything they want (VA SOL 1.8).

Additional Resources

This lesson, Old MacDonald Had a Farm, is a great plan to use along with “Let’s Trade” as the students learn about goods and bartering.

DFI KidsPage provides a great introduction to the history of money. Kids could easily use this as a supplemental computer activity, and it even includes a self-check quiz at the end.

This page, posted in association with the University of Delaware, offers a variety of books (K – 6) to use when teaching ecomomics through children’s literature.

Boomerang Box is a website that introduces students to international trade.  Here, educators can download lessons and activities that teach kids why and where trade happens.

Book: Let’s Trade: A Book About Bartering
Author: Nancy Loewen
Illustrator: Brian Jensen
Publisher: Picture Window Books
Publication Date: August 2005
Pages: 24
Grade Range: k-3
ISBN: 1404811575