{"id":1889,"date":"2009-10-26T12:23:41","date_gmt":"2009-10-26T17:23:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/1889"},"modified":"2009-10-26T12:23:41","modified_gmt":"2009-10-26T17:23:41","slug":"teaching-economics-with-childrens-literature-goods-and-services","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/2009\/10\/26\/teaching-economics-with-childrens-literature-goods-and-services\/","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Economics with Children’s Literature: Goods and Services"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"goods-and-services-book-cover.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Goods and Services<\/a>, written by Janeen R. Adil<\/a>, is a book designed to help introduce children to the basic world of money and economics, how money and economics affects them on a daily basis, and why money and economics are important to their world.<\/p>\n

This book\u00a0is\u00a0explains and illustrates main monetary and economic principles that make up our world, including:\u00a0goods and services, consumers and producers, how taxes are related to government services and goods, and how income is made, saved, and used to buy goods and services.\u00a0 All of these premises are explained through a variety of examples\u00a0connected to real-world situations most children\u00a0can easily relate\u00a0to through their\u00a0past or current\u00a0experiences.\u00a0 Because economics is such an important and real part of everyone’s life, the book contains real-life photos versus illustrations in order to help children connect economic meanings to the world around them.\u00a0 In trying to connet these concepts to the current world, the author has inserted\u00a0“fun facts” into the book which offers both\u00a0vital and current statistics on the specific principle being discussed.<\/p>\n

As a bonus,\u00a0the book provides a glossary, links to internet sites, an activity idea, and other literature resources as tools to help\u00a0reiterate understanding of the econimic principles\u00a0explored within the book, and can be used by teachers, students, and parents.\u00a0 Also near the end of the book, the author dedicates a page connecting past history with today\u00a0in\u00a0order to illustrate how\u00a0taxes have been around for almost 5,000 years\u00a0by\u00a0the Anciet Egyptians.<\/p>\n

While this book is filled with all of the essential information\u00a0students\u00a0need to learn about economics, it does an excellent job in providing examples and pictures to illustrate\u00a0the relevancy of economic concepts in an easy to understand, meaningful way.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Goods and Services <\/a>serves as an excellent and useful resource to help teach, reinforce, and emphasize the first grade learning objectives of economics in accordance with the Virginia Standards of Learning (SOL’s).\u00a0\u00a0 Explaining the difference between goods and services, and how people are consumers and producers of goods and services, (SOL 1.7) is the focus throughout the entire book, as well as illustrating the importance of having to save money for the future purchase of goods and services (SOL 1.9) through a litany of real-world examples.<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n