2. CONTENT STANDARDS AND VOCABULARY
STANDARD SS.3.E.1.1 Standard 1: Beginning Economics
Give examples of how scarcity results in trade.
STANDARD SS.3.E.1.2 Standard 1: Beginning Economics
List the characteristics of money.
STANDARD SS.3.E.1.3 Standard 1: Beginning Economics
Recognize that buyers and sellers interact to exchange goods
and services through the use of trade or money.
• Interdependence
• Specialization
• Trade
• Money
• Buyers and Sellers
• Exchange
• Goods and Services
• Dependent
3. COMMON CORE STATE STANDARDS
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.1
Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring
explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RL.3.3
Describe characters in a story (e.g., their traits, motivations, or feelings) and
explain how their actions contribute to the sequence of events
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.4
Determine the meaning of general academic and domain-specific words and phrases in a
text relevant to a grade 3 topic or subject area.
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.7
Use information gained from illustrations (e.g., maps, photographs) and the words in a
text to demonstrate understanding of the text (e.g., where, when, why, and how key
events occur).
CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.3.9
Compare and contrast the most important points and key details presented in two texts
on the same topic.
4.
5. ANT CITIES: AUTHOR: ARTHUR DORROS
COMPREHENSION QUESTIONS
• In economics, what does it mean to be interdependent?
People are interdependent when they depend on each other to provide the goods and services they consume.
In what way does an ant city illustrate interdependence?
The ants in an ant city specialize in their jobs. In doing so, they all depend on each other for survival.
What are some of the special jobs/tasks done by the ants?
Queen – lays eggs; Workers – do all the work in the ant city and also fight to protect the nest; New Queens – have wings to fly away and start
new ant cities; Males – fly away with new queens to mate, then die.
What would happen if different types of ants didn’t do their special job(s)?
The ants could not survive unless they worked together. All the ants have a special job that helps ensure the survival of the ant city.
What are some of the special jobs in your city or community that people do?
Teachers, plumbers, TV repair people, doctors, factory workers, police officers, store owners, etc. There are countless examples.
How do these people in your community depend on one another?
The people in the community specialize in the jobs they do. Then, they exchange the money they earn and pay others for the goods and
services they provide. All of us are interconnected/interdependent in that we rely on others to provide most of the goods and services we
consume.
Is it good to be interdependent?
Specializing in production and then exchanging/trading to get the goods and services one wants makes production more efficient, providing
society with more goods and services. Generally, this is good for everyone. However, sometimes interdependence can be troublesome. For
example, our country relies heavily on oil produced from other countries. In most cases, that is not a problem, but when there is political
instability, prices may rise dramatically and our dependence becomes very costly.
6. NONFICTION TEXT FROM SOCIAL STUDIES
FOR KIDS
HTTP://WWW.SOCIALSTUDIESFORKIDS.COM/ARTICLES/ECONOMICS/INTERDEP
ENDENCE.HTM
• Basic Economics: Interdependence
• Comprehension questions:
• 1. Why do people depend on others? They can’t produce
everything they need in order to survive.
• 2. If a farmer grows his own food, how is he dependent on others?
He needs other goods such as a hoe or tracker which he can not
make himself.
• 3. What types of goods do we depend on farmers for? We depend
on them for fruits, vegetables, rice, meat and milk, etc.
• 4. What is an example of a good that was created because we
depended on hearing from others about what was going on around
us? TV, radio, clothes, books.
• 5. Do you think it is possible to only depend on yourself?
• No because most people can not produce or make everything
they need in order to survive.
6. Create a definition map for dependency.
Dependency
What goods are
we dependent
for?
What people are
we dependent
on?
7. SHOW WHAT YOU
KNOW• 1. Create a cross word with important terms learned in the lesson such as dependent, interdependency,
goods, services, trade, exchange, money, specialization
• http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/crossword/
• 2. Doodle splash– create 4 pictures from words from the texts. You must create a picture, write a
summary, explain your doodle, and tell what is the significance in the picture that will help show your
understanding of the term.
• http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/doodle/
• 3. Write a postcard to a friend. Pretend you are an ant from the story. Explain how important it is do
your part in your community. Use terms from the passage to help explain.
• http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/postcard/
• 4. Create a trading card explaining different jobs (services) people offered
• http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/trading_cards_2/
