This document provides standards, vocabulary words, and teaching strategies related to economics concepts for grades 3-4. It covers topics such as work and earnings, costs and benefits, and production and exchange. Suggested activities integrate economics into history and other lessons and include using classroom currencies, assigning jobs, modeling supply and demand, and following goods from production to consumption. The goal is to help students understand why people work, specialize, trade, and make choices involving costs and benefits.

1. Work and Earnings
Grades 3-4

2. Standards
• 6.5.3.A: Explain why people work.
• 6.5.3.B: Identify different occupations.
• 6.5.3.G: Define saving and explain why people
save.
• 6.4.4.A:List and explain factors that
promote specialization and division of labor.
• 6.5.4.B: Identify the requirements for different
careers and occupations.

3. Vocabulary
• Work-employment, as in some form of industry,
especially as a means of earning one's livelihood
• Earnings-money or other payment earned, the
profits of an enterprise
• Profits-The positive gain from an investment or
business operation after subtracting for all
expenses. opposite of loss
• Enterprise- a unit of economic organization or
activity; especially : a business organization

4. Vocab (continued)
• Specialization-pursuing a particular line of
study or work
• Division of labor-a production process
in which a worker or group of workers is
assigned a specialized task in order to increase
efficiency.

5. Strategies
• Easily integrated into History lessons (what were
previous forms of money, what did people do for
work)
• Classroom currency (fake money, point systems
etc.)
• Classroom jobs (higher or lower pay depending
on work type)
• Incentives (negative and positive. Ex: docked pay
for missed duty. Payout for quality assignments)

6. Extended Strategies
• Cookie sale (assigned jobs: baker, sales,
marketing, distribution etc.)
• career project (full spectrum of jobs.
Highlights of each job.
http://paws.bridges.com/cfnc1.htm)

7. Cost and Benefits
Grades 3-4

8. Standards
• 6.1.3.B: Identify needs and wants of people.
• 6.1.3.C: Explain what is given up when making a choice
.6.1.3.D: Identify reasons why people make a choice.
• 6.2.3.D: Define price and how prices vary for products.
• 6.1.4.C: Illustrate what individuals or organizations give
up when making a choice.
• 6.1.4.D: Explain what influences the choices people
make
• 6.2.4.D: Explain the role of buyers and sellers in
determining prices of products.

9. Vocabulary
• Earnings-money or other payment earned, the
profits of an enterprise
• Cost-the price paid to acquire, produce,
accomplish, or maintain anything
• Benefits-a payment or gift
• Cost-benefit- producing optimum results for the
expenditure
• buyer-customer
• seller-business

10. Strategies
• classroom "prize" jars (filled with toys and school
supplies students can use class money to buy
• as items in the jar become more "scarce" increase
prices
• lunch menu choices (apple sauce vs. chocolate
pudding)
• marketing discussions
• positive vs. negative incentives (homework
passes, extra duties).

11. Extended Strategies
• class project "sims" or "peep" villages. (small
town built by students)
• monitoring gas prices (does it impact how
much you travel or how far you go.)

12. Production and Exchange
Grades 3-4

13. Standards
• 6.2.3.A:Identify goods, services, consumers, and producers in
the local community.
• 6.4.3.B: Identify examples of trade, imports, and exports in
the local community.
• Explain the role of producers in making goods and providing
services.
• 6.2.4.A: Explain how a product moves from production to
consumption
• 6.2.4.G: Explain the three basic questions all economic
systems must answer. What to produce? How? For whom?
• 6.4.4.B: Explain why nations trade.

14. Vocabulary
• Production- creation; manufacture.
• Exchange-to give up (something) for something else
• consumption- the using up of goods and services
having an exchangeable value
• trade-the act or process of buying, selling, or
exchanging commodities, at either wholesale or
retail, within a country or between countries
Consumer-a person or organization that uses
a commodity or service

15. Strategies
• outside of classroom jobs students can offer
goods or services (additional paper,
homework passses. paper folder etc.)
• Pizza shop field trip (flour from grains grown
locally, cheeses from local dairy milk farms,
sauce from local garden tomatoes etc.Romeo’s
pizza Mercersburg)
• cookie sale (follow production chart etc.)

16. Extended Strategies
• Gas Prices
• Peep villages (students produce items for
community)
• Wegmans field trip (local produce to store)
• integrate geography lessons (transport, how
far did your fruit travel)
• working with partner classrooms for "trade"
• other classrooms=other countries