In this lesson, students learn that saving is essential to economic well-being, especially in times of extreme economic downturn. They read Saving Strawberry Farm, a story about a Depression-era family attempting to save a neighbor's farm by waging a penny auction. Students hear about the lack of goods and services available and the high rate of joblessness during this terrible time. They simulate a bank run to see how even those with savings were affected. Finally, they learn that savings are safe in banks today.

In this lesson, students listen to a story about sheep that go shopping for a gift. Unfortunately, they don't have quite enough money and must barter wool to obtain the gift they want. The students discuss what barter is and suggest other solutions to the sheep's problems. Students earn cotton balls and pennies for work that they do. They use the cotton balls to decorate a sheep and use extra cotton balls and pennies to buy additional decorations for their sheep. Links are provided for SMART/notebook, ActivInspire/flipchart, and a Q&A pdf.

In this lesson, students learn about the act of saving and how the accumulation of money saved is termed savings. They are read a story about a family that saves and how savings can be used to make a large purchase the family would not ordinarily be able to make. They recognize that there is an opportunity cost to saving, as well as an opportunity cost to spending.

These questions are used to discuss saving, savings, and opportunity cost in the story, Something Special for Me.

In this lesson, students are introduced to the roles of entrepreneur and investor in the context of starting a business through the book Isabel's Car Wash. After discussing the story, students are divided into entrepreneur and investor groups for a business startup simulation. In this simulation, each entrepreneur group uses a business plan and pitch to sell its idea to the investor groups. Each investor group decides on a business to invest in with the money allotted to the group and negotiates a profit percentage with the entrepreneur.

In this lesson, students learn about production, specialization, and division of labor by discussing examples from the book, Sweet Potato Pie. Students develop examples of specialization and division of labor by reading about general stores, comparing them with modern-day general merchandise store, and examining factory production.

In this multidisciplinary lesson, using the book Ten Mile Day by Mary Ann Fraser, students work in small groups ("work crews") while participating in a production activity. Students learn about competition, division of labor, and incentives. They also demonstrate how division of labor and incentives help lead to greater productivity.

This video defines stocks and bonds and provides an explanation of what capital markets are and how they work.

This video emphasizes the importance of developing the saving habit early. It explains the importance of establishing an emergency fund first and then moving on to making investments. Wealth Creation for All suggests investing in the capital markets to meet financial goals. The video explains the concept of risk vs. return, what capital markets are and how we all can participate in them.

This video explains how cities and towns participate in capital markets to finance infrastructure in their communities.

In this lesson, students observe the teacher produce a paper taco and produce their own paper tacos following the process demonstrated by the teacher. Students learn about the productive resources--human resources, natural resources, and capital resources--and intermediate goods used to make final goods and services. They listen to the book Tortilla Factory and identify the productive resources and intermediate goods used to produce corn tortillas. Students classify the resources used to produce their paper tacos.

In this lesson, students gain experience in geographic thinking using different types of maps to locate information. They begin by reviewing a current population map of the United States and answering questions about the map and its features. Next, they listen to the book Treasure Map, a story about a group of students who go on a treasure hunt. The students then practice mapping by creating a floor plan of their classroom. Next, they use this map to hunt for clues in the classroom. Finally, they practice their map-reading.

In this lesson, students act as newspaper reporters to learn about this time in history. These reporters look for information from fictitious letters that reflect actual problems and people’s concerns during this tragic time in our economic history. Based on what they learn through the letters, students construct a newsletter explaining the cause(s) of this economic catastrophe.

In this lesson, students participate in an activity that illustrates falling wages, rising unemployment and falling prices. They learn about the role of the collapsing U.S. banking system in causing the Great Depression. They participate in a simulation to learn what a bank failure is and how bank failures can lead to bank panics. Finally, they observe the impact that many events occurring at the same time might have on the economy.

In this lesson, students read and interpret choropleth maps, which contain unemployment data. They compare verbal descriptions of the labor market from the Federal Reserve’s Beige Book with the mapped data. In addition, students compare unemployment data for different years. Students access or observe how to access this data online.