This guide takes users through 10 step-by-step activities on FRED®, the free online economic database of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, to show how quickly and easily it is to find and graph economic data and save and share them as a custom graph. The FRED database includes more than 390,000 economic data time series from dozens of national, international, public, and private sources. FRED allows users to combine and display data with an easy-to-master mix of tools. With just a few minutes of practice, anyone can use FRED to tell a story using data. The dataset used for these activities is real gross domestic product (GDP).

In this lesson, students participate in a puzzle activity to identify leadership characteristics that Abraham Lincoln possessed. They review the changes in the $5 note and consider how Lincoln's leadership characteristics contribute to the fact that he is pictured on the $5 note. Students look at a timeline of Lincoln's life and identify significant events in his road to the White House. They will then play a game to review content learned in the lesson.

In this lesson, students work in groups to examine excerpts from primary source documents. They identify social and economic factors affecting specific categories of people when the Great Migration accelerated in 1916 to 1917: black migrant workers from the South, southern planters, southern small-farm farmers, northern industrialists, agents, and white immigrant workers in the North. Each student group creates a "perspectives page" to post for a gallery walk where students analyze the causes of the Great Migration and the changes it brought to both the North and South. Students also discuss the specific economic factors that influenced the Great Migration: scarcity, supply, demand, surplus, shortage, and opportunity cost. Using the PACED decisionmaking model, they analyze the alternatives and criteria of potential migrants.

In this activity, students decide which of their two favorite things they want to buy from their list in Activity 2. This activity is the companion to the Lesson 2: My Favorite Things. Activity is found on pages 14-17 of the pdf.

These questions can be used to discuss the following economic concepts in the book Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday: opportunity cost, saving, savings goal, and spending.

This online activity shows how to use FRED, the Federal Reserve's free online economic data website, to analyze changes in real gross domestic product (GDP) and GDP makeup over time. Following simple instructions, students will locate spending data for the individual components of real GDP, and then combine them into a highly informative area graph. They will also use FRED's ability to stack data and see how trade imports and exports contributes to GDP. The resulting customized graph will let them see how economic output varies from year to year.

In this lesson, students listen to a story and answer questions about a family in Central or South America that barters to get the ingredients for chicken sancocho, a kind of stew. Students participate in trading activities that illustrate money's advantages over barter.

In this lesson, students listen to a story and answer questions about lending in Bangladesh. They complete a diagram that shows the impact of lending on a community. Working as a class, they compare the similarities and differences between banks lending in the United States and the Grameen Bank lending in Bangladesh. Students work with a partner to estimate profits based on Sufiya's prices and costs in the book.

In this lesson, students read and analyze an essay focusing primarily on one aspect of Ben Franklin's life - his work as a printer - and how he was an inventor and entrepeneur who also promoted the use of currency in the United States. Students will cite specific textual evidence regarding problems and solutions and will answer questions and complete a timeline. Then, using evidence and information gleaned from the text, students will write a fictious social media post defending the selection of Ben Franklin's portrait for the $100 note.

In this lesson, students hear a story about Brother and Sister Bear, who seem to want everything. The little cubs learn that they must make choices because they cannot have everything they want. Students follow along with the story by completing an activity listing all of the goods that will satisfy the cubs' wants. The students then take part in an activity to construct a word web and graphic organizer (table) to identify goods that will satisfy a want. Students will make a choice, identify the problem of scarcity, and recognize their opportunity cost.

In this lesson, students learn about wants, choice, and scarcity. They listen to the story Betty Bunny Wants Everything and identify all the wants that Betty Bunny has at the toy store. Students learn that because of scarcity, they must make choices. They practice making choices by selecting a treat they want, a toy for one of the book characters, and finally a school item. They sing a song about choices and scarcity.

These questions can be used to discuss the following economic concepts in the book Betty Bunny Wants Everything: choice, scarcity, and wants.

These questions can be used to discuss the following economic concepts in the book Bunny Money: human saving, savings goal, and spending.

In this lesson, students first listen to the story Bunny Money. They then work in pairs to add sets of three single-digit numbers to determine the value of their savings goals and total savings. They compare the values to determine whether they have saved enough to meet their savings goals. Finally, students calculate the difference between the value of their savings goals and total savings.

In this lesson, students listen to a story about P.B., who thinks money is missing from the peanut butter jar on his window ledge. Students also learn about currency equivalency and measurement concepts.

These questions are used to discuss bank, income, interest, saving, and spending in the story, The Case of the Shruken Allowance.

These questions can be used to discuss the following economic concepts in the book A Chair for My Mother: human resources, income, saving, and savings goal.

In this lesson, students learn about the role and functions of the Federal Reserve System. They participate in an activity to learn how the purchase or sale of U.S. Treasury securities affects the supply of money and credit in the economy. Finally, they discuss what the Fed learned about implementing monetary policy as a result of the Great Depression.

In this lesson, students practice counting as the book "Counting with Common Cents" is read. As they count pennies, nickels, and dimes, they place those coins on the appropriate spot on a handout, indicating how many pennies are equal to a nickel and a dime. They discuss saving their pennies and draw a picture of an item they would like to buy. In an optional activity, they draw pictures or write notes indicating chores they would do to earn 10 pennies.

In this lesson, students examine statistical data related to the Great Depression, identify problems and offer solutions. Students reflect on the course of action taken by then-President Franklin Delano Roosevelt (FDR) and focus on New Deal programs. Students classify New Deal programs as relief, reform or recovery and analyze the effects of these programs on the unemployment rate, government spending, Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and the role of government in the economy.