Needs, Wants, Goods and Services!

After our New Year's unit, we jumped right into Economics! In first grade, the kids are learning about the difference between needs and wants along with goods and services. I used my own Economics unit for the week. We talked about how a need is something you must have to live and a want is something you would like to have. We brainstormed ideas for our webs and the kids filled in their ideas.

The next day, we talked about the difference between goods and services. We learned that a good is something you can consume or use while a service is something that someone does for you. The kids did a goods and service sort and then illustrated their own ideas.

Along with economics, in math we were reviewing coins and their values along with introducing how to add money. Here is an example of a word problem we did during the week. (Each week my awesome teammate Samantha writes our problems...she is awesome!)

We also talked about how when we spend money, we have to make choices. To also review adding money, the kids did an activity where they were given 85 cents and they could buy any toys they want without going over. We also talked about how it's important to buy our basic needs (food, clothing, shelter) before we buy things we want.

We talked about saving money and why it's important to save. It was awesome to hear what the kids wanted to save for! :)

We ended the week by reviewing what the kids wanted to be when they grow up and what life skills they will need to use in order to do a great job.

If you are interested in the unit, please check out my Tpt store or Teacher's Notebook shop! :)