{"id":344755,"date":"2010-02-20T23:44:14","date_gmt":"2010-02-21T04:44:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/2405"},"modified":"2010-02-20T23:44:14","modified_gmt":"2010-02-21T04:44:14","slug":"teaching-economics-with-children%e2%80%99s-literature-ox-cart-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/344755","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Economics with Children\u2019s Literature: Ox-Cart Man"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"ox-cart-man-book-cover-image.gif\"<\/a><\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\n

In October he backed his ox into his cart
\nand he and his family filled it up
\nwith everything they made or grew all year long
\nthat was left over.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Thus begins the wonderfully simple Ox-Cart Man<\/a>, written by Donald Hall<\/a> and illustrated by Barbara Cooney.\u00a0 This story clearly tells the tale of an 18th century New England farming family as they pack up the goods the family produced and do not need for their own survival.\u00a0 Using lyrical and repetitive language, the author lists the items the family produced.\u00a0 Some of these items include:\u00a0 a bag of wool he sheared from a sheep, a shawl his wife wove on a loom, mittens his daughter knit, birch brooms his son carved with a borrowed kitchen knife, the potatoes they dug from their garden (after he counts out what they will need to eat and seed), and a bag of goose feathers his children collected from the barnyard geese.\u00a0\u00a0 The man takes the goods to the market and sells everything including his ox cart, ox, yoke, and harness.\u00a0 \u201cWith a pocket full of coins, he walked through Portsmouth Market\u201d where the man takes the money to buy the things the family will need.\u00a0 He buys an iron kettle, an embroidery needle for his daughter, a knife for his son, and wintergreen peppermint candies for the whole family.\u00a0 When the man returns home the cycle continues as the family produces more goods.<\/p>\n

\n

and his daughter took her needle and began stitching.
\nand his son took his Barlow knife and started whittling.
\nand they cooked dinner in their new kettle.
\nand afterward everyone ate a wintergreen peppermint candy.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The story continues to list all of the things the family produces the next year, cleverly ending with<\/p>\n

\n

and geese squawked in the barnyard
\ndropping feathers as soft as clouds.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

It is easy to understand why this book won the 1980 Caldecott Medal.\u00a0 The illustrations are realistic and give a great feeling for the time period.\u00a0 They do an excellent job of showing the story through the pictures.\u00a0 A beginning reader could certainly use the pictures to tell the story and any reader could use them to visualize the life style and other things that are unfamiliar to many people today.<\/p>\n

Curriculum Connections<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Ox-Cart Man can be used to introduce and\/or enhance many of the Virginia Standards of Learning for elementary students.\u00a0 Related to Economics, it clearly shows the goods the farming family produces and portrays them in the role of both producer and consumer (VA SOL 1.7).\u00a0 It can be used to illustrate that people work to earn money to buy the things people want (VA SOL K.7b).\u00a0 It is also a good example of how people cannot produce everything they want, so they specialize in what they do best and trade for the rest (VA SOL 3.8).\u00a0 Some other curriculum connections related to social studies include being able to describe the past ((VA SOL K.2) and comparing the changes in community life over time (VA SOL 2.3).<\/p>\n

Additional Resources<\/strong><\/p>\n