{"id":534506,"date":"2010-04-19T15:15:25","date_gmt":"2010-04-19T19:15:25","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.richmond.edu\/openwidelookinside\/archives\/2691"},"modified":"2010-04-19T15:15:25","modified_gmt":"2010-04-19T19:15:25","slug":"teaching-economics-with-children%e2%80%99s-literature-the-economy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/534506","title":{"rendered":"Teaching Economics with Children\u2019s Literature: The Economy"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Introduction and Summary<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Economy<\/a> written by Terence O’Hara gives an in-depth look at the economy of the United States and includes topics such as, free enterprise, the law of supply and demand, how businesses work, business cycles, and different types of economies from around the world.\u00a0 This book is an excellent introduction into how our economy works because it gives readers real-world examples of the topics listed above.\u00a0 For example, in explaining supply and demand, O’Hara talks about the “Playstation 2″ video gaming system.\u00a0 “In 200o, the Sony Corporation came out with Playstation 2, the hottest home video gaming system ever.\u00a0 If you could find it in a store, it cost anywhere between $100 and $200.\u00a0 The problem was you couldn’t find it in any store.\u00a0 Demand was so high…that sores ran out of them.\u00a0 But the demand for the new game machines didn’t go away just because the supply was limited.\u00a0 So the cost went through the roof.” (p. 23 & 24)\u00a0 Some other real world examples are how Henry Ford created the first assembly line when it came to building cars.\u00a0 Now all car manufacturers use the assembly line in order to produce automobiles.\u00a0 In the section of “how businesses work,” O’Hara talks about how banking helps our economy grow, from small independent contractors to large corporations.\u00a0 Banks take a risk by lending people money in order to start businesses.\u00a0 This leads into the topic of “business cycles.”\u00a0 If banks take too much of a risk, it can cause banks to fail which can lead us into a bear market or even a depression.\u00a0 O’Hara gives a progression of how the economy used to be in the past and gives fact-based information on how our economy has evolved.<\/p>\n

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

This book would be good for teachers to read to students who are in upper elementary classes due to its technical nature.\u00a0 There are several terms which would not be suited for younger elementary students, such as capitalism, inflation, bull and bear markets, globalization, etc.\u00a0 The book does talk about cost and opportunity cost.\u00a0\u00a0 “There are no free lunches…everything, even if you think it’s free costs something.\u00a0 Every decision a person makes is rooted in cost-benefit analysis: in other words, what will it cost me and what will I get out of it?” (p.25)\u00a0 He gives the example of a student sharpening her pencil.\u00a0 Her writing might be clearer but she may interrupt the teacher. (VA SOL 3.9)\u00a0 Several of the topics involve our use of natural resources, such as corn.\u00a0 He talks about human resources, such as the industrial revolution, and capital resources, such as robots installing fiber optic cables in sewers.\u00a0 (VA SOL 2.7)\u00a0 This book expands on those SOLs.\u00a0 There are no illustrations in the book but there are good pictures of past and present.<\/p>\n

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

\u00a0MoneyInstructor.com<\/a> is a website dedicated to teaching elementary students about money.\u00a0 Topics are “Basic Money Skills,” “Earning and Spending,” “Saving and Investing,” etc.<\/p>\n

Economics Fun and Games<\/a> is an interactive website for kids.\u00a0 There are several games kids can play on this site relating to economics.<\/p>\n

Lemonade Stand<\/a> This is a website dedicated for games in economics.\u00a0 Also good for developing math skills.<\/p>\n

General Information <\/strong><\/p>\n

Book: <\/strong>The Economy<\/a>
\nAuthor:<\/strong>\u00a0 Terence O’Hara<\/a>
\nIllustrator:<\/strong> NA
\nPublisher:<\/strong> Chelsea House Publishers
\nPublication Date:<\/strong> 2002
\nPages:<\/strong> 64
\nGrade Range: <\/strong>3rd-6th
\nISBN: <\/strong>0-7910-6641-X<\/p>\n

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\u00a0     Introduction and Summary The Economy written by Terence O’Hara gives an in-depth look at the economy of the United States and includes topics such as, free enterprise, the law of supply and demand, how businesses work, business cycles, and different types of economies from around the world.\u00a0 This book is an excellent […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4215,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-534506","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534506","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4215"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=534506"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/534506\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=534506"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=534506"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.media\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=534506"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}