National First Ladies' Library
Learning to Be Consumers: The Emergence of Catalogs and Advertising
Learners study the historical context of marketing and how it came to be so important in the 19th century. They analyze advertising in the 19th century, 20th century, and today to understand how much or how little has changed.
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Consumerism - Grocery Shopping
Students watch a video on how marketers plan their strategies in supermarkets. In groups, they are given a set amount of money and asked to go through a grocery store simulation with a list. After the simulation, they discuss the...
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The Science and Technology of Food
Young scholars examine the guidelines the United States Department of Agriculture places on food. In groups, they create a list of the foods they consume and discuss the political and environmental implications of purchasing the food. ...
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Counting on Cooperatives
Students are introduced to the study of economics, including an introduction to basic business types and systems. They investigate about international, national and California history as they take a historical tour of cooperatives and...
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Drama in the Salt Marsh
Students are introduced to the various organisms that live in a salt marsh. They recognize adaptations of organisms that live in the salt marsh. Pupils review concepts of the ecosystem and niche. Students explain the different roles...
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First Grade Economics Unit
First graders begin by studying the differences between a "good" and a "service". They compare items to each other to help comprehend the differences. They also look into the differences between buyers and sellers and how the choices...
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Producer to Consumer Fun
Students research about producers and consumers. They examine how products become available to consumers and participate in one of the activities listed such as: tour a farm or a factory, go on a scavenger hunt at a local store, or have...
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Ecosystem Interactions in Refuges
Seventh graders, using national parks as models, illustrate the energy flow in ecosystems. Working in groups, they use murals, flow charts, or other visual displays to record their findings. Students represent the food chains and webs...
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Can We Be Both Conservationists and Consumers?
Students explore their role as consumers and conservationists and what roles they play in today's economic climate. They explore resource allocation issues. Students analyze data and draw comparisons between historical and present-day...
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Name Brands
Students explore the possibility that a products name might bias a consumers decision to buy a particular product. The question remains to be answered, "Why do consumers buy what they buy and why that particular product?"
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What's the Real Deal?
Students investigate product counterfeiting and its impact on the US economy. They research product counterfeiting on the Internet then create a "fakes" fact sheet about a specific group of products such as music cods or beanie babies.
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How Much Land Does It Take To Produce Your Food?
Students calculate the amount of land required to produce the food eaten by an individual for one year. They compare the amount of land required to produce animal versus plant products. Students visualize the areas of land calculated.
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Habitats
Students complete food chains for organisms in three environments. They use copies of the Habitat worksheet. Students review the food chain terms with the teacher. They research related food chains, and interlink these to form a food...
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Food Chains
Fourth graders study food chains, producers, consumers, and decomposers. They play a food chain game and create food chain mobiles or posters. They take a nature hike around the school and observe various parts of a food chain.
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How Credit Cards Work
Young scholars discuss the nature and use of credit cards. They view a video about the role of credit cards and the whole idea of consumer credit. They examine the benefits and disadvantages to both merchants and consumers.
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Keystone Science School: Sustainable Automobiles
Students explore how to choose the correct car for them based on their needs.
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Life And Death
Students participate in an interactive game to review how living things are classified.
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Let's Go Value Shopping
Students count, figure change, and find the value of saving in a classroom store.
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Forest Food Webs
Learners consider the interdependency of life in a temperate forest by studying selected organisms from an Asian temperate forest and creating a food web.
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User Friendly
Students explore how consumers have become as proficient in computer technology as specialists were a decade ago. They create and conduct a test to determine the proficiencies of people in their school community.
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Fourth Grade Earning and Learning Podcast
While this lesson is connected to social studies curriculum that is not identified, the activity could be used as a template for a review of any material. The lesson focuses on a review of vocabulary relating to the economy. Pupils...
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Producers, Consumers, and the Food Chain
Third graders discuss producers, consumers, and the food chain. In this producers and consumers lesson, 3rd graders talk about organisms, the food chain, and the difference between producers and consumers. They complete review worksheets...
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A Smarter Consumer
Students explore advertisements. In this consumer literacy lesson, students discuss advertisements to help them make better buying decisions.
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Consumer Society
In this consumer society worksheet, students think about where and why they buy goods and the difference between needs and wants. Students read a text and answer 30 varied questions.