Lesson Plans
Adventures in Economics and U.S. History
This book contains fifteen hands-on lesson plans including topics such as: Indian economies, the resources of the Pilgrims, the Virginia Company as an investment, the role of trade, comparison of the New England, Middle, and Southern colonies, colonial money, a study of the economic opportunities of women, slaves, artisans, farmers, and large landowners in colonial times. Many of the lessons are based on children’s literature, including books by popular writers such as Jean Fritz and Don Hall. All lessons include handouts and activities such as games, simulations or songs. (138 pages) Grades 4-8
This book contains sixteen hands-on lesson plans including topics such as: exploring the economic relationship between the colonies and England; looking at the trade-offs made in writing the Constitution; exploring the role of Eli Whitney’s invention in the spread of cotton plantations across the South; study of the demand for cotton created by the manufacturing North; the Gettysburg Address and a cost-benefit analysis of the Civil War; decision-making of those who chose to be pioneers; and the movement from an agricultural society to an urban society. Many of the lessons are based on children’s literature including book by such popular writers as Jean Fritz, Deborah Hopkinson, and Peter and Connie Roop. All lessons include reproducible handouts as well as games, simulations or songs. (152 pages) Grades 4-8
Volume 3: The Twentieth Century
This book contains sixteen hands-on lessons including topics such as: the incentives of immigrants; the costs and benefits of industrialization; the unintended consequences of prohibition; the costs of the Stock Market Crash of 1929; costs of bank failures of the Great Depression; the unemployed in the Great Depression; families in the Dust Bowl; migrant workers with Cesar Chavez; Martin Luther King and civil rights; globalization and why people trade; plus lessons about people such as Eleanor Roosevelt, Rosie the Riveter, Henry Ford, Thomas Edison and Madam C.J. Walker. All of the lesson plans have teacher resources such as literature links, reproducible handouts as well as games, simulations or songs. (169 pages) Grades 4-8
Below, download the Common Core Standards for each lesson in each of the three volumes and The National Standards in Economics Correlated to Adventures in Economics and U.S. History.
Coming soon – Common Core Standards for each lesson in Adventures in Economics and U.S. History Volume 3: The Twentieth Century.
* If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free.
Adventures in the Stock Market
In twelve exciting lesson plans students in elementary and middle school learn about the stock market. Each lesson opens with a list of basic concepts and national standards in economics and personal finance, followed by several hands-on activities. Lessons also include closure questions, assessment activities, and an extension section with reinforcement activities such as references to relevant children’s literature, puzzles, and even songs to familiar tunes with words that describe the concepts. Pre- and Post-Tests are included in the appendix, along with a glossary.
Many teachers who use these lesson plans may be participating in an organized ten week simulation such as The Stock Market Game www.smgww.org or The Stock Market Simulation www.nationalsms.com, so we have provided some teacher resources for them in the appendix. These excellent programs are enjoyed by thousands of teachers. If you have not done so, we encourage you to explore these options. Both programs engage students in online simulated trading with real prices. In them, students compete with many other teams. This competition lends added excitement to the experience—excitement that can spill over into other areas and really enhance the learning environment. You find that students will now have reasons to use "real-world" math skills. They will have reasons to pay attention to the news. They will have opportunities to use research skills before they make investments. Also, when students operate in teams, they will learn skills in working together.
Thus, we hope these lessons will help students learn the importance of saving and investing for their futures. We think they can also learn more about the role of business in the economy, as well as how the stock market helps businesses raise financial capital while letting small investors share in their success or failure. Along the way, we are confident they will learn more about the economy as they practice math, research and decision-making skills. And as a bonus, these activities add lots of excitement to the classroom. grades 3 to 7
Below, download The National Standards in Economics Correlated to Adventures in The Stock Market .
Coming soon – Common Core Standards for each lesson in Adventures in the Stock Market.
Coming soon - Adventures in the Stock Market Table of Contents.
Also below, download some free puzzles and lesson plans and see how fun and it can be to learn about the stock market!
The Stock Market Song Book
Letter Tiles Puzzle for Lesson 1 - How to Reach My Savings Goal
Word Search - Vocabulary in Lessons 1 - 2 - Starting to Save
Word Search - Vocabulary in Lessons 8 - 12
Double Puzzle for Lesson 5 - What Kind of Company?
Double Puzzle for Lesson 10 - Reduce Your Risk!
Word Puzzle for Lesson 10 - How Do Mutual Funds Work?
* If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free.
Puppet Economics
Using this resource, teachers can guide students as they create their own original puppet show and experience basic economic concepts. They start with decision-making as they choose the plot and characters. They experience production and scarce resources as they create puppets.
Specialization and interdependence come into action when students organize for production. They build their own human capital when they rehearse and present their show.
Finally, they learn about the critical role of consumers as they market their show. In addition to the step-by-step teacher's instructions, the guide includes 30 lessons, activity sheets, supply lists, ideas for making puppets, puppetry tips and sample puppet plays. (129 pages) Grades K-8
Puppet Economics gives step-by-step instructions for guiding students as they write their own original puppet shows and learn economic concepts along the way. In the process:
- Students learn about economic decision making as they plan the plot and create the characters for their show
- They make choices about production and resources as they design and create the puppets
- They experience specialization and interdependence when organizing for production
- They learn about consumers as they market their show
- They see the value of human capital as they rehearse and present their show
This is an outstanding program that includes teacher resources and lesson plans for elementary through middle-school classrooms. It also is a great addition to a home-schoolers curriculum.
Coming soon – Common Core Standards for each lesson in Puppet Economics.
* If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free.
Spotting Economics: From Africa to Ice Cream
Through 15 engaging hands-on lesson plans, students will learn to notice economics in action in their everyday lives. They begin by learning to "spot" the economics in popular children's literature by authors such as: Harriet Ziefert, Russell Hoban, Judith Viorst, Robert McClosky, Anne Rockwell, Gail Gibbons, Pat Brisson, and Tomie dePaola.
Each lesson starts off using an "Economics Spotter List" to find the economic concepts in a story—about subjects from Africa to Ice Cream. The concepts are then reinforced through activities, games and songs. Five bonus "mini-lessons" are included to show how to use the "Economics Spotter List" with other books. Lessons also include reproducible handouts.
(107 pages) Grades K-5
Below, download more information about how to help your students become "Economics Spotters!", including Table of Contents, The National Standards in Economics Correlated to Spotting Economics: From Africa to Ice Cream and the Common Core Standards for each lesson in Spotting Economics: From Africa to Ice Cream.
* If you do not have Acrobat Reader, you can download it for free.
About the authors
Suzanne Gallagher became involved in the economic education movement and taught economics at the University of West Florida from 1976 to 1989. While there she was awarded the "Teacher of the Year" in the School of Business, the Levy Award from the Freedom Foundation as well as awards from the National Council on Economic Education (now CEE) for her creative lessons. In 1990 she joined the economics faculty and became Director of the Virginia Commonwealth University Center for Economic Education. While there she received the Bessie Moore Award from the National Association of Economic Educators, the 2006 Albert Beekhuis Award from the Council on Economic Education as the outstanding Center for Economic Education and the J. Curtis Hall Award from the Virginia Council on Economic Education for her devotion to the economic education mission.
Over the years, Suzanne taught thousands of college students and thousands of teachers K-12. The teacher programs were designed to introduce principles of economics with hands-on activities that teachers could take to their own classrooms. She and Martha have collaborated to form EconFun and provide these creative teacher resources and lesson plans in a range of books.
Suzanne met Martha Hopkins when Martha was an elementary teacher taking one of Suzanne's summer workshops in Florida. Martha, who had been hesitant to take the economics workshop, immediately began winning awards for her creative lessons.
While teaching, Martha received the Associate Master Teacher Award from the state of Florida. She also won the framed George Washington Medal from the Freedoms Foundation at Valley Forge for her economics work in her classroom. When Martha retired from teaching she went to Kansas University to pursue a PhD in economic education. From there she went to James Madison University as program manager. While at James Madison she received the Bessie Moore Award from the National Association of Economic Educators. And during that time Martha wrote Puppet Economics, a project based learning curriculum; she also wrote economics lessons for the National Council on Economic Education (now CEE), the Federal Reserve Bank and others.
About the year 2000, in Virginia, many of the economics concepts were embedded in elementary and middle school US History. Teachers needed help, so Martha and Suzanne teamed up and wrote hands-on lessons for them resulting in three volumes of Adventures in Economics and U.S. History. Later, for primary classrooms, they wrote Spotting Economics: From Africa to Ice Cream. The purpose of these hands-on lessons was to show teachers and librarians how to spot the economics in children's literature.
Many teachers in grades 4-12 involve their students in stock market simulations. Martha and Suzanne had worked with these teachers for many years, so they wrote Adventures in the Stock Market, hands-on lessons for teaching how the stock market and investing work.
children’s books
Order books directly related to the history lessons in Adventures in Economics and U.S. History.
The Double Life of Pocahontas, by Jean Fritz
A Head Full of Notions, by Andy Russell Brown
If You Grew Up With George Washington, by Ruth B Gross
Just a Few Words, Mr. Lincoln, by Jean Fritz
Keep the Lights Burning, Abbie, by Peter and Connie Roop
N.C. Wyeth's Pilgrims, by Robert D. San Souci
Off the Map, by Peter and Connie Roop
The Printer's Apprentice, by Stephen Krensky
Shh! We're Writing the Constitution, by Jean Fritz
Sweet Clara and the Freedom Quilt, by D. Hopkinson
Will You Sign Here, John Hancock, by Jean Fritz
Check out other excellent books for history lessons in Adventures in Economics and U.S. History.
Abe Lincoln's Hat, by Martha Brenner
Alexander Graham Bell: An Inventive Life, by E. MacLeod
Annie and the Old One, by Miska Miles
The Back of Beyond- A Story About Lewis and Clark, by A. Bowen.
Barefoot: Escape on the Underground, by Pamela Edwards
Benjamin Franklin's Adventures With Electricity, by B. Birch
The Bill of Rights, by Conrad Stein
Bold Journey West with Lewis and Clark, by C.Bohner
Can't You Make Them Behave, King George, by Jean Fritz
The Constitution, by Patricia Ryon Quiri
Daily Life on a Southern Plantation 1853, by Paul Erickson
Eli Whitney, by Jean Lee Latham
The Farm - Life in Colonial Pennsylvania, by James E. Knight
George Washington- A Picture Book Biography, by M. Dooling
George Washington's Breakfast, by Jean Fritz
The Goat in the Rug, by Charles L. Blood
If You Grew Up With Abraham Lincoln, by Ann McGovern
If You Lived at the Time of the American Revolution, by Kay Moore
If You Lived at the Time of the Civil War, by Kay Moore
If You Lived in Colonial Times, by Ann McGovern
If You Lived in Williamsburg in Colonial Days, by B. Brenner
If You Lived With the Cherokee, by Anne Kamma
If You Lived With the Hopi, by Anne Kamma
If You Lived With the Iroquois, by Ellen Levine
If You Lived With the Sioux Indians, by Anne Kamma
If You Traveled West in a Covered Wagon, by Ellen Levine
If You Traveled on the Underground Railroad, by E. Levine
Jamestown - A New World Adventure, by James E. Knight
The Jamestown Colony, by Gail Sakurai
Journey to Monticello- Traveling in Colonial Times, by James Knight
Little House in the Big Woods, by Laura Ingalls Wilder
A Lion to Guard Us, by Clyde Robert Bulla
Lewis and Clark- Explorers of the American West, by S. Kroll
Meet Abraham Lincoln, by Barbara Cary
Next Spring An Oriole, by Gloria Whelan
Pink and Say, by Patricia Polacco
Pocahontas and the Strangers, by Clyde Robert Bulla
Salem Days - Life in a Colonial Seaport, by James E. Knight
Sarah Morton's Day- A Day in the Life of a Pilgrim Girl, by Kate Waters
Sarah, Plain and Tall, by Patricia MacLachlan
Seventh and Walnut- Life in Colonial Philadelphia, by James Knight
The Story of Thomas Alva Edison, by M. Cousins
Striking It Rich- The California Gold Rush, by S. Krensky
Two Tickets to Freedom, by Florence P. Freedman
The Village- Life in Colonial Times, by James E. Knight
What's the Big Idea, Ben Franklin?, by Jean Fritz
Where Was Patrick Henry on the 29th of May?, by J. Fritz
Why Don't You Get a Horse, Sam Adams?, by Jean Fritz
American History Simulations, by Max W. Fischer