Teaching Guide

Teachers should also read the Show Me the Money: Economics in American History module Teaching Guide for further information.

Also refer to the Standards Chart for this lesson.

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Aim    

 

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Rationale

 

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Audience

The intended audience is primarily Chicago Public School students in the fourth and fifth grades, but the tour and lessons may be adaptable for other grades as well.

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Prerequisites

•Reading at a 4th grade level
•Use of Internet browsers
•Use of mouse

It is suggested that students go through the tours in the order given on the Show Me the Money home page, so that they follow chronological order.

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Subject-matter

Social Science, Economics, Music, and Language Arts will be addressed in this tour.

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Materials

•Internet-linked computer with browser (version 5.0 recommended) for each student or group of students; or a projector with a large group of students.
•Macromedia Flash version 5 (will download and install automatically).
•Paper-based journal (optional).

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Instructional Plan

It is recommended that teachers preview this tour to find any concepts or vocabulary that may need to be covered before the students begin. Teachers may wish to create a vocabulary/spelling list for using the terms found in this tour.

It is suggested that students work through this tour independently or in groups. While working through the tour, students should take notes in their journals. Teachers may model note taking, as this is a skill that takes practice. Encourage students to write down anything of interest in their journals as well as unfamiliar terms.

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Learning Objectives

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Assessment and Evaluation

Journal entries: Children will show evidence of note taking in their online journals.

Activities - Answers

Print out this chart and use it to answer the following questions:

(Students may print individual charts or the teacher may print one and make copies. This can be does as a group activity using an overhead projector.)

1. How much did toys and clothing cost during the Great Depression of the 1930s? What would they cost today?

2. Look through a current copy of your local newspaper to find out what it would cost to buy the same item today. Write that amount in the right column.

3. Why do you think the 1930s prices are lower than today's costs? Look at the Then and Now: Wages table. Do people earn more or less now than they did in the 1930s? How do the prices compare to the wages? How many weeks would it take to buy each of the items on the table of prices?

[Source]

Standards covered by these questions: Grade 4, State Goal 10, CAS B-1, Make statements based on data from tables; Grade 5, State Goal 10, CAS A-1, Use mean to make descriptive statements about data, and State Goal 10, CAS B-1, Make statements based on data from tables.

See if you can answer the questions #1 and #4 at Prices: Then and Now. If you want to challenge yourself, try questions #2 and #3 also!

Following this activity, you may want to engage the class in a discussion based on the question presented after the math problems: Would it be better to live in 1932, when the prices were cheap, or now, when the salary is higher?

Problem #1: A. 10 days
(Grade 5, State Goal 6, CAS C-4, Operations with money; also appropriate rounding or context rounding; Grade 4 & 5, State Goal 6, CAS A, Use of operations.)

Problem #2: C. 7 hours
(This is a difficult question for 4th and 5th graders. Could be used as bonus problem.)

Problem #3: B. 2,000%
(This is a difficult question for 4th and 5th graders. Could be used as bonus problem.)

Problem #4: c. 51, 7
(Grade 5, State Goal 6, CAS C-4, Operations with money; also understanding rounding and context.)

Additional Information

Currently there is no additional information for this tour.



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