Economics

=Media Literacy and Budgeting, Beth Schroeder= = **Introduction**  =

Third graders may have little experience evaluating why they like something. They are just beginning to reason and process information, helping them to compare and contrast ideas. Piaget identifies this age group as early concrete thinkers. Being in the early stage, these students are just beginning to think critically about how choices affect outcomes. This lesson helps them identify some strategies that are used by food producers and advertisers to sell items. It is important at this stage for the teacher to model the thinking process by talking through what is being though. The students need to understand how to think before they can think critically independently. The teacher will play a significant role in demonstrating this process through analysis of how advertisers use strategies to encourage buyers to purchase their product. The teacher will encourage students to think about what they have seen and heard, taking the students through a deeper evaluation of media influences. The third grade lesson will culminate in the students creating an advertisement to sell a food product of their choice, using the strategies of advertisers and the new realization of what motivates them in making purchases. Third Grade Lesson-Media Literacy Fifth graders are more organized in their thinking than third graders, able to consider more options that influence the choices they make. They are considered more developed concrete thinkers. They may show more responsibility yet may be impulsive when spending money. Fifth graders may begin to realize that “people make choices because they cannot have everything they want”. (NCEE Standard 1 benchmark) By evaluating the importance of budgeting, students will consider how they spend money. Using the information learned in third grade, students will evaluate both why they spend and how to spend money. In this lesson, t he students learn about budgeting time and money. They will have the opportunity play a game and will create a weeklong meal plan for their family based on a given budget, using a table to show how they make choices to budget money. Fifth Grade Lesson Plan- Budgeting An important consideration in preparing a lesson plan is the differentiation of maturity within a classroom. Some students may be right on the expected guidelines for the grade level, while others may be ahead or behind what is expected. Advanced students may be able to assist the teacher and other students while completing their assignment. For those students requiring special accommodations, I have also included idea for accommodations. Both of these lessons focus on social studies academic standards and information literacy standards for evaluating and using information. The specific standards are listed in each lesson plan.