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First Grade - Mathematics
Activities
Disco Day
Financial and Economic Concepts: Opportunity Cost and Tradeoffs
First Grade – Mathematics
Standard 1: Students will acquire number sense and perform simple operations with whole numbers.
Objective 3: Model, describe, and illustrate the meanings of addition and subtraction and use these operations to solve problems.
This activity is a simulation game which involves students in the process of ordering school supplies and paying for them.
The students will each receive 12 discs, which the teacher has cut from construction paper. These discs will represent money.
Items for sale, and which are arranged in a display with their prices, are as follows.
| School pencils | 2 discs |
| Fancy pencils | 4 discs |
| Lined newsprint paper | 1 disc |
| Better quality paper | 3 discs |
| Crayons (8 per pack) | 4 discs |
| Crayons (16 per pack) | 6 discs |
| Crayons (24 per pack) | 8 discs |
| Eraser | 2 discs |
| Marker set | 10 discs |
Distribute pictures of the items for sale and let the students color them and cut them out.
Items For Sale (pdf)
The students should individually decide with items they want to order. After ranking the pictures of items according to choice, the number of required discs can be grouped by the pictures.
Gather the pictures of all unordered items and discuss the choices made by the students.
Suggested questions for class discussion:
- What items do we need to work in school?
- What items would it be nice to have?
- Did anyone order 5 items?
- Did you order everything you need?
- Did you spend all 12 discs? If not, how many did you spend?
- Did you have enough discs to buy everything you wanted? If not, how many discs would you need to buy everything you want?
What is My Opportunity Cost Worksheet (pdf)
Making Spending Decisions
Financial and Economic Concepts: Opportunity Cost and Tradeoffs First Grade – Mathematics
Standard 1: Students will acquire number sense and perform simple operations with whole numbers.
Objective 3: Model, describe, and illustrate the meanings of addition and subtraction and use these operations to solve problems.
Using fun activities such as Grocery Shopping, Toy Shopping and Snack Time Decisions, introduce structured spending decisions to assist young children in making choices. Help children recognize that money comes in limited amounts.
Teacher Lesson Plan (pdf)
Student Worksheets (pdf)
Smart Shopper
Financial and Economic Concepts: Opportunity Cost and Tradeoffs
First Grade – Mathematics
Standard 3: Students will understand simple geometry and measurement concepts as well as collect, represent, and draw conclusions from data.
Objective 3: Collect, organize, and represent simple data.
Show students examples of toy ads and let them identify the purchase price.
Let the students pretend that they are going to buy a new paint set. After reading all the ads in the newspaper, they learn that the item they want is being sold at the following stores for the following prices:
| Store | Price | Location |
| Store A | $4 | Five miles away and parents would need to drive. |
| Store B | $2 | Three miles away and parents would need to drive. |
| Store C | $1 | Two blocks away and student can walk. |
| Store D | $0 | One block away and student can walk. |
Ask students to rank the stores from least to most expensive.
Next, ask if it will cost anything for Mom or Dad to drive five miles. Also, help them to consider the value of the time involved for themselves, as well as their parents.
Lead students to discover that the best buy is Store C when they consider all the factors involved.
