Economics

Economics PowerPoint

        Attached to this post, you will find my class' Economics PowerPoint. My group was responsible for slides 39-41. Our task was to discuss the 5 principles of teaching economics. The five principles for teaching economics are meaningful, integrative, value-based, challenging, and active. We explored what each of these five principles means and ways to make lessons hit all 5 principles. We also came up with three possible lessons for our unit on the 13 colonies that address all 5 principles.
        I thought this assignment was important because often times economics is not touched upon until middle school or high school, but there are many ways to incorporate it into an elementary school. Growing up I was fortunate enough to have a program in my school called Junior Achievement. This was an economics program that a parent volunteered to run in our class each year starting in kindergarten. I had the privilege of teaching a Junior Achievement session in my mom's kindergarten class this past year because she had no parent volunteers. The lessons are all pre-made, I just had to implement them in the classroom. We read stories and talked about the concepts of spending and saving money. We also learned the names of all the coins. The kids really enjoyed the sessions and at the end, they each received a piggy bank and a certificate of achievement. I think that programs like these are so important because they teach students real life skills that they will use every day.