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Grades 2-3

Lesson 1

AN INTRODUCTION TO MONEYIts Origin, History, and Functions

Rationale: This lesson is intended for elementary students in second throughthird grades during a forty minute time period. The lesson teaches students theconcept of the barter system, early forms of money, and the purpose of money.Each activity deals with the introduction to money. The activities rely on a variety

of interactive and visual formats designed to be interesting and fun.

Lesson Objectives: Students will be able to:

Describe the bartering system.

Describe early forms of money.

Describe the purposes of moneyo medium of exchangeo stores valueo places a value.

Materials:

Stickers or popsicle sticks A scale balance

Pencils

Worksheet

Setting the Stage:Background Builder #1: Show students pictures of coins and/or actualcoins. Review values. Remind students that our government makes(prints and mints) our money and it is regulated.

Background Builder #2: Pass out small items (popsicle sticks, pencils, orstickers) randomly to students. Then try to trade/barter with a differentitem. Reinforce that people frequently trade items they have for itemsthey want.

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State the Objective: tell the students what they will be able to do uponconclusion of the lesson.

Before the end of this lesson, you will be able to tell me what bartering andtrading are. You will also be able to tell me why people created money. Finally,

you will be able to explain why saving is important. You should also decide thatits a good idea to save a certain amount every time you receive money.

The Lesson Procedure:Ask students the following question: How do people get money?

Money is given in return for a service or time.o Teachers earn money.o Bankers earn money.o Professional athletes earn money.o The person (lawn service) who cuts your grass may earn money.o A hairdresser earns money.o

If you receive an allowance, you probably do some chores inexchange for it. This is earning money for the time you have spentdoing something such as cleaning your room.

Ask students the following question: What do you use money for?Elicit responses such as to buy things or to pay for services. Most likelyall answers can be classified into those two groups. For example: Payingfor a vacation involves paying for the hotel, plane tickets, amusement parkrides, etc.

Ask students the following question, What do you do with your allowance orother money you receive?

Elicit answers from the students such as, Saveit or buy something with it.If you are saving money for something special such as a scooter, you knowhow much money you will need to buy it. Money stores value so that you cankeep it for a long time without it losing value.

Next, ask students to name some kinds of money: penny, nickel, dime, etc.

The barter system and the origin of money:

There was a time before money existed. People traded things for things.Refer to the story of J ack and the Beanstalk. J ack traded the family cow for somebean seeds. J acks mother was upset because it was an unfair trade. A cow wasworth much more than a couple of bean seeds.

If youve ever traded something in your lunch box for something in someoneelses, youve used the barter system.

Trading had many problems so people set rules. They would trade by weight.Use the scale balance to demonstrate trading pencils for stickers in order to

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illustrate how trading by weight worked. In lieu of having a scale balance, assignclassroom items a particular price: a chalkboard eraser may cost 3 pencils, adesk may be 100 pencils, etc.

Later people started to use more valuable things for trading: metals such as

silver and gold. Kings liked this because the metal could be stamped or mintedwith their face on it. Now everyone in the kingdom would recognize this personas king. Also, it was easy to make lots of coins of the same type and weight.

Today we have price tags to tell us how much something costs. Objects havea monetary value. This value is the same for everyone:

o If I want to buy a Game Boy, it costs about $60.o If you want to buy a Game Boy, it costs about $60.o If Michael J ordan wants one, it also costs him about $60.

Lets look at how money buys items today. Use Worksheet 1: Toys With

Prices.

Closing the Lesson:Review the concepts of bartering and why people use money. You may

choose to end the lesson with a technique from Ways to End and ReviewLessons on the following page.

National Council of Teachers o f Mathematics Principles and Standards for SchoolMathematics, 2000.

Number and Operations (Students will) Understand numbers, ways of representing numbers,

relationships among numbers, and number systems.Algebra (Students will) Understand patterns, relations, and functions.Communication (Students will) Organize and consolidate their mathematical thinking throughcommunication.Connections (Students will) Recognize and use connections among mathematical ideas.Representation (Students will) Create and use representations to organize, record, andcommunicate mathematical ideas.

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Ways to End and Review Lessons

Quizbowl: Separate the students into two teams and ask questions related to thelesson.For example: What does the word barter mean?

Jigsaw: J igsaw students into three groups and assign each a specific questionfrom the lesson to answer together, with one person from each team acting asthe spokesperson.

Sample questions:What do you use money for?What are some problems with the barter system?What does it mean when we say money stores its value?

Why is the value of money important?

Misinformation: Quote information from the days lesson purposely erroneous.Call on various students to restate the information correctly.

Whats left out? Supply students with statements that have some informationmissing. This can be done orally or it can be done on a blackboard. Ask studentsto provide the missing information.

Pair and Share: Group students into pairs and ask each pair to exchange two orthree new things learned during the days lesson. Call on select pairs to sharewith the whole class what has been learned.

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Money Trivia

The following are miscellaneous facts about money that you may wish to

include in your presentation. They may also be helpful in answering questions

the students have:

About 3,500 years ago Cowrie shells (small seashells) were used for money

in China, Africa, and Australia.

The Yap Islanders in the Pacific Ocean used large stone disks about 13 feet

across for money. (This is about as long as a chalkboard.)

China used bricks of tealeaves for money until just 100 years ago. The

Roman soldiers earned their wages in an allowance of salt, called a

salarium. This is where the wordsalary originates.

Coins last about 20 or 30 years in circulation before they are worn out. $1,

$5, $10, and $20 bills last about 3 months. Then they are shredded andburned by special people in the government. $50 and $100 bills can last for

3 or 4 years.

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An Introduction to Money Worksheet #1 Name_________________

Directions: Color the most expensive item green. Color the least expensiveitem purple.

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