Unit Overview

This unit will review the concepts of earning, spending, saving, and donating money. Students will learn about work and how it provides income so we can buy the things we want and need. Students will learn about budgeting and create a budget. They will learn about scarcity and surplus, the free enterprise system, and how a basic business operates. They will also learn about individuals who created new businesses.

Unit Strands

3.5 Economics. The student understands the purposes of earning, spending, saving, and donating money.
3.6 Economics. The student understands the concept of the free enterprise system and how businesses operate in the U.S. free enterprise system.

Enduring Understandings

People earn money by working at a job.

Individuals or families make choices about how to spend or save money.

Financial literacy is a very important life skill.

Essential Questions

How do people earn money?
Why is budgeting important?
What is a free enterprise system?
How do surplus and scarcity affect supply and demand?
How do businesses make profits?
Who are some people who have started successful businesses?

Vocabulary

industries, debt, interest, loan, saving, budget, owe, allocate, donate, free enterprise system, supply, demand, scarcity, surplus, expenses, income, loss, profit, production costs, innovator, assembly line