George Mason University

Graduate School of Education

ELEMENTARY EDUCATION PROGRAM

LESSON PLAN FORMAT

Intern: Winter Sutter

Grade Level: 2nd

Title: Economic Producers

Date: Fall 2015

I.

Objectives
Students will know:
o The definition of a producer.
o The difference between a producer and a consumer.
o In what ways each individual can be a producer.
o The definition of scarcity.
Students will understand:
o How producers play a key part in our economy.
o How scarcity plays a role in the choices people make as producers and
consumers.
Students will be able to:
o Differentiate consumers from producers based on a description of their
activity.
o Describe the ways in which they can be producers.
o Link producers with the products they create.
o Verbally explain how scarcity plays a role in a producers activities and
choices.

SOL Economics 2.9:

The student will explain that scarcity (limited resources) requires people to make choices
about producing and consuming goods and services.
SOL Science 3.5:
The student will investigate and understand relationships among organisms in aquatic and
terrestrial food chains. Key concepts include
a) producer, consumer, decomposer;
SOL English 2.13:
The student will edit writing for correct grammar, capitalization, punctuation, and spelling.
a) Recognize and use complete sentences.
b) Use and punctuate declarative, interrogative, and exclamatory sentences.
c) Capitalize all proper nouns and the word I.
d) Use singular and plural nouns and pronouns.
e) Use apostrophes in contractions and possessives.
f) Use contractions and singular possessives.
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g) Use knowledge of simple abbreviations.
h) Use correct spelling for commonly used sight words, including compound
words and regular plurals.
i) Use commas in the salutation and closing of a letter.
j) Use verbs and adjectives correctly in sentences.
SOL English 2.7:
The student will expand vocabulary when reading.
b) Use knowledge of prefixes and suffixes.
e) Use vocabulary from other content areas.
SOL English 2.14:
The student will use available technology for reading and writing.
SOL Fine Arts 2.4:
The student will create works of art inspired by a variety of concepts, themes, and literary
sources.
SOL Fine Arts 2.6:
The student will use foreground and background in works of art.
SOL Fine Arts 2.7:
The student will depict objects according to size and proportion within works of art.
II.

Materials for Learning Activities

Students will need:
o Pencil
o We are consumers when we worksheet, previously created in lesson 1 from
this unit
o White board per table
o Dry erase markers
o We can be producers if we worksheet (see Appendix A)
Teacher will need:
o Smart Board
o Internet
o Previously created Goods/Services chart from lesson 1 in this unit
o Poster/Chart paper
o Markers

III.
Procedures for Learning Activities
Time
Steps
5-7 minutes Introduction:
1. Gather student attention
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Activate prior knowledge:
2. T: Remember yesterday when we talked about being consumers, and all the
ways in which we can be consumers? Today were going to think about another
example of a role we can play in the economy.
3. T: Can someone please give me an example that they thought of yesterday as
to how they are a consumer?
4. Take a student answer.
5. T: Clarify and ask: So you are a consumer when you [restate student example],
where are you getting [product/service they are consuming]? Either write the
producer on the board or have the student write the producer on the board.
6. Ask two or three more students the same question, each time writing down the
producer of the product/service on the board. Reference a previously created
Goods/Services table if the children need reminding of the differences and/or
definitions.
7. T: All of these people or companies, and more, have a specific name for their
role in the economy. They are producers.
8. Write the word producer on the board
9. T: What can we infer by the word, by what we talked about, and by this short
list of people about the role of a producer? Try and cover the following topics
with student suggestions, guiding their answers and elaborating as necessary:
a. produce is in producer: meaning producers make or create things.
b. Producers in the economy are similar to producers in our ecosystem as
theyll learn about in science; they both create a product for others to
use.
c. Producers can be the makers of something (i.e. a baker) or the sellers of
something (i.e. store clerk).
10. T: Great! Producers are what we are going to concentrate on learning about
today!
Instructional Strategies:
Presentation
:
2 minutes

Presentation (I DO)
1. Bring up http://www.econedlink.org/interactives/EconEdLink-interactive-toolplayer.php?filename=em464_dragndrop_v2_save_2.swf&lid=464 on the Smart
Board
2. T: Now were going to sort these examples into whether we think they are
producers or consumers. Im going to start with the first one. I see two ladies
sitting at a table, drinking something that looks hot. If I roll my curser over it I
can see that it says they are drinking tea. Now I think that it looks like these two
are not creating a product or providing a service; it looks like they are drinking
something that someone else made that maybe they bought. So I think they are a
consumer. Do we all agree? [pause] Let me drag and drop it under consumer and
see if we are right.
3. Drag and drop the picture of the two ladies drinking tea to under the consumer
column.
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Guided
Practice: 310 minutes

Independent
:
15-25
minutes

Guided Practice (WE DO)

1. Now lets do the next one together.
2. T: What do we see in this picture? Point to the picture of the vet. Take student
answers.
3. T: Does it look like they are consuming a good or service? [pause and take
student answers]
4. T: Does it look like they are creating a product or providing a service? [pause
and take student answers]
5. T: What product or service are they providing? Take student answers until it is
clear that the vet is providing care for animals.
6. T: So on the count of 3, what do you think the vet is, a consumer or a
producer? 123
a. If the majority of the class does not say producer, ask questions and help
the children discover that they are in fact a producer.
7. Drag the vet into the producer column and drop them.
8. If the children struggle with this section, repeat as necessary with the subsequent
examples of people.
Independent Practice (YOU DO)
1. T: Okay, now youre going to work on the rest on your own. Im going to read
you the description of the person, and you are going to discuss with your table
whether you think they are a producer or a consumer. You need to make sure to
discuss: what you see, whether it looks like they are producing something or
consuming something, and if so, what. If you think they are producers, you will
need to tell us what they are producing and whether it is a good or a service. If
you think they are consumers, you will need to tell us what they are consuming,
whether it is a good or service, and where they might have gotten their product
from. Here is what you need to make sure you cover. [Write on the board or on a
poster paper: 1. What do you see? 2. Are they producing or consuming? 3. Is it a
good or a service? 4. If they are consumers, where might they have gotten their
product?]
2. T: When your table decides whether the person is a producer or consumer,
write it on your tables white board.
3. T: Who has questions about what we are about to do? [pause and answer any
questions if asked.]
4. T: Okay, here we go. The first person you are going to discuss is the baker.
[hover cursor over baker]. Discuss the 4 questions with your table.
5. Teacher should walk around room, asking questions to help children discover
the answers and promote discussion. Example questions may be:
a. What product do you think they create or consume?
b. Would they be making something or using something?
c. Is this something they would use themselves or sell to others?
d. Can this person produce/consume as much of this product as they want?
What might keep them from being able to do this?
6. Once it appears that the tables have reached a consensus, ask all tables to hold
up their white boards. Ask one of the tables to share their discussion about the 4
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questions.
7. Repeat steps 4-6 for each of the remaining people in the activity.
8. T: Alright. Now that you are producer experts, talk with your table and come
up with as many other examples as you can of producers. When you are done,
we are each going to share an example. Ready? Discuss
9. Supervise discussions to ensure that students are on-task and to help clarify
confusions if necessary.
10. After table conversations have lulled, go around the room asking each student to
share one of their tables ideas, trying not to repeat any previous answers. For
each answer given, ask the class what good or service might they produce?
11. T: Now we are going to think of ourselves as producers. In what ways we can
be producers ourselves. Take a minute and think about how you can be a
producer.
a. Hand out We can be producers if we worksheet [see Appendix A]
while speaking.
12. T: Now I want you to write in a complete sentence an example of how you can
be a producer. Then you can show your example with a picture, a diagram, or
any other visual way that will help you remember your example in the box
above your sentence.
a. Extensions: have students add what limitations they have on producing
their product/service (i.e. time, supplies, etc.) and/or have students
distinguish between whether their product is a good or service and why.
13. Teacher should monitor work, be available for questions, and take the time to
speak individually with those who were having trouble understanding the role of
producers.
2 minutes

Summary/Closure:
1. T: Today we learned about the role that producers play in our economy. How
are we going to remember the difference between a producer and a consumer?
2. Take student answers as to how theyll remember the differences. If none are
given, reference their pictures, the root word in producers, or the P in
producers as a person serving something (add arms on the right hand side), etc.
3. T: And when we are producers, just like when we are consumers, we cant
make as much as we want of anything; we need supplies, we need time, we need
money to purchase supplies. So there are limitations on what we can produce
just like there are limitations on what we can consume.
Extensions/Connections Describe extensions or connections to other lessons.
Students can visit: http://www.econedlink.org/interactives/EconEdLinkinteractive-tool-player.php?filename=producers.swf&lid=564 and match the
producers with their products in the interactive activity.
Students can research a product they can produce and see what they would need
to produce it and therefore what limitations they might have on production.

IV.

Assessment
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Students will be informally assessed on whole-class discussions, table-discussions,

and their We can be producers if we worksheet. Their work and participation will
be used to determine whether the teacher needs to re-address the concept with the
whole class, a few individual students, or not at all.
This was created to be the second lesson in a five part unit on consumers and
producers. At the beginning of the unit, students will be informally and formatively
assessed with a pre-test. At the end of the unit, students will be formally assessed with
a summative test.

V.

Differentiation
ESOL students will be able to work with a partner with whom they communicate well
with in order to better understand the vocabulary and descriptions of the people.
1 Depending on the students needs, teacher may also create a vocabulary book
for the unit that includes key words such as consumer, producer, good, and service
along with their native-language translations and a picture.
Children with fine-motor skills difficulties should be allowed to type their example of
how to be a producer into a word document and insert a picture instead of writing
with a pencil.
All IEP and 504 accommodations and supports will be provided.
Gardners multiple intelligences addressed:
1 Linguistic: through listening and participating in class discussions and
thinking/writing about self as producer
2 Visual-spatial: by illustrating themselves as producers
3 Bodily-Kinesthetic: addressed if teacher allows children to drag and drop the
producers or consumers on the Smart Board themselves
4 Intrapersonal: through independent work and connecting to self as a producer
5 Interpersonal: through class, table and partner discussions

VI.

Technology Integration
The Smart Board is utilized for the interactive web activity in a way that allows all
children to participate and discuss the topic at hand.
If it is possible to have each student with their own laptop, the teacher may opt to
have the website open on each laptop and hand one out to each student so that they
can individually follow the activity on their own computer.
If each student has access to a laptop: Teacher may opt to allow students to type a
sentence of how they can be a producer and either search or create an image in lieu of
writing on the printed out worksheet. This creation could be printed out so as to post
around the room just like the worksheets would be.

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Appendix A

Name: _______________________________________ Date: ______________

We can be producers if
we

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