Lesson 4: How We Make Choices
Sub Question: How is one choice better than the other?
I. Objectives:
II. Materials:
- "Pet Shop Results" chart
- fake money for pet shop simulation:
> Phase 1: $3
> Phase 2: $2
> Phase 3: $2
- props for "Birthday Choices" song; book, apple, hat, baseball, backpack
- "The Grumpy Morning" book
- props for pet shop simulation:
> Phase 1: dog brush, dog crate, dog food, and dog costume
> Phase 2: football toy, holiday toy, dog food, and dinosaur toy
> Phase 3: ipod for pet owner, dog medicine, dog food
- prop cards; 25 cards per prop, per phase
- SMART Board
- SMART Board slides
III. Procedures:
1. Utilize the "Birthday Choices" song from the previous lesson, to help children get thinking about wants, choices, and opportunity costs again. Beforehand, set up small table next to the rug, with the props for the "Birthday Choices" song. Then say, "We are going to have some fun with the "Birthday Choices" song we learned yesterday! I am going to call on students to walk over to me, and then I will hand them two objects. The two objects represent their, say it with me,...WANTS! The volunteer can only pick one, and that is their, say it with me.... CHOICE! As a class, we will then sing the "Birthday Choices" song, and when we sing "You chose a....", the volunteer will hold up their CHOICE, and when we sing "And gave up a....", I will hold up the, say it with me... OPPORTUNITY COST! We will repeat the same procedure 3 times."
Song: "Birthday Choices" Tune: Happy Birthday to You
Music Connection: Use this song to reinforce the concept of opportunity cost. Remind students that choices have consequences.
Challenge: Choose other birthday gifts and sing about them.
Opportunity cost
Is what you have lost.
You chose a ____(football)____,
And gave up a ____(book)____,
Opportunity cost
Is what you've lost.
You chose a ____(______)____,
And gave up a ____(_____)____,
* Engaging student interest;
2. Inform students "Moving on, in the main activity for today we are going to talk about animals, and we will have to make choices for them in some way. So in order to get your brain ready, we are going to read the following book!" Read aloud the book "The Grumpy Morning" by Edwards. This give students the framework for thinking about the needs of pets for the activity to follow.
I. Objectives:
- Students will be able to analyze the reasons for which choices are made.
- VA S.S. SOL K.7: The student will a) recognize that people make choices because they cannot have everything they want;
- VA Music SOL K.1: The student will sing songs and play instruments.
1. Participate individually and in groups. - VA Science SOL K.7: The student will investigate and understand basic needs and life processes of plants and animals. Key concepts include a) animals need adequate food, water, shelter, air, and space to survive.
- VA Math SOL K.13: The student will gather data by counting and tallying.
- VA Math SOL K.14: The student will display gathered data in object graphs, picture graphs, and tables, and will answer questions related to the data.
II. Materials:
- Students:
- "Pet Shop Results" chart
- fake money for pet shop simulation:
> Phase 1: $3
> Phase 2: $2
> Phase 3: $2
- Teacher:
- props for "Birthday Choices" song; book, apple, hat, baseball, backpack
- "The Grumpy Morning" book
- props for pet shop simulation:
> Phase 1: dog brush, dog crate, dog food, and dog costume
> Phase 2: football toy, holiday toy, dog food, and dinosaur toy
> Phase 3: ipod for pet owner, dog medicine, dog food
- prop cards; 25 cards per prop, per phase
- SMART Board
- SMART Board slides
III. Procedures:
- Introduction (8 min)
1. Utilize the "Birthday Choices" song from the previous lesson, to help children get thinking about wants, choices, and opportunity costs again. Beforehand, set up small table next to the rug, with the props for the "Birthday Choices" song. Then say, "We are going to have some fun with the "Birthday Choices" song we learned yesterday! I am going to call on students to walk over to me, and then I will hand them two objects. The two objects represent their, say it with me,...WANTS! The volunteer can only pick one, and that is their, say it with me.... CHOICE! As a class, we will then sing the "Birthday Choices" song, and when we sing "You chose a....", the volunteer will hold up their CHOICE, and when we sing "And gave up a....", I will hold up the, say it with me... OPPORTUNITY COST! We will repeat the same procedure 3 times."
Song: "Birthday Choices" Tune: Happy Birthday to You
Music Connection: Use this song to reinforce the concept of opportunity cost. Remind students that choices have consequences.
Challenge: Choose other birthday gifts and sing about them.
Opportunity cost
Is what you have lost.
You chose a ____(football)____,
And gave up a ____(book)____,
Opportunity cost
Is what you've lost.
You chose a ____(______)____,
And gave up a ____(_____)____,
* Engaging student interest;
2. Inform students "Moving on, in the main activity for today we are going to talk about animals, and we will have to make choices for them in some way. So in order to get your brain ready, we are going to read the following book!" Read aloud the book "The Grumpy Morning" by Edwards. This give students the framework for thinking about the needs of pets for the activity to follow.
- Instructional Strategies (25 min)
"I will call students over by their table numbers, and they will come into Mrs. Strasburg's Pet Shop and look around at the different things they can buy for their pet. (Emphasize);You will have to think about making choices, because you will not have enough money to buy everything in the pet shop. When you are ready to buy your items, you will hand me your fake money, and I will hand you the prop card that stands for that item., and you will take it back to your dog at your desk!"
"During this role playing, if you are not the table number that has been called over to the pet shop, you will have free reading time, or catch up on any late work."
4. Have students partake in the simulation described above. Then say "Now that the whole class has gotten a chance to come to Mrs. Strasburg's pet shop, we are going to take a look at what everyone bought. I will call out one of the items that had been in the pet shop, and if you bought that item, you will hold up the prop card, above your head, and as a class, we will count the cards as I come around to collect them. We will then record the total number on the "Pet Shop Results" chart on our SMART Board. Once we have done this for each item, we will look at the results." Follow the procedure described above, and create class chart like the one below. Involve students in the creation of the chart on the SMART Board, and revisit the major features of charts to help students then analyze in the next step:
5. Ask students to then sit in front of the SMART Board, and look at the results. Engage students in the following questions:
> What do you notice? or What stands out to you?
> How would you describe the total amounts bought of each item, using words like more/less?
> Do any of the bars look like of the others? What does that mean?
> How do the total amounts for each item relate to our class? Let's circle the tallest bar for the most amount of items bought in bright green. Let's circle the shortest bar for the least amount of items bought in bright red.
6. Guide students towards thinking about the results in terms of making choices. Say "Now let's look at our results and analyze the choices we made:"
> What do each one of these items represent?
> Were you able to buy every item you wanted? Why not? What is the reason for this?
> What did you have to do since you could not buy every item you wanted?
> Which item did students choose most?
> Which item did students choose least? How could we relate this to opportunity cost?
7. Conduct the same simulation again on a different day, this time with Phase #2 props/money. Also, for this phase, when charting the data, hand out students blank charts, and have them fill in the information, as you guide them by creating one on the SMART Board as well. Then have students individually analyze the results and mark the choice made most often in green, and the opportunity cost that occurred most often in red. Finally, have students come back together to compare the charts for both phases side by side. Guide students in inferring the following:
> An overall pattern can be seen of items that fulfill basic needs being selected most often.
> Speculate how students then make their next choices, perhaps because of interest/value.
--->Extension Opportunity: On a third day, utilize the same simulation with Phase #3 props/money. The inclusion of the "ipod for pet owner" prop, forces students to have to select between their wants and their pet's wants.
8. Employing the "Birthday Choices" song from step #1 once again, you will have students apply it in the same way, but this time the props will consist of the prop cards from the pet shop simulation, and each volunteer will bring up their pretend pet, and select the want for their pet. Encourage students to think about making the best decisions for their pet, based on what they have learned from the pet shop role playing experience. Teachers have the option of formatting this to an activity sheet.
* Connections to other lessons;
9. Inform students that they will use all the knowledge they've gained over the last couple of days to create a foldable. In addition, for tomorrow they will need to find two items at home, that they want to bring in to use as props for the "Birthday Song" tomorrow.
> What do you notice? or What stands out to you?
> How would you describe the total amounts bought of each item, using words like more/less?
> Do any of the bars look like of the others? What does that mean?
> How do the total amounts for each item relate to our class? Let's circle the tallest bar for the most amount of items bought in bright green. Let's circle the shortest bar for the least amount of items bought in bright red.
6. Guide students towards thinking about the results in terms of making choices. Say "Now let's look at our results and analyze the choices we made:"
> What do each one of these items represent?
> Were you able to buy every item you wanted? Why not? What is the reason for this?
> What did you have to do since you could not buy every item you wanted?
> Which item did students choose most?
> Which item did students choose least? How could we relate this to opportunity cost?
7. Conduct the same simulation again on a different day, this time with Phase #2 props/money. Also, for this phase, when charting the data, hand out students blank charts, and have them fill in the information, as you guide them by creating one on the SMART Board as well. Then have students individually analyze the results and mark the choice made most often in green, and the opportunity cost that occurred most often in red. Finally, have students come back together to compare the charts for both phases side by side. Guide students in inferring the following:
> An overall pattern can be seen of items that fulfill basic needs being selected most often.
> Speculate how students then make their next choices, perhaps because of interest/value.
--->Extension Opportunity: On a third day, utilize the same simulation with Phase #3 props/money. The inclusion of the "ipod for pet owner" prop, forces students to have to select between their wants and their pet's wants.
- Summary (7 min)
8. Employing the "Birthday Choices" song from step #1 once again, you will have students apply it in the same way, but this time the props will consist of the prop cards from the pet shop simulation, and each volunteer will bring up their pretend pet, and select the want for their pet. Encourage students to think about making the best decisions for their pet, based on what they have learned from the pet shop role playing experience. Teachers have the option of formatting this to an activity sheet.
* Connections to other lessons;
9. Inform students that they will use all the knowledge they've gained over the last couple of days to create a foldable. In addition, for tomorrow they will need to find two items at home, that they want to bring in to use as props for the "Birthday Song" tomorrow.
IV. Assessment:
V. Differentiation:
- Logical/Mathematical: All the mathematics incorporated in the lesson, counting, graphing, etc., truly helps this learner to conceptualize the learning.
- Visual/Spatial: Having students create the "Pet Shop Results" chart in phase #2, further allows them to visualize and make sense of choices.
- Interpersonal: Collaborative contexts such as the whole group conversations when analyzing the results, and the interaction of all students during the singing of the "Birthday Choices" song appeal to this learner.
- Body/Kinesthetic: The simulation gives this type of student concrete experience by means of interacting with the tangible items of the stuffed animal and the props at the pet shop.
- Musical Rhythmic: Utilizing the "Birthday Choices" song supports students who learn best through music, by having them apply their knowledge in the verses.
- Naturalist: A student with this inclination will be supported by way of the ""Pet Shop Results" chart, and encircling and classifying the want that is chosen most often, and the item that most often occurs as the opportunity cost.
- Intrapersonal: Having students individually select the items for purchase at the pet shop as well as create the chart for Phase #2 of the simulation, gives them the space to reflect on their own.
- Student Responses - (Informal Formative): Gauging students’ responses when analyzing the results will help determine if they are able to understand the reasons behind making choices.
- "Pet Shop Results" chart - (Formal Formative): Looking over how students created their chart for Phase #2, and if they correctly circled the bar for the item representing the choice picked most often in green, and the bar for the item representing the opportunity cost that occurred most often in red.
V. Differentiation:
- Multiple Intelligences:
- Logical/Mathematical: All the mathematics incorporated in the lesson, counting, graphing, etc., truly helps this learner to conceptualize the learning.
- Visual/Spatial: Having students create the "Pet Shop Results" chart in phase #2, further allows them to visualize and make sense of choices.
- Interpersonal: Collaborative contexts such as the whole group conversations when analyzing the results, and the interaction of all students during the singing of the "Birthday Choices" song appeal to this learner.
- Body/Kinesthetic: The simulation gives this type of student concrete experience by means of interacting with the tangible items of the stuffed animal and the props at the pet shop.
- Musical Rhythmic: Utilizing the "Birthday Choices" song supports students who learn best through music, by having them apply their knowledge in the verses.
- Naturalist: A student with this inclination will be supported by way of the ""Pet Shop Results" chart, and encircling and classifying the want that is chosen most often, and the item that most often occurs as the opportunity cost.
- Intrapersonal: Having students individually select the items for purchase at the pet shop as well as create the chart for Phase #2 of the simulation, gives them the space to reflect on their own.
- Suggestions for other accommodations: