Economic Systems
Unit description: In this unit, students will investigate how communities face different challenges in meeting their needs and wants. Students will examine how the availability of resources to meet basic needs varies across urban, suburban, and rural communities and how people make decisions to buy, sell, and use money based on their needs, wants, and the availability of resources. Students will also continue their study of scarcity, goods, services, and be introduced to the idea of taxes. In addition, students will study how a community requires the interdependence of many people performing a variety of jobs and services to provide basic needs and wants.
Download the complete Grade 2 Social Studies – Economic Systems framework to customize for your own planning.
Standards
- Standard 1-U.S. & N.Y. History
- Standard 3-Geography
- Standard 4-Economics
- Standard 5-Civics, Citizenship and Gov’t
Essential Questions and Big Ideas
Big Idea of the Unit: The economic health of a community is dependent on the amount of goods and services compared to the wants and needs of the people.
- How does sharing resources help build our communities?
- When communities share resources they add to the success of the community overall.
- How does money play a role in goods and services?
- The monetary value of goods and services is determined based on their availability and the wants and needs of the community.
- What types of services and products does my community offer?
- Communities offer goods and services that provide for the wants and needs of the people in the community.
- Communities have similar and unique wants and needs.
Prerequisite Skills
Grade 2 “My Community and Other Communities” is organized into five units of study—Individual Development and Cultural Identity; Civic Ideals and Practices; Geography, Humans, and the Environment; Time, Continuity, and Change; and Economic Systems. These units represent five of the unifying themes of social studies, and may be presented in any order.