Detailed Lesson Plan Preparation

Elementary Education

Name: Heidi Garner

Title: We Cant Have Everything We Want
rd

Grade: 3 grade
Concept/Topic: Arts integrated lesson about scarcity
Time Needed: 40 minutes

Note: A detailed lesson plan is specific enough for another teacher to read and teach
effectively. There should not be any question regarding what to do or how to do it.

Backward Design Approach: Where are you going with your students?
Identify Desired Results/Learning Outcome/Essential Question:
To demonstrate their understanding of the concept of scarcity students will create a sculpture of a scarce
good and complete a worksheet.
NCSCOS/Common Core Standards:
3.E.1- Understand how the location of regions affects activity in a market economy.
3.E.2- Understand entrepreneurship in a market economy.
3.V.1- Use the language of visual arts to communicate effectively.
3.V.2- Apply creative and critical thinking skills to artistic expression.
3.V.3- Create art using a variety of tools, media, and processes, safely and appropriately.
Assessment Plan:
Students will be formatively assessed during the lesson while I walk around and check to see if their
sculptures are reflecting accurate knowledge. Students will also be summatively assessed with the use
of a worksheet that will evaluate their understanding of the concept of scarcity.

Meeting the student where they are:

Prior Knowledge/Connections:
Students must have a previous knowledge of what good is, and what it means to value something/ for an
object to have value. Students are expected to have a basic knowledge of economic concepts from
previous years such as: wants vs needs and jobs. With this lesson we will build upon students
background knowledge of these basic economic concepts.
Lesson Introduction/Hook:
Have you ever really wanted something, but there wasnt enough for you? Most of us have experienced
this, like when we really wanted a fruit cup for lunch, but they ran out before we got there. This is called
scarcity. For some people scarcity is much more serious than not being able to have a fruit cup at lunch.
It means not being able to have dinner at all because the soup kitchen that they eat dinner at ran out. Or
not having clean water to drink because they dont have access to it. Today you are going to learn about
scarcity so that you will be able to help people like the ones we just talked about.
Heart of the Lesson/Learning Plan:
Differentiation/Same-ation:
This lesson ensures that all students will be engaged. It is a very hands on lesson that will engage
kinesthetic learners. It will also engage verbal learners because they are given the opportunity to discuss
the concept, and visual learners because they are able to design and create a scarce good. This lesson
allows time for both interpersonal learners and intrapersonal learners to work with others and to work
alone. This lesson also allows time for one-on-one interactions with the teacher for those students who
do not feel comfortable with the concept.
Lesson Development:
1. Have students come into the room and sit on the floor.
2. Give explicit expectations for our discussionraise hands to add to discussion, dont call out, etc.
3. What are some different things (goods) at home that you value highly? Allow time for
discussion of the goods and if necessary, what it means to value something. Anticipated
answers are: toys, food, photographs, etc.
4. Display a fancy pencil to the students and ask them if anyone wants to pencil. After more than
one student raises their hand discuss with students what this means.
5. When an item is made available to a group of people and more than one person wants that item,
the item is scarce. In the situation we just saw about the pencil was the pencil a scarce good?
Why/why not? Allow time for a discussion. Write the word scarce on the board so students
become familiar with it. Anticipated answers are: Yes it is scarce because more than one person
wanted to pencil so the number of people who want it is not proportionate to the number of
pencils or no because one person can have the pencil and no one else can.
6. Different goods and services can all be scarce if more than one person wants it. A good is
something that people want to own, like a new toy and a service is something that other people
do for us, like cutting our hair. If there is only one taxi left and Mrs. Connor and myself both want
to ride in it would this be a scarce service? (Anticipated answers: yes because we both want the
same service at the same time or no because we could get different taxis). What if Dr. Jordan
and Mrs. Nance have 3 candy bars and Dr. Jordan wants 3 of them and Mrs. Nance wants a
candy bar too? Would the candy bars be a scarce good? (Anticipated answers: yes because Dr.
Jordan wants three and Mrs. Nance wants 1 and there is not enough candy bars for them all or
no because Mrs. Nance can have 1 and Dr. Jordan can have the rest.) What if Dr. Jordan is
okay with sharing her candy bars would they be scarce then? If she is being greedy and wont
share them will they be scarce? What are some examples of a resource being scarce because
there arent enough and because people are being greedy?
7. Sometimes a resource like water, or land can be scarce too. People who live in some countries
cannot get clean drinking water, so the demand for clean water is greater than the amount of
clean water and in that country water is a scarcity.
8. Can you think of an example of something that is NOT scarce? (sand at the beach, trees in a

forest, etc.) Anticipated answers: water at the beach, food at a buffet, etc.
9. Now can you think of a situation where those items we just discussed are considered scarce?
Anticipated answers: water in the desert, food at a homeless shelter, etc.
10. **We are now going to create some scarce goods out of play-doh. You and your table group will
work together to make one sculpture. You will have 10 minutes to create a scarce good and then
we will share our sculptures and discuss which groups sculpture was the best. Whichever group
has the best sculpture will get 5 extra minutes of recess (By giving this reward I hope that
students will be greedy and refuse to share their excess play-doh with their classmates). (The
play-doh will already be on the students desks. Some groups may have many cans of play-doh
and others may only have a ball the size of your fist.)
11. Today we will create sculptures. A sculpture is three-dimensional art made from wood, clay,
metal, found objects, plaster, paper mache, or other materials.
12. Give very explicit instructions for what I want to see from themthey arent stealing others playdoh, sitting at their desk, etc.
13. There are many different ways that we can represent one object or thing. Art allows us to create
an abstract representation of something. This means that it doesnt look exactly like the original
object, but people still know what it means. Lets brainstorm some ideas of how we could
represent water literally and abstractly (well, water bottle, pitcher, lake, ocean, rain drop, etc.).
14. Put a timer on the Smart Board to help students keep track of their time. stop watch
15. Let students return to their seats and begin working on their sculptures.
16. As students begin to notice that they do not have enough play-doh to create a sculpture tell them
they have to work with what they have or think of a way that they could get more play-doh.
17. Walk around and monitor students understanding and provide scaffolded support when
necessary.
18. Bring the class back together after 10 minutes.
19. Present the sculptures and allow students to discuss which sculpture is the best. Discuss the
different interpretations that people we able to portray through their play-doh. Why the sculptures
are better than the others, leading the discussion towards the fact that some groups had more
than others. Discuss what this meant for the groups that didnt have enough and couldnt get
enough play-doh. Discuss how this activity was an example of scarcity (there was a demand for
play-doh that could not be met because some students wouldnt give up their extra). **
20. Clean up the Play-Doh.
21. Review the meaning of scarcity once more as a class.
22. Give students the worksheet on scarcity and have them complete it. *Reiterate that the
examples they provide on the lesson need to be different than the ones we have discussed
already.*
Specific Questioning:
What constitutes a good/service as being scarce?
Anticipated answer: if there are more people who desire the good/service than the amount of the
good/service that is available.
How can we determine if a good/service is scarce or not?
Anticipated answer: evaluate the situation in which the good/service is provided. Determine if the
good/service would be wanted by more than one person and if there is enough of the
good/service to distribute what everyone wants of it.
Can goods/services be scarce in one situation and not scarce in another? How do we know
when it is and isnt?
Anticipated answer: Yes because it depends on the availability of the good/service in relation to
the demand for the good/service.
New Vocabulary:
Scarcity: the collective desire of people for the good/service is more than what is available to
satisfy the want.
Goods: tangible items that result from production, such as books, cars, etc.
Services: nonphysical results of production and must be consumed as soon as they are

produced, such as the services of a dentist, teacher, etc.

Concluding the Lesson/Closure/Debriefing:
After students have completed the worksheet collect them. Scarcity can be seen in all aspects of
everyday life. Sometimes the scarce goods/services are just things that we want like a cookie or a new
toy, but other times the scarce goods/services are much more serious like drinking water. Being aware of
the scarcity of goods is very important.
Materials/Resources:
Play-doh
Scarcity worksheet
Pencils
Fancy pencil
Teaching Behavior Focus:
Learners interests and experiences are acknowledged and integrated into discussion.
Best Practices for Art:
What you teach is who you are
Motivation
Engagement and active learning
Creative inquiry process
Follow-Up Activities/Parent Involvement:
When doing read alouds in the future discuss moments when scarcity is present. Parents can also
discuss scarcity when reading with their students or when they are distributing thing like food (everyone
wants to rolls at dinner but there are 4 people and 3 rolls).
Lesson adapted from:
Playful Economics by the Council for Economic Education