Goods and Services. We discussed what are Goods and what are Services. We also looked at various businesses, such as the gas station, grocery store, library, etc., to identify what their goods and services were. The students caught onto this rather well.

To help with this concept at home, ask your child what goods and services you receive or give when you go to a business or other establishment throughout your day. This will help them understand the differences and similarities as we study this economic concept.

Wants and Needs. We brainstormed a list of Needs and came up with: God, water,food, air, sun, clothes, shelter. We also decided that the Want list would be much longer than the Need list because "we want everything." We also discussed how parents must take care of all the Needs before being able to use their money for Wants.

To help with this concept at home, show your child the Needs of your house so they can appreciate the many ways your money must be divided in order to make sure they have what they need. This will help them to understand that sometimes Wants must wait.

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Economic terms that we cover in second grade are:

Wants and Needs

Goods and Services

Consumers and Producers

Opportunity Cost

Scarcity

Specialization