Unit Plan 30 (Grade 2 Social Studies): Why People Work
Help students explore why people work, how they earn, save, and spend money, and how choices involve opportunity cost, using stories, sorting activities, and simple class simulations.
Focus: Help students understand why people work, how they earn money, and how they save and spend to meet needs and wants, while exploring simple choices, trade, and opportunity cost.
Grade Level: 2
Subject Area: Social Studies (Economics • Community Life)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 30–45 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this unit, students explore why people have jobs and how work helps families meet their needs (things we must have) and wants (things that are nice to have). Through stories, simple charts, and classroom simulations, they learn how people earn, save, and spend money. Students practice thinking about choices and what they give up when they choose one option over another—an idea called opportunity cost. By the end of the week, each student will create a simple Work and Choices Plan showing a job, how it meets needs/wants, and a saving/spending decision that includes the opportunity cost.
Essential Questions
- Why do people work?
- How does earning money help people meet their needs and wants?
- What does it mean to save and to spend money wisely?
- What is opportunity cost—what do we give up when we choose one thing instead of another?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Explain at least two reasons why people work and connect them to meeting needs and wants.
- Describe how people earn, save, and spend money using simple examples and classroom simulations.
- Sort examples into needs vs. wants and explain why each belongs in that category.
- Describe a choice they might make and identify the opportunity cost (what they gave up).
- Create a Work and Choices Plan that shows a job, how it helps meet needs/wants, and one saving/spending choice with a clear opportunity cost.
Standards Alignment — 2nd Grade (C3-based custom)
- 2.C3.Econ.3 — Describe why people work; connect earning, saving, and spending to meeting needs/wants.
- Example: Plan how to save class tokens for a larger group reward.
- 2.C3.Econ.4 — Describe choices, opportunity cost, and simple trade/exchange.
- Example: “If I choose art center, I give up extra recess time today.”
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can tell why people work and how work helps families.
- I can explain the difference between needs and wants.
- I can describe how people earn, save, and spend money.
- I can tell what opportunity cost means and give an example of what I give up when I choose something.
- I can make a simple plan that shows a job, needs/wants it meets, and a saving/spending choice with its opportunity cost.