Unit Plan 29 (Grade K Social Studies): Goods and Services Around Us
Goods and services help our community run—this unit teaches kids to identify each, explore community helpers, and understand that people work to earn money and help others.
Focus: Help children notice and name common goods (things we can touch and buy) and services (things people do to help) in their community, and connect these to the idea that people work jobs to earn money and help others. Students practice sorting examples, learning about community helpers, and role-playing jobs in a simple classroom “community.”
Grade Level: Kindergarten
Subject Area: Social Studies (Economics • Civics • Inquiry)
Total Unit Duration: 5 sessions (one week), 20–30 minutes per session
I. Introduction
In this unit, students become “Community Detectives” who look for goods and services all around them—at school, at home, and in their neighborhoods. They learn that some people make or sell things (goods) and some people do actions to help others (services), and many jobs include both. Through stories, picture sorting, and role-play, students discover that people work to earn money and to help their community. By the end of the week, they will take part in a simple “Community Helpers Corner” where they act out different jobs and tell whether they provide goods, services, or both.
Essential Questions
- What is a good? What is a service?
- Who makes or sells goods in our community? Who provides services?
- Why do people work? How do their jobs help others?
- How do goods and services make our community a better place?
II. Objectives and Standards
Learning Objectives — Students will be able to:
- Describe in simple terms what a good is (a thing you can buy/use) and what a service is (something someone does to help you).
- Sort pictures or examples into goods and services, explaining their choices with basic language.
- Identify community helpers (e.g., baker, nurse, mechanic, teacher) and say what they do and/or make.
- Explain that people work jobs to earn money and to help others in the community.
- Participate in a role-play community helpers corner, naming their job and whether it provides goods, services, or both.
Standards Alignment — Kindergarten (C3-based custom)
- K.C3.Econ.2 — Identify goods and services and who provides them.
- Example: A baker makes bread (goods); a mechanic fixes cars (services).
- K.C3.Econ.3 — Explain that people work jobs to earn money and help others.
- Example: Match workers to tools and places of work.
Success Criteria — Student Language
- I can tell if something is a good or a service.
- I can name some community helpers and say what they do.
- I know people work to earn money and to help others.
- I can act out a job and tell my class if I give goods, services, or both.