Focus: Grades 3-5 Economics
Lesson 1
Rolling for Resources

• Standard 3 – Economics
GLE (2 nd grade) – The scarcity of resources affects the choices of individuals and communities
21 st Cent. Skills
*Economic thinkers analyze how goods and services are produced…
*Economic thinkers analyze the scarcity of resources…

• Standard 3 – Economics
GLE (4th grade) – People respond to positive and negative incentives
Evidence Outcomes
*Explain how the productive resources – natural, human and capital – of Colorado have influenced the types of goods and services provided

Goods
Things that can satisfy people’s wants.
A car
A house
A dish of ice cream
An i-pod
Other goods…

Services
Activities that can satisfy people’s wants.
Dentistry (a dentist checking your teeth)
Selling you a car (car sales person)
Babysitting (babysitter)
Playing professional football (professional athlete)
Other services…

Where do goods and services come from?
Think of a good…like a house. What do you need to produce or build a house?
Lumber
Nails
Saws
Carpenters
Roofers
Economists call all of these “resources”.
There are three kinds of resources.

Human resources are people who work to produce a good or service.
Examples:
Truck driver
Plumber
Teacher
Nurse
Can you name others?

Natural resources are things that occur naturally in the world and can be used to produce a good or service.
Examples: granite natural gas deer water gold
Can you think of others?

Capital resources are goods produced and used to make other goods and services.
Examples: an office building a copy machine pots & pans a tractor a projector in school
Can you name any more?

Human, Natural & Capital Resources

What productive resources are necessary to produce a haircut?
Comb, brush, razor, clippers, electricity, scissors
Hair stylist, receptionist
Water

A Game: Rolling for Resources
RULES
Each group displays all its resource cards face-up.
Make certain the cards are scattered slightly so that each resource card is visible.
To “win” the individual game, a student must be the first to collect a human resource card, a natural resource card and a capital resource card. To win the group game, all members of the group must have all cards; first group to finish wins.

A Game: Rolling for Resources
RULES
The resource cards have dots on the back that match the dots for each type of resource on the die (human resources – one dot; natural resources – two dots; capital resources – three dots).
Students will take turns rolling the die. Begin with the youngest student in the group. After that, play will move to the left.

A Game: Rolling for Resources
RULES
If the die lands on “natural resources,” the student should find a natural resource card from the resource cards.
If the die lands on “human resource,” the student should find a human resource card from the resource cards.
If the die lands on “capital resource,” the student should find a capital resource card from the resource cards.

A Game: Rolling for Resources
RULES
If a student selects the correct resource card, the number on the back of the card will match the number of dots for the type of resource on the die.
If a student selects a correct resource card from all the resource cards, he or she may keep the card and his or her turn is over.

A Game: Rolling for Resources
RULES
If the card selected isn’t a correct example of the resource displayed on the die, the student must put the card back in the pile and wait for his or her next turn.
If a student rolls the die and it lands on a resource for which he or she already has a card, he or she may roll a second time. If the die again lands on a type of resource for which he or she already has a card, he or she must wait until his or her next turn.

A Game: Rolling for Resources
RULES
The game is played until each student in the group has correctly selected cards for each type of resource.

Each group member gets a copy of Activity 1.3.
Identify the resource cards you selected during the game by writing the resource name in the correct space in Activity 1.3.
In the box next to each type of resource on
Activity 1.3, write a sentence containing the name of this good or service and draw a picture of the good or service.
Display completed 1.3 around the room.

• Why do people use productive resources?
• Name one of the three kinds of productive resources.
• What are natural resources?
• Give some examples of natural resources.
• What are human resources?
• Give some examples of human resources.

• What are capital resources?
• Give some examples of capital resources.
• What are some human resources needed to build a house?
• What are some capital resources needed to build a house?
• What are some natural resources needed to build a house?

Activity 1.4