For fourth grade students. JA Our Region helps fourth grade students explore how regional differences shape job opportunities, resource use, trade, and consumer choices. It shows students how their choices can contribute to their local and regional economies.
LEARNING EXPERIENCE HIGHLIGHTS
- Five 45-minute sessions
- High-quality, approachable lessons with engaging, hands-on activities that incorporate future-ready and real-world concepts
- School-to-home activities that extend learning from the classroom to students’ families and their own communities
- JA Mindset™ infused into sessions through “The Adventures of Jade and Jack” and accompanying activities and talking points
- Age-appropriate content in financial literacy and work readiness with entrepreneurial mindset
woven throughout
LEARNING EXPERIENCE OBJECTIVES
After participating in the learning experience, students will be able to:
- Determine why different regions have different jobs.
- Explain the choices that influence what is bought and sold in a regional economy.
- Recognize how people use resources and work with each other to produce goods and services in a region.
SESSION ONE: JOBS IN MY REGION
Students explore the concept of regions and how regional differences affect job opportunities. Students complete a scavenger hunt designed to connect student interests to jobs available in various regions. They will indicate on a map of the United States where they want to live and work.
SESSION TWO: RESOURCES IN MY REGION
Students explore how businesses use natural, human, and capital resources to offer products and services. Students work in small groups to create sustainable businesses that rely on the resources found in different regions.
SESSION THREE: TRADING RESOURCES
Students explore the concept of trade through a Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) activity. They work in small groups to invent ways to move goods across a large river between two regions.
SESSION FOUR: OUR CHOICES MATTER
Students explore the impact of consumer choices on goods and services produced in their region. Students work in small groups to choose supplies to purchase for a pretend classroom party.
SESSION FIVE: PRICES IN MY REGION
Students learn how changes in supply and demand affect the prices of goods and services in a region. Students work in pairs to predict whether prices, supply, and demand will go up or down in various scenarios that are read aloud to the class.
