Title: Food for Thought

Grade Level: Third

Purpose Statement: The purpose of this lesson is to get the students really
thinking about what goods and services, and producers and consumers are, and
how they can connect them to their own community and to their community garden
they planted.
Understanding goals: The students will discuss the book they read as a
class. They will understand what goods and services, and producers and
consumers are, and be able to recognize them in their community. They will
also use what they have learned to make thank you cards for the producers in
their own community.
Connections to previous lessons: The students have had experience with
read-alouds and T-charts. They have also made thank you cards for other
people before. They will connect this lesson with the Grow! Lesson from
earlier in the unit, where they planted their community garden.
Standards Connection:
SS3E3 The student will give examples of interdependence and trade and
will explain how voluntary exchange benefits both parties.
a. Describe the interdependence of consumers and producers of goods and
services.
ELACC3RL1 Key Ideas and Details: Ask and answer questions to demonstrate
understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.
ELACC3SL1 Comprehension and Collaboration: Engage effectively in a range of
collaborative discussions (one-on-one, in groups, and teacher-led) with diverse
partners on grade 3 topics and texts, building on others ideas and expressing their
own clearly

Procedure:
Opening:
1. Greet the students
2. Read the book, Good People Everywhere by Laura Gillen
3. After reading the book, ask the students who some of the important people
were in the text, and what they did that made them important
4. Ask the students if the important people from the text made something or did
something important for their community
Lesson:

5. Ask the students if they have ever heard the terms goods and services
6. Tell them that a good is: An object that satisfies peoples wants; you can
touch it with your hands
7. Tell them that a service is: Something someone else does for people to satisfy
their wants
8. Give each child a white board and dry erase marker
9. Ask the students to draw a T chart with the word goods on one side and the
word services on the other
10.Look back at the important people from the book, and ask the students to
help you put either what they made or did in either the goods or services
column
11.Have the students get in pairs to come up with examples of both goods and
services in their community using their own T-charts on their own white
boards
12.Ask the students to share with the class what they came up with
13.Write their ideas on the board in the t chart
14.Go back through the list and ask the students who in their community makes
each good or provides each service
15.Explain that those people are producers, or the people that make a good or
perform a service
16.Explain that we are the consumers, or the people that use the goods and/or
services for our benefit
17.Ask the students to think about their community garden. Ask them what the
plants in the garden would be considered (goods or services), and ask who
would be the producers of those plants.
18.Ask the students who the consumers of the plants could be
19.Tell them that they could be both producers and consumers
20.Ask them how they think this is possible
21.Tell them that when you grow your own food like Ms. Conway talked about,
you become a producer and consumer. (You consume what you produce)
22.Explain that they could grow their own food for little to no money, and have
hearty nutritious meals to share with their families
23.Go back to the list of producers in the community. Ask the students what they
think they could do to thank the producers in their community
24.If they dont come up with it on their own, tell them that you were thinking
they could share their garden and the food they grew with them
25.Announce that the class is going to be hosting a community garden party
26.Families and community members will be invited to come and help harvest
the plants, and the students will prepare a meal out of the foods they grew
27.Have the students make thank you cards for the producers in the community
28.Pass out construction paper, scissors, markers, crayons, colored pencils
Closing:
29.After the students are finished with the thank you cards discuss the
community garden celebration
30.Ask the class if there would be any pairs willing to share their digital stories at
the celebration
31.Allow those people to practice presenting

32.Ask the class to design covers for the invitations and menus
33.Discuss what could be on the menu using the food they grew
34.To finish up, have the students take a scratch piece of paper, and write down
two examples of goods and three examples of services, and the names of the
producers that go with each as a ticket out the door exercise

*The closing of this lesson could carried over to the next day to allow the students
to finish creating the invitation and menu covers and to finalize the menu. Also,
when the students have finished their designs, collect them to insert the important
information about the celebration (time, place, date, etc.) Allow the students to take
the invitations to their community members and families.*

Assessment/Evaluation:
Informal Assessment: Throughout the lesson, use the thumbs-up, thumbsdown method to assess whether the students need further
instruction/support. Additionally, look at the students t-charts as they write.
Formal Assessment: Take up the ticket out the door exercise to evaluate
whether or not the students get the concepts of goods and services and
producers and consumers. Also, collect the thank you cards to ensure the
students have followed directions and understand the concepts used to
create them.

Materials List:

Good People Everywhere, by Laura Gillen

White boards
Dry erase markers
Construction paper
Scissors
Markers
Crayons
Colored pencils
Scratch paper

Reflection:
This lesson requires students to make connections to the concepts being learned
(goods and services/producers and consumers) and their own community in order to
create a final product (Thank-you cards). The lesson also requires students to recall
information, such as the garden that they planted, from previous lessons to add to
their understanding of the concepts. Questioning in this lesson is often repetitive to

promote retention, and the questions are made to promote deeper thinking and to
make connections to the community.