Five pages on how much there is of something and what it costs. Page 1 starts with a reminder (scarce means there is not enough for everyone who wants it; plentiful means there is more than enough) and has four cards to sort, then a table where each person wants more than one: multiply to find how many are wanted and circle scarce or plentiful. Page 2 has eight short events, like a storm that knocks oranges off the trees or a farm with lots of pumpkins after Halloween: circle scarce or plentiful, then whether the price will go up or down. Page 3 is a bar graph of the price of a watermelon in each month: find the cheapest and the most expensive month, explain why summer costs less, find how much more one costs in December than in August, and work out what six cost in June and in January. Page 4 has six story problems with a price before and after a change. Page 5 matches six events to what each price will do, finishes two sentences about scarcity and price, and asks two questions to think through.
Try a quick classroom market: put out a few stickers of one kind and many of another, and let students bid in pretend money. Ask why the rare sticker went for more. Before page 2, talk about what a storm, a big harvest or a cold winter does to how much of something there is. The graph on page 3 is a good place to ask what other foods are cheaper in their season.
At the grocery store, look at the price of a fruit in season and again a few months later, and talk about why it changed. Ask your child what might happen to the price of snow shovels before a big storm, or of pumpkins the day after Halloween.
This pack supports the following Common Core State Standards for Mathematics:
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A 5-page scarcity and price pack for 3rd grade. Compare how many there are with how many people want, multiplying when each person wants more than one, and circle scarce or plentiful. Read about storms, harvests, seasons and a toy everyone wants, then decide whether each price will go up or down. Read a bar graph of watermelon prices through the year to find when they cost the least and why, solve six story problems with prices before and after a change, and match each event to what happens to a price. Every page comes in color and in black and white. Answer keys included.
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