1. CSI-R Vocabulary
Lesson
By Natalie Abdulkarim

2. Content
• Standard SS.1.E.1.2 Standard 1: Beginning Economics
• Define opportunity cost as giving up one thing for
another.
• Disciplinary Content Vocabulary:
• Opportunity Cost
• Related Vocabulary:
• Scarcity
• Limited Resources
• Choice

3. Content
•Begin with a review of the Disciplinary Content
Vocabulary and Related Vocabulary.
•Use the following posters as support
• Opportunity Cost Poster
• Scarcity Poster

4. Standards
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.1: Read Closely-Evidence &
Inferences.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.9: Analyze how two or more texts
address similar topics.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.R.4: Interpret words and phrases as
they are used in a text.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.SL.5: Make strategic use of digital
media and visual displays of data to express information and
enhance understanding of presentations.
• CCSS.ELA-Literacy.CCRA.W.6: Use technology, including the
internet, to produce and publish writing and to interact and
collaborate with others.

5. Investigate: Text 1
• Conduct a close reading of
the following text:
• Leah’s Pony
• Author: Elizabeth Friedrich
• Illustrator: Michael Garland
• Published: 1999
• Level: K-3

6. Investigate: Text 1
Comprehension questions
questions
• Why was Papa able to buy Leah a pony at the
beginning of the book?
• Papa had a very good (tall and straight) corn crop. We can infer that he
probably produced a lot of bushels that year and got a corn price high enough
to afford the pony. Corn and money was not scarce.
• Why did Leah’s family have to sell their possessions?
• Leah’s Papa had borrowed money from the bank to buy seeds, but the seeds
had dried up and blown away. Now they had no crop to harvest and sell in
order to pay back the bank. Even if the market price of corn was high, Papa
had no corn to sell! Corn was a limited resource and money was now scarce.

7. Investigate: Text 1
Comprehension questions
questions her family pay
• What choice did Leah make to help
back the loan and keep from selling all the farm
animals and equipment?
• Leah chose to sell her pony to Mr. B., the grocery store owner. She used the
money she earned from the sale to bid on items in the auction.
• What was Leah’s opportunity cost when she decided
to sell her pony?
• Leah had a choice to sell or keep her pony. When she chose to sell the pony,
her opportunity cost was giving up all the benefits of riding the prized
possession she loved so much.

8. Investigate: Text 2
•Watch the Econ and Me video about
Opportunity Cost
• Econ and Me Video
•Ask students to focus on the meaning of
Opportunity Cost

9. Investigate: Text 2
Comprehension Questions
Comprehension Questions
• What was the opportunity cost for building the
clubhouse?
• The kids had to give up their swing set in order to make space for the
clubhouse, so the swing set was the opportunity cost.
• What was the limited resource because it was scarce
when Econ was in charge of the construction project?
• Space was scarce for the construction project, therefore it was a limited
resource.

10. Investigate: Text 2
Comprehension Questions
Comprehension Questions
• What choice did the kids have to make regarding the
furniture fro their clubhouse?
• They had to choose which furniture they would put in the clubhouse because
space was a limited resource and they would not be able to fit everything
they collected.
• What was the opportunity cost of choosing between
the bookshelf and the table?
• Since they had to choose either the table or the bookshelf because of their
limited resource - space - their opportunity cost was the table when they
decided to keep the bookshelf.

11. Report
• Now show me what you have learned!
• Think of an example of opportunity cost.
• Go to: Comic Strip Generator at ReadWriteThink
• Create a comic strip demonstrating a character who
has to make a choice and is left with opportunity
cost.
• Write a paragraph describing the situation you
created including and explanation of the limited
resource, choice, and opportunity cost involved.