The Shuk: First graders learned to buy and sell in the market place – in Hebrew! In preparation for the fair, students took inventory and learned how to count their wares in Hebrew, by tens, using Israeli currency. They also studied the numerical equivalent of the Hebrew letters, aleph (1) to taf (400). They studied the Hebrew word for the seller (mocher/mocheret) and the buyer (koneh/konah). They studied the difference between their experience in American stores and their likely experience in the Israeli shuk. Each child practiced being both the buyer and the seller. The children used the items they purchased to make a gift for another classmate and learned about the value of giving.

Interdisciplinary Economics Study: Also on display were the first graders’ work on monetary values. The children learned about the value of each American coin and about money equivalencies. They learned about the history of money beginning with bartering and learned to count and sort U.S. currency. Integrating this topic with the writing curriculum, they wrote poems and finished familiar quotations about money in their own words (“A penny saved is a….”). Engaging in some abstract thinking, they discussed what money can and cannot buy, and wrote and illustrated their conclusions.

Corresponding Standards in HDS First Grade Curriculum:

Economics:

• Identify family needs and goods and services necessary to meet those needs
• Experience different markets, and what it means to be a consumer
• Use monetary units to make purchases
• Understand difference between producer and consumer
• Understand trading and bartering as a form of currency in earlier societies

Math:

• Identify coins and bills
• Count and show amounts
• Make change
• Compare
• Add and subtract

Writing:

• Write for a variety of purposes including to inform
• Form upper and lower case letters legibly
• Write from left and top of page consistently, and use spaces between words
• Write fictional narratives that incorporate elements of a story, including setting, plot and conclusion
• Write poetry
• Use spelling that others can read
• Capitalize
• Punctuate