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2nd grade · Social Studies · Unit 9 of 14

Work and Prices

How work and prices change

What your child practices

Introduces why prices go up or down when something is hard to find or easy to find, and how jobs and work have changed over time.

New York State Learning Standards learning standard: 2.8c · how scarcity and price affect what people choose to buy

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Something rare or scarce usually costs more.
  2. People may buy the cheaper one to save money.
  3. Work changes: machines help do jobs once done by hand or by horses.

Example: Why does a rare card cost more than a common card? Rare means hard to find. When fewer are available, people pay more. Answer: Fewer of them are available

Work and Prices in New York

In the New York State Learning Standards, this is unit 9 of 14 in 2nd grade Social Studies, after Needs & Wants and before Work, Saving & Resources.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: New York State Education Department (NYSED)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    A long time ago, farmers cut hay by hand. Now they can use…

    • a pencil
    • a toy
    • a machine
    • a cup

  2. Question 2

    Which job no longer exists in most places?

    • teaching
    • lighting street lamps by hand
    • farming
    • baking

  3. Question 3

    Which came first for washing clothes?

    • a dryer
    • scrubbing by hand
    • a dishwasher
    • a washing machine

  4. Question 4

    Why might strawberries cost less in summer?

    • Nobody wants them
    • They don’t grow
    • They are rare
    • Many are growing and easy to find

  5. Question 5

    Which job is the same today as long ago?

    • ice cutter
    • telephone operator
    • lamplighter
    • teacher

  6. Question 6

    Put in order how a farmer plants a field long ago to now: by hand, with a horse plow, with a tractor.

    • with a tractor, with a horse plow, by hand
    • with a horse plow, by hand, with a tractor
    • by hand, with a horse plow, with a tractor
    • by hand, with a tractor, with a horse plow

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