Chair For My Mother, A
One terrible day a young girl’s family loses all their belongings in a house fire. The mother of the family is faced with the problem that she has no chair to rock her children in. The mother, the grandmother and the daughter begin saving coins in a jar until they are able to afford a comfortable chair.
Economic Concepts
- Human Resources
- Opportunity Cost
- Scarcity
- Economic Wants
- Choices
- Costs and Benefits
- Saving
- Income
Grade Levels
- Primary (K-3)
Related Subjects
- Math
- Personal Finance
Teacher Tips for Using this Book
In this lesson, students work through activities to learn about opportunity cost and Family Budgets. (Print publication – lesson not available online.)
Day, H. R. (2002). Teaching economics using children’s literature. New York: National Council on Economic Education.
Online lesson from Kids Econ Posters: http://www.kidseconposters.com
Students read the book and discuss the economics concepts through a set of questions and answers.
Online lesson for A Chair for My Mother from the St. Louis Federal Reserve Bank:
http://www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources/lesson_plans_k-5.cfm#literature
This book is good for teaching children the importance of saving their money over time for something they really want. It also sets a good example of a family coming together to overcome a problem.
In this lesson, students discuss a possible choice between two chairs, learning about the opportunity cost involved. The lesson concludes with students applying this new concept of opportunity cost to their earlier choice of a seat for story time. (Print publication – lesson not available online.)
Hopkins, M. C., Wright, D. K., & Wood, W. C. (1998). Economics and Children’s Literature (Special Third Supplement: Storybooks for Primary Grades). Coulson, E. C., Suiter, M. C., & McCorkle, S. (Eds.). SPEC Publishers, Inc. St. Louis, Missouri.