Money Lesson ELA Writing: Inflation Focus

Today we are are to readdress The Gift of the Magi.  We are looking at it again through the eyes of inflation in prices of items and costs of services (bills).  Here is the agenda:

1. Watch Common Craft video on banking and compound interest (objective: obtain definitions for vocabulary such as interest, loan, etc)
2. Brain Pop Video on Banking (see link below)
3. Look at the story The Gift of the Magi  and extract any time a cost is mentioned.  Place those items/bills on the center column in the grid and the cost of each on the left column. (see template below and create on own sheet of paper)
4. Use the inflation calculator to see what the cost of those same items/bills would be nowadays.
5. Read the following interesting facts related to inflation and money for the 1900s:

Inflation

• From 1940 to 1946, the average income in America doubled. During 1940, the average worker was paid less than $600 a year. In 1946 the same worker got $1,200 a year.
• In 1919 the average income in America was around $650 per year.
• In the 1920s you could buy a brand new car for less than $300.
• In 1931 a new Chevrolet cost $623. Between 1968 and 1978 the price of new cars went up drastically. Cars cost twice as much in 1978 as they did in 1968.
• Shopping was fun in 1900. Women could buy a pair of shoes for just $1!

5.  REMEMBER: add any new facts you learned to the "saving" circle map you began in Ms. Hunt's ELA Lit class

6.  Answer the True/False Questions on the BrainPop Banking video.
7. Ticket Out The Door: Write a short response to the following writing prompt in pbsworks:

As a general rule, prices rise over time.  This is called inflation. How does inflation explain why banks charge interest on loans?


  Inflation Calculator

Banking BrainPop