Lesson Title/ Subject:

Human/Natural/Physical Resources and

Opportunity & Cost in the 1800s
Grade Level: Grade 4
Standards:
- SWBAT determine what human, natural, and physical resources are
GLE 3a.F, G, H, I (Grade 4)
- SWBAT ask and answer questions about how human, natural, and
physical resources impacted the 1800s economy GLE 4B (Grade 4)
Understand
Students will understand the importance of human, natural, and physical
resources and how it impacted the 1800s.
Know
SW identify human, natural, and
physical resources.

Be able to do
SWBAT identify and explain how
human, natural, and physical
resources have influenced certain
economic events in the 1800s.

Materials:
- Mystery Bag and items (gold ring, diamonds, coal, iron, water,
inventions, etc.)
- Mentor text: Erandi's Braids by Antonia Herandez Madrigal
- Anchor Chart and post-its
- Gallery Walk Pictures (California Gold Rush, Louisiana Purchase,
Oregon Trail, Lewis/Clark, Civil War, etc. )
Procedures:
Schema activation:
Teacher will have a Mystery Bag and pull items out of a bag.
Students will guess what the items are (gold, coal, iron, soil, water,
etc). Teacher will prompt discussion by asking:
- What do you suppose these items have in common?
- Why are these things important?
- How valuable are these things?
- Would you trade some items for another if you had a need? If so,
what items?
- Are there some pictures/items you dont know what it is? Or why its
important?

The teacher will write their answers on an anchor chart and refer to it
later.
Next Steps:
- Teacher will explain what resources are and the three different
types: human, natural, and physical.
- Teacher will pull out items in the bag and have students say what
kind of resource the item is.
- Teacher and students will read the book Erandi's Braids by Antonia
Herandez Madrigal.
- Teacher and students will discuss how Erandi used her resources
and weighed the opportunity and cost.
- Have students consider how resources like coal, oil, iron, soil, gold,
water, mountains, inventions, jobs, etc. could have impacted the
economy (opportunity and cost) during the 1800s.
- Students will participate in a gallery walk around the room, with
different pictures of events/people from the 1800s displayed on
the walls: California Gold Rush, Louisiana Purchase, Lewis and Clark,
Oregon Trail/ Westward Expansion, Civil War, etc.
- At each gallery walk students will write on a post-it note what
natural, human, or physical resources would have influenced said
event/person.
- Students will discuss with a partner on this gallery walk the
opportunity and cost with each event.
Closure:
- Students will review the different categories of resources.
- Return to the Mystery Bag and students will say what category each
item fits in.
- Teacher will then visit each gallery and share the resource/resources
related to the event, as well as the possible opportunity and cost
related to it.
Evaluation:
- Students will choose one event/person they viewed in the gallery to
write a paragraph about the resources related, as well as the
opportunity and cost at risk.
- Teacher will make informal observations while students answer
questions, post thoughts on the anchor chart, and submit
paragraph.
Self-Evaluation:
This lesson will work well for 4th graders as it is very engaging. Students are
hooked from the beginning with the Mystery Bag, listen to a mentor text,
and then make connections while participating in the gallery walk. It
integrates analytical thinking with new information about resources and

opportunity & risk. By forcing students to participate in a gallery walk with a

partner, they are externalizing their critical and analytical thinking. Also,
having students write a paragraph gives them the opportunity to understand
what they are actually learning. Its simply another way of scaffolding them
to understand the connections between human, natural, and physical
resources related to opportunity and cost during the 1800s.