
Grades 9-12
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The Little Red Hen is a classic story for nearly all adults, and many children. Here it is retold and enhanced in order to provide a framework for illustrating and reviewing the concepts of productive resources and incentives. After reading the story, students will categorize resources into land, labor, capital and entrepreneurship and be able to identify what future incentives the dog, the cat and the mouse will have to help the little hen in her work. Students will have the opportunity to explore bread making.
Have you ever worked hard on a project and found that no one would help you? Then when you got it all done, suddenly everyone wanted to participate, or use your creation? You have something in common with a little Red Hen. Read the story and see if it’s like an experience you might have had, perhaps putting together a skate board ramp, building a fort, growing a pumpkin or carefully setting up your action figures.
In order to provide a context for your lesson on production and resources, first read The Little Red Hen (story) with your students. Keep in mind there will be several elements to identify in the story:
Once you and your students have read the story, here are several activities you may choose to use with your students:
Most children do not have the opportunity to see or feel where an every day loaf of bread comes from or how it is made. The Little Red Hen not only helps to introduce the process, but gives the students an opportunity to reflect how they might feel if they did the work on a project or activity and others expected to benefit. Close the lesson by inquiring of the students how Meow, Bark and Squeak might behave in the future, and if there is an incentive for them to change their ways.
Your students might choose to look at what yeast is and the science behind the “rising” of bread.
Visit “Why does bread rise?” site to learn about what makes bread rise and to try a simple experiment.
Using pictures or words have students create cards of the ingredients, tools and individuals involved in making bread. You should prepare at least 15-30 in total. Have students sort these into productive resources – human, natural, capital or entrepreneurial. Have each student write down their answers for review by the teacher or another student. Students may use the word search to help in identifying many of the terms used in this lesson.
You also might create matching sets of cards and have the students use them to play concentration. For example you have a picture of a mixing bowl and the word capital in order to create a match.
Grades 9-12
Grades K-2, 3-5
Grades K-2
Grades K-2, 3-5, 6-8