The mayor's assistant has dropped the list for the new town center, and 3rd graders sort 15 community features into Goods and Services before the town can open. The list mixes a winter coat, a soccer ball, and a loaf of bread with a guitar lesson, walking a dog, and fixing a sink. A restaurant meal is the planned trick item. Two reflection questions follow on the 3 pages, and the answer key accepts either column for the meal with a clear reason.
A table of 15 items, including a new bicycle, a fresh haircut, a school bus ride, a pair of glasses, and washing a car.
Students write each item in a Goods column or a Services column.
Question 1 asks which item was hardest to place and why. Question 2 asks for one new good and one new service students used this week.
Seven goods, seven services, and a teacher note on the restaurant meal, which is a good for the food and a service for the cooking and serving.
Partner debate
Let pairs sort in pencil, then share only the item they argued about most. It is usually the restaurant meal or the school bus ride.
Hold back the trick
Do not point out the restaurant meal in advance. Wait for question 1, where the students who spot it on their own write the best answers.
Economics center
Cut the Town List into cards for a center. Students sort on a two-column mat, then copy the final sort onto the sheet.
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