Money and Barter Reading Passage

5th Grade Social StudiesEconomics4 pages

About this worksheet

Opening with a sandwich-for-pizza swap in the school cafeteria, this 4-page 5th grade economics reading traces trade from barter to money. The passage explains the three problems with bartering, finding a match, dividing goods, and storing value, through a farmer, a live cow, and a fisherman's rotting fish. It ends with money as a medium of exchange. Seven questions follow in three parts, including scenarios about Maya's diamond ring and Leo's ice sculptures. The sheet supports C3 Framework indicator D2.Eco.5.3-5, and the answer key has model answers for every question.

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Page 1 of 4

Money and Barter Reading Passage: Economics - page 1
Money and Barter Reading Passage: Economics - page 2
Money and Barter Reading Passage: Economics - page 3
Money and Barter Reading Passage: Economics - page 4

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Curriculum objectives covered

D2.Eco.5.3-5

“Explain the role of money in making exchange easier.”

Part 2, where students explain how money fixes dividing goods (the diamond ring) and storing value (the melting sculptures), plus question 7 on a barter-only school store.

What's inside this worksheet

From Trading to Cash

Students read six paragraphs that define bartering, walk through the three problems with examples, and show how money solves each one.

In the Text

Four questions ask for the definition of bartering, the three problems, a true-or-false claim that fresh food was a good way to save wealth, and the meaning of "medium" from four choices.

Money vs. Barter

Students name the barter problem in two situations and explain how money would fix it. Maya wants a single apple but only has a diamond ring. Leo needs five years of ice sculptures to buy a car.

Think About It

Students imagine the school store switching to barter with supplies and snacks, then describe one problem and a trade that goes wrong.

How teachers use it

Role-play opener

Before reading, give a few students cards with items and ask them to trade for something on another card. The trouble they have finding a match sets up paragraph 3.

Question 6 trap

Leo's ice sculptures confuse students who focus on the price of the car. Send them back to the fish paragraph. The sculptures melt, so the problem is storing value.

Short writing task

Question 7 works as a short paragraph. Ask students to name the barter problem in their first sentence, then describe the trade that goes wrong.

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