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Tortilla Factory
Source: Federal Reserve Bank of St Louis | Type: lesson - children's literature
Students observe the teacher produce a paper taco and produce their own paper tacos
following the process demonstrated by the teacher. Students learn about the productive
resources—human resources, natural resources, and capital resources—and intermediate
goods used to make final goods and services. They listen to the book Tortilla
Factory and identify the productive resources and intermediate goods used to produce
corn tortillas. Students classify the resources used to produce their paper tacos.
Grades:
Concepts:
- Capital Resources
- Human Resources
- Intermediate Good
- Natural Resources
- Productive Resources
Standards:
Related Resources:
Reviews
This lesson is based on the book “Tortilla Factory” by the very popular author, Gary Paulsen. (Boys love his books.) I’ve used this lesson in the third grade classroom to introduce productive resources. One big plus in this lesson is that other than the paper plates, all the needed materials are readily accessible. And if there are no paper plates available, cutting big circles from recycled paper works just as well. The other big plus is that the students really like the hands-on part which seems to help a great deal with their understanding of the concepts.
If you have trouble linking from this site to the lesson, it can be found here:
http://www.stlouisfed.org/education_resources/assets/lesson_plans/TortillaFactory.pdf
The lesson is a great introduction into productive resources. I can see the class really getting interested and wondering why I am teaching them how to make a tortilla out of this common paper plate they use everyday. The literacy/ book component that comes along with this lesson is something I look for in a lot of my lessons & something I truly find important. At the end of the story to evaluate, we can review & categorize the major economic concepts with a class discussion! Yayy tortillas!!
