What the Town Must Have
A 40-minute Grade 2 lesson on scarcity when a town fund cannot cover everything the town needs.
What the Town Must Have is a free 40-minute Kindergarten to Grade 2 social studies lesson plan for Common Core standard D2.Eco.1.K-2 — explain that because there is never enough of everything, people have to choose. It is timed across 5 sections, gives the exact wording to use where the wording carries the mathematics, names 3 misconceptions with the teaching move that addresses each, and ends with an exit ticket and a printable worksheet with its answer key.
- Grade:
- Kindergarten to Grade 2
- Length:
- 40 minutes
- Standard:
- D2.Eco.1.K-2
Kindergarten to Grade 2 · Economics
D2.Eco.1.K-2
Explain how scarcity necessitates decision making.
Objective
Students will be able to rank town needs when the fund will not stretch to all of them.
Students are successful when they can
- Sorts town spending into needs and wants.
- Ranks the needs.
- Says what is postponed and what that costs.
What you need
- The council minutes showing the fund
- Spending cards totalling more than the fund
- The printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan
The lesson
Warm-up — the fund is short
5 min- Show eight spending cards and a fund that covers five.
- Ask what has to happen.
Teach — rank the needs, name the postponed
13 min- Sort into needs and wants and cut the wants.
- The needs still exceed the fund.
- Rank them: what fails soonest if left, and what costs most if it fails.
- Say the Grade 2 addition: postponing a need has a cost too, and it is often larger later.
- Name what gets postponed and what that will cost.
“Leave the roof and the books get wet. That is a bigger bill next year.”
Guided practice — spend the fund
12 min- Groups allocate a fixed fund across ten cards.
- They record what they postponed and the risk.
- They compare with a group that chose differently.
Independent practice
8 min- Students complete the what-the-town-must-have page.
- Read each item aloud.
Close
2 min- Take one postponed item and its risk.
What goes wrong, and why
Each of these is a reasoning error rather than carelessness. The fix addresses the reasoning.
Thinks cutting the wants solves it.
Why: That worked in earlier years.
Fix: Make the needs alone exceed the fund. Ranking needs is the Grade 2 step.
Thinks postponing costs nothing.
Why: Nothing is spent.
Fix: A leaking roof damages the books. Delay has a price.
Thinks there is one right allocation.
Why: Ranking tasks usually have an answer.
Fix: Compare two groups. Reasonable people rank differently, and both give reasons.
If they are not there yet
- Six cards rather than ten.
- Sort only, without ranking.
If they finish early
- Allocate across two years.
- Say what could be part-funded.
- Say who should decide when needs compete.
Exit ticket
The fund cannot cover the roof and the wall. Which first, and what does postponing cost?
What to look for: A ranked choice with a named delay cost. No cost of delay means that point needs repeating.
Printable practice for D2.Eco.1.K-2
Free to print and copy, answer key included. Each sheet can generate a fresh set of problems for a retake.
- What the Town Must HaveSort each one into need or want.
Questions about What the Town Must Have
How long does the What the Town Must Have lesson take?
40 minutes, split across 5 timed sections: warm-up 5 min, teach 13 min, guided practice 12 min, independent practice 8 min, close 2 min. The minutes are stated per section and add up to the stated length, so the plan can be cut or extended at a section boundary rather than abandoned halfway.
Which standard does What the Town Must Have teach?
D2.Eco.1.K-2 — D2.Eco.1.K-2, Economics for Kindergarten to Grade 2: “Explain how scarcity necessitates decision making.” In plain terms, explain that because there is never enough of everything, people have to choose.
What do I need to teach this lesson?
The council minutes showing the fund, spending cards totalling more than the fund and the printable practice sheet linked at the end of this plan. Everything listed is either ordinary classroom equipment or a free printable from this site — there is nothing to buy and nothing to prepare beyond photocopying.
What mistakes should I expect in this lesson?
Three, each a reasoning error rather than carelessness: thinks cutting the wants solves it; thinks postponing costs nothing and thinks there is one right allocation. The plan gives the thinking behind each one and the teaching move that addresses the thinking rather than the symptom.
How do I know whether the lesson worked?
The exit ticket asks: “The fund cannot cover the roof and the wall. Which first, and what does postponing cost?.” A ranked choice with a named delay cost. No cost of delay means that point needs repeating. That tells you whether the class needs a reteach or a thirty-second conversation before you plan tomorrow.
Is there a worksheet to go with What the Town Must Have?
Yes — 1 printable D2.Eco.1.K-2 worksheet, linked at the end of the plan and free like the rest of the site. Each one comes with an answer key and 25 versions, so the practice after the lesson can be a different paper on every desk.
Is What the Town Must Have free to use?
Yes. The plan, its printables and their answer keys are free to read, print and photocopy for your own class, with no account and no email capture. It was last reviewed on 7 September 2026. Please do not resell it or republish it as your own.
Last reviewed 2026-09-07. Aligned to D2.Eco.1.K-2 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.