Integrate Social Studies into Writing Class!

With limited time during the day, many teachers are forced to integrate Social Studies concepts into their reading and writing segments. We understand the struggle and have developed a Needs and Wants Writing Center activity to help you blend the two subjects seamlessly. 

You can use these task cards to have your students practice identifying goods and services while working on their writing skills. The learning cards in this set are a great Social Studies formative assessment tool, allowing you to check for understanding in both Writing development and Social Studies content mastery.

The Needs and Wants Writing Center resource is a set of 16 cards designed to help your students practice identifying and writing about things that they need and things that they want. Using the picture cards and graphic organizer included, students will

• Choose two cards, one item that they need to live and another thing that is something that they simply want.
• They will then draw each item on their writing center recording sheet.
• Students will use sentence frames to write sentences explaining why they need or want each item.

Tips for Differentiation + Scaffolding 

A team of dedicated, experienced educators created this resource to support your Economics lessons. 

If you have a mixture of above and below-level learners, check out these suggestions for keeping students on track with the concepts: 

🆘 Support Struggling Students

Help students who need help understanding the concepts by completing the activity in a small group or one-to-one learning environment.

➕ Challenge Fast Finishers

Challenge your fast finishers to identify additional items that are needed and wanted in books they read and make lists or t-charts showing their learning.

Plan lessons for all ability levels with our 10 Best Scaffolding Strategies! 

Easily Prepare This Resource for Your Students

Use the dropdown menu on the Download button to download the color or blackline version of your choice. Print a set of cards, copy an answer sheet for your students, and you are ready to go. 

These cards work well as a whole group activity, small group activity, or a learning center completed independently. Make sure you grab a set and get your students up and learning!

This resource was created by Lindsey Phillips, a teacher in Michigan and Teach Starter Collaborator. 

Don’t stop there—check out more social studies activities like these to help your students learn more about their community: 

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Sorting Needs and Wants for Kindergarten - Worksheet and Google Interactive

Practice identifying basic needs and wants with a cut-and-paste sorting worksheet or Google Interactive Resource.

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This or That! Needs and Wants Slides Game

Practice identifying needs and wants with an active game designed to get your students moving and learning.

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Community Needs and Wants Worksheet

Enhance your primary-level economics instruction with a wants and needs worksheet.