A cheque with a blue stripe on it. Money finance financial, business finance.

In the second grade students begin to understand basic economic concepts in the American economy. Students describe ways people are paid for their labor and how goods and services are purchased through means like check, cash, and credit cards, and provide examples of interdependence through trade/barter and purchase. Students describe the connection between taxes and community services including schools, sanitation and water, fire and police protection, libraries, and roads.

In the first grade, students summarize the need for money, how money is earned, and how money and credit are used in order to meet needs and wants including the costs and benefits of spending and saving. Students define and explain the roles of consumers and producers in the American economy. Students summarize how historic inventors and entrepreneurs contributed to the prosperity of the nation including Samuel F. B. Morse, John Deere, Alexander Graham Bell, Orville and Wilbur Wright, and Thomas Edison.