The Growth of Labor Unions ✊

👷‍♀️ 🎯 Learning Targets

• Explain how labor unions developed
• Describe how labor unions are organized
• Summarize the main challenges facing unions today
• Describe how government attitudes toward labor unions have changed

⏰ What We Did

• Used instructional notes from Lesson 10, Part 2: The Growth of Labor Unions, to answer the following questions in complete sentences:

1. Define labor union, open shop, and closed shop.
2. What conditions led to the development of labor unions?
3. How do national unions support local unions?
4. What are the main reasons for declining union membership? How have unions responded?
5. In your opinion, how should the government interact with unions? Should it be supportive, regulatory, or confrontational? Explain your answer.

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 10, Part 3: The Growth of Labor Unions, before class on Monday

The U.S. Labor Force 👷‍♀️

🎯 Learning Targets

• Describe factors that affect workers entering the labor force
• Explain how the U.S. labor force has changed over time
• Analyze how the U.S. government affects labor

⏰ What We Did

• Watched and took instructional notes on Lesson 10, Part 1: The U.S. Labor Force
• Calculated wages and salaries from story problems

⚙️ Resources

• Lesson 10 Instructional Notes
• Lesson 10, Part 1: The U.S. Labor Force
• Computing Wages (A-19)

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 10, Part 2: The Growth of Labor Unions, before class tomorrow

Lesson 9 Lesson Review 9️⃣

Late Start Day 🕣

🎯 Learning Targets

• Review key concepts raised in Lesson 9

⏰ What We Did

• Briefly discussed the main ideas of Lesson 9, Part 6: Fiscal Policy and the Federal Budget
• Took a quiz on Lesson 9, Part X: X
• Began working on Lesson 9 Lesson Review (Due W 4 June 2025)

⚙️ Resources

• Budget of the United States Government (Office of Management and Budget)
• National Debt and Deficit (USDebtClock.org)

• Lesson 9 Lesson Review (LR-9)

Fiscal Policy Strategies 💵

🎯 Learning Targets

• Explain how the federal budget is developed
• Identify what role deficit spending plays in the economy
• Describe the methods the government can use to balance the federal budget

⏰ What We Did

• Used instructional notes from Lesson 9, Part 6 — and internet resources — to compare the principles of supply-side and demand-side economics
• Researched and identified the aspects of the Laffer Curve, a prominent piece of supply-side economics

⚙️ Resources

• Understanding Supply-Side and Demand-Side Economics (A-18)

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 9, Part 6: Fiscal Policy and the Federal Budget, before class tomorrow

Memorial Day — No School 🇺🇸

Clintondale High School is closed for Memorial Day. Classes will resume on Tuesday, May 27, 2025, at 7:35 A.M.

Inflation 💸

🎯 Learning Targets

• Explain how economists evaluate price changes over time
• Describe what causes inflation
• Identify the two main price indexes that economists use to measure inflation
• Explain how inflation affects the economy

⏰ What We Did

• Examined an economics-focused political cartoon to identify the different types of inflation

⚙️ Resources

• Analyzing Economic Challenges (A-17)

Inflation 💸

🎯 Learning Targets

• Explain how economists evaluate price changes over time
• Describe what causes inflation
• Identify the two main price indexes that economists use to measure inflation
• Explain how inflation affects the economy

⏰ What We Did

• Used instructional notes from Lesson 9, Part 4: Inflation, to calculate both inflation and the consumer price index

⚙️ Resources

• Measuring Inflation and the Consumer Price Index (A-16)

Economic Growth 💹

🎯 Learning Targets

• Explain why economic growth is important
• Identify the requirements for economic growth
• Describe the relationship between economic growth and productivity

⏰ What We Did

• Passed back and discussed "Solving Word Problems Involving Percentages" (A-12), "Calculating the Creation of Money" (A-13), and "Calculating Gross Domestic Product" (A-14)
• Used the instructional notes for Lesson 9, Part 3: Economic Growth, to answer the following questions in complete sentences:

1. Define labor productivity, productivity growth, capital-to-labor ratio, and capital deepening.
2. Describe the relationship between economic growth and a nation's standard of living.
3. What changes result in economic growth?
4. List and describe the three factors that lead to increased productivity.
5. Explain why it is important for the United States to be able to compete in the global economy.

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 9, Part 4: Inflation, before class tomorrow

Business Cycles 📉

🎯 Learning Targets

• Examine the four phases of the business cycle
• Identify the three leading indicators used to determine the current phase of the business cycle, and predict where the economy is headed

⏰ What We Did

• Examined and discussed a handout on the stages of the business cycle
• Used the instructional notes from Lesson 9, Part 2: Business Cycles, to interpret which phase of the business cycle is identified by the economic indicators
  

⚙️ Resources

• The Business Cycle and Economic Indicators (H-5)
• Interpreting Economic Indicators (A-15)

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 9, Part 3: Economic Growth, before class tomorrow

Gross Domestic Product 📊

🎯 Learning Targets

• Determine how governments calculate gross domestic product
• Explain some of the limitations of gross domestic product
• Identify other statistics economists use to measure the economy

⏰ What We Did

• Watched and took instructional notes on Lesson 9, Part 1: Gross Domestic Product
• Computed GDP from given C, I, G, X, and M data

⚙️ Resources

• Lesson 9 Instructional Notes
• Lesson 9, Part 1: Gross Domestic Product
• Calculating Gross Domestic Product (A-14)

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 9, Part 2: Business Cycles, before class tomorrow

Lesson 8 Lesson Review 8️⃣

🎯 Learning Targets

• Review the key concepts covered in Lesson 8 of Economics

⏰ What We Did

• Collected Lesson 7 Lesson Review
• Took a quiz on Lesson 8, Part 2: The Federal Reserve at Work
• Began working on Lesson 8 Lesson Review (Due F 23 May 2025)

⚙️ Resources

• Lesson 8 Lesson Review (LR-8)

Monetary Policy Strategies 💸

🎯 Learning Targets

• Explain why the Fed relies on either an easy-money policy or a tight-money policy
• Examine how the Fed makes monetary policy
• Identify the challenges associated with determining monetary policy

⏰ What We Did

• Experimented with the Fed's use of reserve requirements to implement easy- or tight-money policies through potential deposit expansion

⚙️ Resources

• Calculating the Creation of Money (A-13)

The Federal Reserve at Work 💵

Late Start Day 🕣

🎯 Learning Targets

• Identify services the Fed provides to banks
• Describe ways the Fed serves the federal government
• Explain how economists measure the U.S. money supply

⏰ What We Did

• Using the various functions of the Fed's implementation of monetary policy, solved word problems involving percentages

⚙️ Resources

• Solving Word Problems Involving Percentages (A-12)

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 8, Part 2: The Federal Reserve at Work, before class tomorrow

The Federal Reserve System 🏛

🎯 Learning Targets

• Describe how the Panic of 1907 affected U.S. banking
• Explain the purposes and characteristics of the Federal Reserve system
• Show the organization of the Fed

⏰ What We Did

• Collected binders for the third Binder Check of the semester
• Watched and took instructional notes on Lesson 8, Part 1: The Federal Reserve System
• Continued playing "Business Strategy," drawing connections of the Fed's role to aspects of the game

⚙️ Resources

• Lesson 8 Instructional Notes
• Lesson 8, Part 1: The Federal Reserve System
• Business Strategy Central

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 8, Part 2: The Federal Reserve at Work, before class tomorrow

Lesson 7 Lesson Review 7️⃣

🎯 Learning Targets

• Review the key concepts covered in Lesson 7 of Economics

⏰ What We Did

• Took a quiz on Lesson 7, Part 2: The U.S. Economy at Work
• Began working on Lesson 7 Lesson Review (Due T 13 May 2025)

⚙️ Resources

• Lesson 7 Lesson Review (LR-7)

U.S. Banking Today 🏧

🎯 Learning Targets

• Identify the most common types of U.S. financial institutions
• Explain how automation has affected banking practices
• Identify and describe the results of banking deregulation
• Explain the crises that financial institutions faced in the late 1980s

⏰ What We Did

• Assessed the completion of a running record in "Business Strategy" from hypothetical scenarios

💯 Assessment Make-ups

• Make-ups for the Unit 1 Content (Part I) and/or Skills (Part II) Assessments will take place by the end of TODAY during non-core (i.e., electives) classes

History of U.S. Banking 🏦

🎯 Learning Targets

• Describe the views of Federalists and Anti-Federalists about U.S. banking
• Explain how the development in the 1860s of nationally-chartered banks affected the power of state-chartered banks
• Describe how the government reformed and regulated the banking system after World War I

⏰ What We Did

• Used the instructional notes for Lesson 7, Part 4 to chronologically order the 10 events surrounding the history of banking within the United States

💯 Assessment Make-ups

• Make-ups for the Unit 1 Content (Part I) and/or Skills (Part II) Assessments will take place by FRIDAY during non-core (i.e., electives) classes

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 7, Part 5: U.S. Banking Today, before class tomorrow

Money 🍨

🎯 Learning Targets

• Explain the functions that money serves
• Describe the characteristics that an item must have to be used as money
• Identity the sources of money's value
• Identify and describe the types of money that are used in the United States

⏰ What We Did

• Illustrated the five characteristics of money by examining ice cream as a medium of exchange
• Enjoyed ice cream while determining whether salt, clam shells, cattle, silver, or brass coins would serve as suitable forms of money

⚙️ Resources

• Evaluating Mediums of Exchange (A-11)

💯 Assessment Make-ups

• Make-ups for the Unit 1 Content (Part I) and/or Skills (Part II) Assessments will take place after school TODAY OR this week during non-core (i.e., electives) classes by Friday

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 7, Part 4: History of U.S. Banking, before class tomorrow

The U.S. Economy at Work 💼

🎯 Learning Targets

• Describe how nations decide how to use scarce resources
• List and define the major goals of the U.S. economy
• Explain why economic goals sometimes conflict

⏰ What We Did

• Distributed and discussed the checklist for the third Economics Binder Check
• Continued playing "Business Strategy," highlighting aspects of the instructional video within the context of the game's classroom economy

⚙️ Resources

• Economics Binder Portal (T 13 May 2025)
• Business Strategy Central

💯 Assessment Make-ups

• Make-ups for the Unit 1 Content (Part I) and/or Skills (Part II) Assessments will take place after school on T 6 May and W 7 May OR this week during non-core (i.e., electives) classes

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 7, Part 3: Money, before class tomorrow

Features of the U.S. Economy 🇺🇸

🎯 Learning Targets

• Describe the main features of free enterprise in the United States
• Name the two markets of the circular flow model
• Explain how the circular flow model reflects exchange

⏰ What We Did

• Watched and took instructional notes on Lesson 7, Part 1: Features of the U.S. Economy
• Distributed and explored a handout on the circular flow model
• Continued playing "Business Strategy," highlighting aspects of the classroom economy from the instructional video
• Due to the high number of assessment make-ups — Used instructional notes from Lesson 7, Part 1 to answer the following questions in complete sentences:

1. Define free enterprise, private property, product market, and resource market.
2. What separates the U.S. economy from the pure market model? What features does the U.S. economy share with the pure market model?
3. How does the product market differ from the resource market in the circular flow model? Describe an exchange you have made recently, and identify its place in the circular flow model.
4. What types of exchanges are shown in the circular flow model?

⚙️ Resources

• Lesson 7 Instructional Notes
• Lesson 7, Part 1: Features of the U.S. Economy
• The Circular Flow of Goods and Services (H-4)
• Business Strategy Central

💯 Assessment Make-ups

• Make-ups for the Unit 1 Content (Part I) and/or Skills (Part II) Assessments will take place after school on T 6 May and W 7 May OR this week during non-core (i.e., electives) classes

💻 Homework

• Watch and take notes on Lesson 7, Part 2: The U.S. Economy at Work, before class tomorrow

Unit 1 Skills Assessment 💯

🎯 Learning Targets

• Assess comprehension of Economics Unit 1: The Market Economy

⏰ What We Did

• Completed the skills portion of the Unit 1 Assessment, applying the skills obtained with assignments A-1 through A-10

Unit 1 Content Assessment 💯

🎯 Learning Targets

• Assess comprehension of Economics Unit 1: The Market Economy

⏰ What We Did

• Completed the content portion of the Unit 1 Assessment, utilizing the information presented in the instructional notes of Lessons 1 through 6