Tell your students that a family has lost everything in a house fire. People in the community want to help the family by replacing the things that they need first. Ask the class to help create a list of things that their families need. First graders are beginning to write independently, so this activity is an opportunity for students to gain practice writing on the board. Ask a student to underline the items that come up more than once in your conversation. Other items are considered wants. Discuss the differences between wants and needs and help students identify the most basic needs such as food, clothing and shelter.
Ask your students to volunteer to be family members in a role-playing game. Place a glass of water and a glass of soda on a desk. Ask the members to act out what life would be like if they did not have soda. Remove the glass from the desk. Next, ask the students to act out what life would be like if they did not have water. Pretend to "help" the family by giving each member a sip of water. Some discussion points to ask include having students explain the differences between soda and water. The want for soda and the need for water illustrate one difference between wants and needs.
Ask students to create a list of items that they would buy if they owned nothing and only had a limited amount of money to spend. Help students divide the list on the board into wants and needs by facilitating a discussion about why they feel they must purchase the things on the list. First graders are beginning to add and subtract basic numbers, so ask your students to subtract the amount of money spent on needs from their beginning budget. Discuss the amount of money that is left and ask them to list wants that they could purchase with it.
Ask students to help create a list of basic needs such as food, water, shelter, and clothing. Next, ask students to imagine and describe what life would be like without one of these needs. Discuss ways that students can help others who are missing one of these key needs. Identify some service projects, such as a coat drive, that students can organize and participate in to help the community. First graders learn how the weather affects their bodies. Ask your students to help you create a list of different articles of clothing that are necessary for certain types of weather protection. Long term goals such as student responsibilities, a time line and meeting goals can be established by the classroom