Valentina Islami

April 12th, 2022

Professor Jones

TE 803

“Create Your Own Business” Social Studies Lesson

● Grade Level: Fourth Grade

● Objectives/Learning Targets:
● Students will be able to identify what an entrepreneur is and model their own
business.
● Students will be able to describe and identify the characteristics of traditional,
command, and market economies; describe the qualities of entrepreneurs in a
capitalistic society; and understand the characteristics and benefits of the free
enterprise system.
● Standards:
● Learning for Justice Standards
○ 1. Students will develop positive social identities based on their
membership in multiple groups in society.
● Social Studies State Standards
○ 4 – E1.0.2 Describe characteristics of a market economy.
○ E2.0.1 Explain how changes in the United States economy impact levels
of employment and unemployment.
● Materials Needed:
● Chromebooks
● Writing utensil
● Smartboard
● Okiocam
● Videos of local Detroit businesses
● Detroit Economic Growth Corporation
○ https://www.degc.org/shop-small-detroit/
● Detroit small businesses news video:
○ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dx79zjLOWec
● “Create Your Own Business” worksheet
● Studies Weekly Article
● Instructional Sequence
1.) Have a student distribute chromebooks at the beginning of the lesson
2.) Review previous lesson content briefly:
a.) “Think back to the previous lessons when learning about the different types of
economies. Can someone remind the class what ‘market economy’ means?”
i.) Take 2-3 hands
b.) Explain to the class that the market economy will be important in today’s lesson
because the buyers make the rules and regulations.
3.) Launch article:
a.) Have “Being an Entrepreneur” article displayed on the smartboard
i.) Ask for a volunteer to read the article title out loud
b.) “What do you think the word ‘entrepreneur’ means? What are some things we
may already know about what that means?”
i.) Have a student come up to the board and highlight the definition
c.) Play article out loud
d.) “Can someone describe in their own words what it means to be an
‘entrepreneur?”
i.) Take 1-2 hands
e.) Explain to students that now that they have a better understanding of
entrepreneurship, they will watch a news clip learning more about small
businesses in Detroit at the Eastern Market
i.) Play video on smartboard
f.) “According to the video, how are some ways that small businesses were able to
sell their goods and promote their businesses?”
i.) Discuss in small groups for one minute
g.) Students take out their chromebooks
i.) Direct students to Detroit Economic Growth Corporation
(1) Give them 1 minute to browse the website
ii.) Read About page together as a whole class
iii.) Explain to students that DEGC is a resource that entrepreneurs in Detroit
can use to help start their small businesses and receive support
4.) “Create your own business worksheet”
a.) Distribute (1) worksheet to each student
b.) Tell students that for this worksheet they will be creating their own small business
i.) Brainstorm ideas as a whole class
c.) Use Okiocam to model worksheet for students
d.) Have students complete the worksheet for 5 minutes independently
e.) After 5 minutes, regroup the class and direct students to flip their worksheet over.
Explain that they will create a flyer for their business on the back
i.) The flyer must include:
(1) Business name
(2) Picture of product or service
(3) Price
ii.) Give Students an additional 5-8 minutes to complete the flyer
f.) Have students share their product/service in small groups for 3 minutes
g.) Regroup for closing discussion
 i.) “What is an entrepreneur?”
ii.) “Why is it important to support small businesses in our communities?”
h.) Collect papers and thank students for their insight and participation

● Differentiation/Modifications
a. Flyer/Worksheet
i. Modifications
1. Can include just the drawing of their picture
2. Can include words/sentences
3. Limiting the worksheet to questions 1-3
ii. Differentiation:
1. Have some students write an additional short paragraph about their
business
2. Some students may have just a picture of their product

● Assessment (Formative)
a. “Create your own business” worksheet
b. Flyer
i. Business name
ii. Picture
iii. Price

When writing this lesson plan, I wanted to focus on students being able to put themselves
in the shoes of an entrepreneur and seeing these concepts demonstrated in their own community.
Prior to this lesson, students were taught the different forms of government such as a traditional,
command and market economy. After reviewing some vocabulary terms, I wanted to begin the
lesson with a brief article discussing what an entrepreneur is, the characteristics and how they are
a part of a market economy. Once the main idea was introduced, I then wanted to show students
examples of entrepreneurs, their stories and small business opportunities within their community
where they could visit or may have already visited prior. After I would have students then log
onto DEGC, allowing them to explore a resource that entrepreneurs have used to kick start their
businesses in Detroit and the impact the group has had on the community. For the assessment
portion, I wanted to give students the chance to imagine themselves as entrepreneurs and create a
flyer for their business along with sharing their ideas with their classmates. This would involve
making sure to go over some of the requirements such as business name, pricing and
product/service as stated on the worksheet and making sure a teacher example was shown to
students. Having the flyer as the form of assessment allows for students to more creatively
demonstrate their understanding where adjustments or high order thinking can take place as well
such as additional paragraphs or just a visual representation.