Inflation and Prices

Have students mark who decides in each paragraph before filling in the chart. On the inflation sheet, model one percent increase, then let students show the steps in each problem and compare with the answer key.

Graph sample ticket and milk prices from 1970 to 2020, then calculate percent increases. The directions on the page read: Read the text and table. Plot the price of a movie ticket and a gallon of milk for each year on the grid and connect each set of points. Draw the ticket line solid and the milk line dashed, and label each line. An answer key is included.

Yes, both. We made it for 6th Grade Economics and Money, and the page works the same whether it lands on a kitchen table or a center rotation. At home, most families go through it together and talk the answers out loud, and that talking is where most of the learning happens with economic systems and inflation. In class it runs well as independent work while you pull a small group. Print one copy or thirty, whichever the day needs.

The reading describes traditional, command, market and mixed economies. Custom answers the economic questions in a traditional economy, the government answers them in a command economy, and individuals and businesses answer them in a market economy. A mixed economy combines these systems.

Inflation is a general rise in prices over time, so each dollar buys a little less than it did before. The page explains that prices can rise when people want more goods than businesses can make, or when it costs more to make and ship goods.

Subtract the starting price from the ending price, divide that difference by the starting price, then multiply by 100. The example on the sheet is a snack that rises from $2.00 to $2.50, which is a 25% increase.