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Busiest People Ever

by Richard Scarry, Random House

Lesson by Barbara Flowers

Economics: human resources, human capital

Language Arts: noting details, organizing information, cause and effect

Synopsis: This collection of stories shows people working at different jobs.

Materials: writing supplies

Procedure:

1. Read Busiest People Ever. Explain the following: Most people work. The work they do is both physical and mental. People who do physical work move around a lot and use their muscles. They also have to think about what they're doing so that they don't make any mistakes. Thinking is mental work. Most workers do some mental and some physical work. For example, carpenters and plumbers do both physical and mental work.

Ask the students what other jobs have people doing mostly physical work. (police, mechanics, masons, roofers, painters, farmers, waiters, cargo handlers)

2. Explain that other people have jobs where they must sit at a desk and think about their work. Some people who do mostly mental work are accountants, teachers, and authors.

Ask the students what other jobs have people doing mostly mental work. (telephone operators, secretaries, computer programmers, lawyers, doctors, librarians, pilots)

3. Explain that people doing physical and mental work are called human resources. There are many different jobs that people do.

Ask the students what jobs they remember from the story. (mailman, sanitation worker, artist, sculptor, tailor, window washer, construction worker, plumber, soldier, paperhanger, engineer, log hauler, doorman, crane operator)

4. Explain that each of these jobs is different, and the people who do these jobs have different talents and skills. They have to know certain things to do their jobs well. The special skills, talents, and education people have is called their human capital.

5. Ask the students the following questions.

a. What special things does the plumber have to know? (They have to know about pipes; they have to be able to measure.) How does the plumber know these things? (The plumber goes to school to learn about his job. He may watch another plumber and learn. He may read books about plumbing.) What is the plumber's combination of talent, skills, and education called? (human capital)

b. In the story, Mr. Frumble goes to the doctor. When you go to the doctor, what are some of the things the doctor does for you? (The doctor measures and weighs me. He also checks my ears and throat. He gives me a shot and listens to my lungs.) How does the doctor know what to do? (The doctor goes to school for many years and reads many books. Then the doctor works with other, older doctors. The older doctors watch the new doctors while they practice.) What is the doctor's combination of talent, skills, and education called? (human capital)

6. Ask the students what other jobs they remember from the book, and ask them what types of special talent, skills, and education people in those jobs would need.

7. Instruct the students to write a paragraph about what they want to do when they grow up. Have them include the special skills and education (human capital) they must have to do the job they've chosen.

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This lesson is one of 45 lessons presented in Economics and Children's Literature. This unit contains lessons for 23 children's books for students in grades 1-3 and 22 children's books for students in grades 4-6.