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Supply and Demand

5th grade nonfiction passage about economics: 176 words, six questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

5th grade nonfiction economics 176 words

Supply and Demand

Why does the price of something go up or down? Often the answer is supply and demand.

Supply is how much of something is for sale. Demand is how much people want to buy it. The price depends on how the two fit together.

Imagine a stand that sells lemonade. On a cool day, few people feel thirsty, so demand is low. The stand has plenty of lemonade, so supply is high. To get people to buy, the owner may lower the price.

Now imagine a hot day. Many thirsty people want a cold drink, so demand rises. If the stand has only a little lemonade left, supply is low. The owner can raise the price, and people may still pay it.

The same pattern shows up in stores everywhere. When a toy is hard to find and everyone wants one, its price may rise. When a store has too many winter coats left in spring, it may put them on sale.

Prices do not change by magic. They change when supply, demand, or both change.

Questions

  1. What is supply? in the text

  2. What is demand? in the text

  3. Why might the owner lower the price of lemonade on a cool day? in the text

  4. What happens to demand for lemonade on a hot day? in the text

  5. Why does a store put winter coats on sale in the spring? think about it

  6. What does the last sentence mean? think about it

Words to know

supply
how much of something is for sale
demand
how much people want to buy something
price
the amount of money you pay for something
thirsty
wanting something to drink
sale
a time when a store sells things at a lower price

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put supply, demand, price, thirsty and sale on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 2 minutes to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Supply and Demand"?

It was written for 5th grade. It has 176 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 4.1. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are six. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 2 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 2 minutes read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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