Roll and Read (Yellow) 1 2 3 4 5 Neighbors often joined together to trade. The students each brought one item to school that they no longer wanted. Some made several trades before they were finished bartering. American colonists and Native Americans traded what they wanted and needed. Bartering is trading goods, knowledge, or services with others. They built houses for new neighbors or barns for straying animals. Today, people barter in many ways. Before you decide to barter anything, check with your parents! This way, they can keep their money in the band and still get what they need. Barterers simply trade what they have for what they need. Bartering began thousands of year ago, before money was used. Bartering partners can be found on the Internet and in newspapers and magazines. Once you have permission, have fun bartering. What might bartering look like in the marketplace. Suppose a carpenter has a big table. A carpetmaker wants it. Farmers traded crops for cloth to make clothes. They can be found in your neighborhood. The next time you decide to trade an item or chore, think about its value. Businesses barter with other businesses. The carpetmaker might have to trade three or four small rugs for the table. A blacksmith might have shoed the horse of a merchant in trade for an item from the merchant’s store. Bartering is also a way for a family to save money. You might decide to wait for a better offer. On Bartering Day, each student showed his or her item. Native Americans had plenty of furs to barter for the cloth, thread, and tools.
If you roll a 6, choose 1 block to read. Roll and Read (Green) 1 2 3 4 5 Have you ever traded magazines with a classmate? We decided to travel together for safety. These days money is used more than bartering. Early colonists also traded with each other. A long time ago, people did not use money. Bartering is trading for things we need or want instead of paying for them with money. These stores had everything from sewing thread to live chickens. Gardening is a service you might trade for a new kite. A blacksmith might trade his horseshoeing service with some who would sew a shirt. A farmer could trade a bag of grain for some fish. The colonists couldn’t use their money. Farmers traveled from their farms to towns to get supplies. As the country grew, people began to use money to buy goods. Over time, towns formed. Both traders had to agree that their goods had equal value. They had to gather their own food. They had to make their own clothes. Later, shopping malls replaced the stores owned by local merchants. They found money easier to carry to the marketplace than crops or livestock. The Native Americans used a form of money based on seashells. Each town had a general store.
Many Europeans wanted the furs that the Native Americans had. An electrician might trade his knowledge of wires with a carpenter who can fix his roof. Today, goods and services are traded on the Internet. They had plenty of animal skins to trade with the colonists. What services and items could you barter with your friends. If you roll a 6, choose 1 block to read. Roll and Read (Blue) 1 2 3 4 5 What did people do before there was money? Some of the earliest evidence of goods being bartered are found in ancient Egyptian paintings. In North America, Native American used wampum for trading and ceremonial purposes. As you know, people use money to buy goods and services. Bartering and bargaining took place all over the world. Today, each country has a form of money, or currency. They also show wooden boxes being traded for shoes. The wampum system worked well fro Native Americans when they were trading with each other. Imagine that you are going to leave the United States to visit London, England. They used “silent trading” when dealing with each other. They would barter, or trade, for things that they couldn’t grow, catch, or make. If either group didn’t like the goods being offered, it would not take them. The idea spread to Europe and then to the other parts of the world. Bartering was not always easy. Bartering goods and services did not always work, so people began using items as money.