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Letting
Swift River Go
by Jane Yolen
Little Brown and Company
32 pages
ISBN 0-316-96899-4
Summary:
Sally Jane began her life in one of the small towns along the Swift
River. Because the city of Boston needed more water, the small rural
towns were removed, the river was damned, and the Quabbin Reservoir
was formed.
Concept:
Trade-offs
Definition:
When making a choice, trade-offs means getting a little less
of one thing in order to get a little more of another.
Comprehension
Questions:
Why did the
people of the small towns along the Swift River have to move? (The
towns were removed in order to create a reservoir because the people
of Boston did not have enough water.)
What were the
trade-offs the people in the town faced? (The people earned money
for a better life somewhere else, but they gave up their homes,
their friends, and their town.)
What natural
resource was scarce in the city but not in Sally Jane's town?
(water)
What other natural
resources were collected as the land was prepared to build the reservoir?
(All the trees were cut down and hauled away.)
What natural
resource could not be used after the reservoir was completed? (the
fertile soil of the valley to grow plants)
Identify the
trade-off of natural resources. (getting more fresh water and
losing fertile land)
Other Concepts: Natural
Resources, Scarcity,
Capital
Resources, Trade-offs
(From KidsEcon Posters©: www.kidseconposters.com)
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