Curated OER
All About Money
Few topics engage young mathematicians as much as learning about money. Through a series of shared readings and hands-on activities, children explore the US currency system, learning how to count money and calculate change as they create...
Curated OER
Math Puzzle Picture
The key to solving this puzzle lies in the addition skills of young learners. The first step is to answer a series of decimal addition problems organized in a 4x5 grid. Then cut apart the page of puzzle pieces, each one including an...
Busy Teacher’s Café
"Smart" by Shel Silverstein
Find out just how smart your young mathematicians are with this cross-curricular math and language arts lesson. After first reading Shel Silverstein's poem "Smart", students draw pictures of coins to model the different exchanges...
Curated OER
Close Observation: Coins
Integrate math, science, and speaking/listening with a collaborative hands-on activity. Each group works with a single penny, examining it with the naked eye and recording observations. Repeat using magnifying glasses. Then repeat with a...
Curated OER
Counting Money Activity
Second graders explore commerce by practicing monetary transactions. In this consumer math lesson, 2nd graders practice using math functions to add and subtract different amounts of money. Students identify the different monetary units...
Federal Reserve Bank
Bunny Money
Teach your class about saving, spending, and goal setting with a story about a couple of bunnies who went shopping and related activities. Learners keep track of the bunnies' spending, practice identifying long- and short-term savings...
Federal Reserve Bank
Financial Fables: Shopping Wisely with Olivia Owl
Cover two subjects with one lesson! First, dive into English language arts; read an eBook, answer comprehension questions, and complete a cause and effect chart about the financial fable, Shopping Wisely with Olivia Owl. Then, take...
Visa
The Influence of Advertising
Pupils become informed consumers and citizens with this instructional activity on the influence of advertising, identifying basic advertising techniques and discriminating between fact and claim in modern advertisements and commercials.
Curated OER
What's on Sale?
Students explore sale items. In this money and percent math lesson, students work in groups to locate food ads in the newspaper. Students identify sales and calculate final prices using percentage discounts. Students...
Federal Reserve Bank
Less Than Zero
Perry the penguin wants to buy a new scooter, but he doesn't have any funds! Walk your kids through the short book Less Than Zero, and have them track his borrowing, spending, and saving on a line graph while you read. Pupils will learn...
Federal Reserve Bank
Sheep in a Shop
What do you think sheep might be able to barter when they don't have quite enough to buy a gift? Your pupils can find out this and much more during this activity about Sheep in a Shop, spending, saving, and bartering.
Federal Reserve Bank
The Case of the Shrunken Allowance
An allowance is an important thing! Make sure your kids know how to save and spend their own money. Using the book The Case of the Shrunken Allowance as a starting point, this plan covers income, spending and saving, counting, and more.
Federal Reserve Bank
The Pickle Patch Bathtub
What do your pupils want to save up their money for? Based around the book The Pickle Patch Bathtub, this lesson covers opportunity cost, saving, and spending. Learners participate in a discussion and practice making their own...
Finance in the Classroom
Unit on Checking
As part of a four-lesson unit on personal finances, class members practice using a checkbook. Exercises include writing checks, filling out deposit and withdrawal slips, and keeping a check register.
Curated OER
"In God We Trust": The Camden Man Who Put the Missing Motto on the Dollar Bill
Here is a fascintating lesson plan which relates how the motto "In God We Trust" came to appear on all US currency. It turns out that a man from Arkansas came up with the idea and petioned his congressman and President Eisenhower himself...
Curated OER
Cutting Costs With Coupons.
Students clip coupons for food items, create a menu using those items, and add up the total savings. They correctly calculate the total amount of money that would be saved if they used the coupons.
Curated OER
Colonial Vacation Planner
Looking for a good lesson on the Colonial Period for your upper-elementary class? Then, this lesson is for you! They use website designs, U.S. travel publications, and maps to plan a family vacation to states which were part of the...
Albert Shanker Institute
Economic Causes of the March on Washington
Money can't buy happiness, but it can put food on the table and pay the bills. The first of a five-lesson unit teaches pupils about the unemployment rate in 1963 and its relationship with the March on Washington. They learn how to create...
Curated OER
Money Bags
Third graders explore different combinations of coins that can be used for specified amounts of money using paper money and tree diagrams. They write money amounts in different forms. Groups utilize a tree diagram imbedded in this lesson...
Curated OER
The Role of Money
Fourth graders examine the role of money. In this money lesson, 4th graders read a chapter from Judy Blume's, Double Fudge, to see how money is made and how people make money. They finish a worksheet, and play a game about money.
Curated OER
Cyber Currency, Currently
Students explore the value of currency and how to save and earn interest. In a key lesson, kids even get to purchase items in their classroom's general store. It's a fun way to learn the importance of being financially literate!
Curated OER
Thinking About Money
Students evaluate various approaches to spending money.In this spending money literacy lesson plan, students broaden their financial goals by reading "Alexander Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday" and "A Chair for My Mother."Students use a...
Curated OER
It's On Sale
First graders read the book The Great Pet Sale to learn about economics and advertisements. In this economics lesson plan, 1st graders read the book The Great Pet Sale and define related vocabulary words. Students compare prices to find...
Curated OER
Show Me The Money!
Students select which bank would best meet their needs. In this lesson on personal banking, students write a summary stating which bank and bank accounts best suit their own needs.