Making Choices

Students share the book Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday, by Judith Viorst, to learn about opportunity costs, goods and services, incentives and saving. They complete worksheets on decision making and choice and play a sorting game with goods and services.

Scarcity and Choice

Students share the book A Bargain for Frances, by Russell Hoban, to learn about scarcity, decision making and exchange. They complete a worksheet on decision making and choice, and play exchange games.

Savings and Budget

Students share the book The Case of the Shrunken Allowance, by Joanne Rocklin, to learn about labor, earned income, saving, creating budgets and equivalent amounts of money. They complete worksheets on labor and budget.

Market Prices

Students share the book Arthur’s Funny Money, by Lillian Hoban, to learn about business, price and labor. They complete worksheets on projected income.

Money vs. Trade

Students share the book Ox-Cart Man, by Donald Hall, to learn about barter and trade. They complete worksheets on the disadvantages of the barter system and play a game of money exchange in a market simulation.

Managing My Money

Students share the book The Berenstain Bears’ Dollars and Sense, by Stan and Jan Berenstain, to learn about money management and checking accounts.

Counting Change and Changing Coins

Students share the book The Penny Pot, by Stuart J. Murphy, to learn about choices, producers and consumers, and counting money.

Keeping Track of Our Money

Students share the book How the Second Grade Got $8,205.50 to Visit the Statue of Liberty, by Nathan Zimelman, to learn about managing money and using record-keeping tools such as ledgers to track income, expenses and balances.

Comparison Shopping

Students share the book The Monster Money Book, by Loreen Leedy, to learn about budgets and comparison shopping.

Debt

Students share the book Four Dollars and Fifty Cents, by Eric A. Kimmel, to learn about credit, debt and interest rates. They write a story about credit and debt and complete worksheets on calculating simple interest on loans.

Saving

Students share the book If You Made a Million, by David M. Schwartz, to learn about spending, saving, interest, borrowing and lending. Students complete a worksheet about money equivalencies, practice writing checks, and role-play saving and borrowing money.

Labor, Choice, and Sales Tax

Students share the book You Can’t Buy a Dinosaur with a Dime, by Harriet Ziefert, to learn about earning money through labor, making choices and paying sales tax.

Savings Plan

Students share the book Kermit the Hermit, by Bill Peet, to learn about the role of money, saving, spending and needs and wants. Students complete a needs and wants worksheet, make a piggy bank and create a savings plan.

I Want It All!

Students share the book Pigs Will Be Pigs, by Amy Axelrod, to learn about unlimited wants, choice and adding and counting money.

Coupon Clippers

Students share the book Pigs Go to Market: Fun with Math and Shopping, by Amy Axelrod, to learn about price, choice and comparative shopping. They examine the information provided on manufacturers’ coupons and play a “shopping spree” game.

Shopping Smarter

Students share the book The Kids’ Money Book, by Jamie Kyle McGillian, to learn about how to become smart consumers and the dangers of credit-card debt. They complete activities on recognizing advertisers’ goals and understanding how interest is added on to debt.

Mental Money

Students share the book Betcha!, by Stuart J. Murphy, to learn about using mental math while shopping, estimation techniques and problem solving with money. They use rounding to complete a story and play a game of estimation with prices.

Characteristics and Functions of Money

Students share the book The Go-Around Dollar, by Barbara Johnston Adams, to learn about the features of money and how money is used. They complete worksheets on the characteristics and functions of money.

The Role of Money

Students read a chapter from the book Double Fudge, by Judy Blume, to learn how money is produced and how people can get money. They complete a worksheet about earning money, play a game about the value of money, and design their own money.

Spending Money

Students share one chapter from Henry and Beezus, by Beverly Cleary, to learn about exchange, market, price and spending. They complete a worksheet on checking accounts and analyze the costs of using a credit card.

Savings and Earnings

Students share several chapters from the book The Amazing Days of Abby Hayes: Have Wheels, Will Travel, by Anne Mazer, to learn about savings, earnings and budgets. Students complete a worksheet on savings and earnings and create a budget.

Earning an Income

Students share several chapters from the book Shoeshine Girl, by Clyde Robert Bulla, to learn about the role of money, labor, earning income, positive and negative incentives, and improving human capital and productivity. Students complete a worksheet on earning money, discuss possible careers and participate in an activity that shows the importance of learning and practicing new skills.

Borrowing and Lending

Students share the book Ben and Me, by Robert Lawson, to learn about borrowing, lending and interest. Students complete a worksheet about borrowing money, create a table that shows the advantages and disadvantages of borrowing money, and role-play borrowing and lending money.

What’s the Price?

Students share the book Pigs Go to Market: Fun with Math and Shopping, by Amy Axelrod, to learn about price and comparative shopping. Students complete a worksheet on price, analyze the unit price of several items, and compare prices at local grocery stores.

Using Credit and Spending Money Wisely

Students share several chapters of the book Mr. Popper’s Penguins, by Richard and Florence Atwater, to learn about earning money, cost, credit and spending money wisely. Students complete a worksheet in which they determine how much it costs to care for a pet, complete an activity on credit, and play a saving and spending game.

Do You Really Need It?

Students share several chapters of the book The Boxcar Children, by Gertrude Chandler Warner, to learn about needs and wants and earning money. Students complete a worksheet on needs and wants, create a spending plan based on needs and wants, and determine ways they can earn money.

Taxes

Students share several chapters of the book Stone Fox, by John Reynolds Gardiner, to learn about earning money, saving, credit and taxes. Students complete a worksheet on taxes and paying off debts, analyze a paycheck, calculate sales tax and discuss the importance of saving.

Production and Trade

Students share the book Ox-Cart Man, by Donald Hall, to learn about goods and services, entrepreneurial risk, investment in human capital and the circular flow of money. They complete activities on the traits on entrepreneurs and specialization in production.

Starting Your Own Business

Students listen to several chapters from The Toothpaste Millionaire, by Jean Merrill, to learn about starting a business and earning a profit. They complete worksheets on costs and profits and play a game about the risks and incentives of starting a business.

Government Goods and Services

Students share several pages from the book Can’t You Make Them Behave, King George?, by Jean Fritz, to learn about the role of money, government goods and services, and paying for government goods and services. Students complete a worksheet on government goods and services and complete activities in which they examine sales receipts and a paycheck stub.

Wise Shoppers

Students share several chapters from the book Millions, by Frank Cottrell Boyce, to learn about currency and the function of money. They examine their own risk tolerance, play a comparison-shopping game and learn how to be a wise consumer.

Saving and Creating a Personal Budget

Students share several chapters of the book From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler, by E.L. Konigsburg, to learn about the role of money, saving and budgets. Students complete a worksheet about keeping track of expenses, analyze information about savings accounts and create a budget.

Saving and Investing

Students share several chapters from the book The Young Investor: Projects and Activities for Making Your Money Grow, by Katherine R. Bateman, to learn about saving and investing. Students complete a worksheet on creating a portfolio, play a saving and investing game, and create a skit for a commercial that explains why it is important to invest.

Using Credit

Students share several chapters from the book Not for a Billion Gazillion Dollars, by Paula Danzinger, to learn about earning money, saving, credit and debt. Students complete a worksheet on spending habits, complete an activity in which they determine whether or not they should purchase items with cash or credit, and analyze a credit-card statement.

Short-Term and Long-Term Savings Goals

Students share several chapters from the book The Leaves in October, by Karen Ackerman, to learn about earning an income, saving and setting short-term and long-term savings goals. Students complete a worksheet on earning money, complete an activity in which students establish short-term and long-term savings goals, and practice entering items in a savings passbook.

Currency and Exchange Rates

Students share the book The Story of Money, by Betsy Maestro, to learn about exchange and barter, the function of money, currency and spending money. Students complete a worksheet on currencies, determine the value of the dollar in three different countries using current exchange rates and shop with cashless money.

How Do You Spend Your Money?

Students share several chapters from the book Tarantula Shoes, by Tom Birdseye, to learn about saving, earning an income, trade-off, cost-benefit analysis and spending money wisely. Students complete a worksheet on bargain shopping, do an activity in which they determine which athletic shoe they should buy, and discuss how they can spend their money wisely.