Today was my last day with this particular group of second graders. One of the girls, Lauren, came running up to me as I was setting up the day’s activity. “I got a job!” she announced. But the gleam in her eyes really said it all. Apparently, after last week’s lesson on special talents and skills, she went home and talked to her parents about doing some jobs around the house for extra money. She got hired to take down…
I was working with a group of 4th and 5th graders on Pet Project, a project where kids get to take care of a pet for a year. Part of the project requires kids to go through catalogs and buy things for their pet. They need to fill in a real order form and write a check using some old checks I saved when I closed an account (with all important information blacked out). They love this project because they…
Spending money is easy. Ask any kid. For most, the list of things they want is endless. And spending money is not bad, it’s just important to spend it wisely. That was the idea behind a lesson I did with a group of second graders. But I didn’t tell them that. I thought it would be more fun if I tempted them and let them figure it out. So I printed a whole bunch of stickers for items that kids…
I was in Michael’s yesterday buying key charms for my money management lesson on the keys to compounding. With my 40% off coupon, of course. I was behind a mom who I felt increasingly sympathetic for. But not really because she allowed herself to be in the position she was in. The mom was there with her two daughters. They looked to be about 8- and 9-years old. The older one asked her mom if she could buy one of…
I was working with a group of second graders last week. The topic was needs vs. wants. All of my money classes begin with this discussion as knowing the difference is the beginning of effectively managing money. So when we got to the activity part of the lesson, kids were cutting out pictures from magazines and pasting them on their mini-poster. The poster was divided into two sections…needs and wants. It’s fun for me to walk around the room and talk…