How To Plan A Financial Literacy Unit

Planning a financial literacy unit is one of my favourite math units to plan. Even though I’ve been doing it for a decade (and longer), I am always tweaking and adapting it to meet the needs of the present class.

Financial literacy has been growing in the education world. It is evident that students are leaving the school system without a proper knowledge of “saving, spending and giving”. Though finances look different from primary to high school, it is now in every grade of the math curriculum.

Prior to being a teacher for the past 26 years, I spent 17 years (some part time) working in a financial institution (bank). I worked as a teller, accounting clerk, investments officer, mortgages and loans officer, trainer, and supervisor, so I feel I can talk about finances with experience behind it.

Starting A Financial Literacy Unit

It all starts with planning! Do not skip or skimp this. If you are new to unit planning, check out the mini series on Unit Planning with this post. Go to your school district or state learning standards and find financial literacy (most will be in the math section). Here is an example from the Texas State (TEKS)

While we are still having students count money, we need to recognize that handling cash is not the only way. Credit and debit cards are everywhere and some children may see very little of cash while growing up. So it is not enough to purchase a resource on TPT that is about counting coins (I’ll be upgrading my resources shortly!).

When Creating a Financial Literacy Unit

Look for resources, pictures books, to showcase finances in different ways. One component I added to our classroom is an economy system. We have class money (Hoot Loot) and it is part of our day to day activities. Even as we near the end of the school year, students are still excited about earning, saving and spending their cash.

My economy system does cost me about $30-40 out of pocket each month. Sometimes I can find bulk items on Amazon that last almost a month or two. I will talk more about starting an economy system in another post.

Materials to Choose

This will vary based on your school district. When I first started teaching, we were given textbooks to use. They removed them and though there are recommendation of programs to follow, I haven’t been in a school that provides full unit resources, in a very long time. Does your school district provide resources?

When it comes to financial literacy in the primary grades, you are going to look for materials that will focus on saving, spending, counting, and giving. If you are on TPT, look for resources that have all four components. This will save you time and some money.

Don’t Rush Your Financial Literacy Unit

So often we are focused on starting and finishing a unit as fast as possible. Try not to do this. Financial literacy is a life skill. Though it may not be part of the standards for testing, you are providing your students skills that are life long. To be able to properly handle money when you are an adult, will alleviate so much stress from your life.

Student Work and Assessment

When choosing what students will work on, variety, again, is key. Hands-on activities and manipulatives (plastic coins, pop-up grocery stores or ice cream shops). Students need practice with using money. Oral discussions, task cards (Boom!) are always part of our class unit.

Have your class create either class cash (like hoot loot) or design their own debit cards. Consider a math project such as creating their own business (entrepreneurship). Even in the kindergarten, grade one – students have ideas for jobs/businesses that they are interested in. A math project can take 1 or 2 weeks, if you work on it everyday.

Using the learning standards, determine the best way to assess your students, based on their abilities and needs. For example, when I’m assessing knowledge of coins and their values, I do it two ways. The first one is in small groups (during math rotations) where I will quiz students on values and literally drop coins in front of them and ask them “how much?”. The second, time permitting, is one to one discussions. Even though I have worksheets, I do find that these are not always accurate with assessing. Why? Students may be asking each other, I may have done the first part of the sheet with them.

Sample Math Block

We usually have 40-45 minutes (this is long at the beginning of the year) so I will break the time into chunks.

10 minutes Number Talk (money focus)

7-10 minute explicit instruction (might include reading a book or portion of the book)

15 minutes student activities (either independent work or math centers)

5-7 group discussion, collect/clean up resources

On Fridays, I skip most of this and we play math games. I have some games that focus on money or we take a break and play cards (Uno, crazy 8s, snap, war, etc.).

Length of a Financial Literacy Unit

The proverbial, “that depends”. If you are including an economy system in your class, you can do it all year (periodically). If you are looking at keeping it to an independent unit, then 3-4 weeks. If you are new to it, try one week per standard, over about 4 days.

Give it a try! Feel free to reach out if you need help or ideas. I will often go to Pinterest to get book ideas or math project ideas. Here is a link to my Pinterest Financial Literacy Board and Primary Math Board

Happy Teaching!

Lori-Anne