Resources
Books
1. “Lily Learns About Wants and Needs” By Lisa Bullard
This book is a wonderful resource for students ages ranging around five to eight
years old, or grades K-3. This book is an excellent financial literacy book that
exemplifies daily life situations that kids encounter. The book describes real-life
examples and illustrates how to make smart money decisions. I would use this resource in
my future classroom by doing a read aloud after a mini-lesson. We would use what we
learned in the mini-lesson, and compare it to the book.
2. “The Kids’ Money Book: Earning, Saving, Spending, Investing, Donating” By Jamie
Kyle McGillian
This book for students in grades 3-6 explains money issues regarding making a
budget, investing earnings, differentiating needs from wants, and sharing the wealth
through donation. This book illustrates examples of money use, and helps students
understand the meaning of money. After reading this book, as a class, we would have a
discussion about the vocabulary in the book. I would also give my students a scenario in
which they would discuss with a partner how they would spend and save their money.
Students will use explanations and ideas they gathered from the book.
3. “The Everything Kids’ Money Book: Earn it, Save it, and Watch it Grow!” By
Brette Sember
This book gives an all-around description about the basics of money. This book
would be wonderful for a read aloud with grades 3-6. This book discusses the history of
money, the banking system, how credit cards work, how to make an investment, and how
to start a small business. This gives students a fundamental understanding of money. I
would use this book to give students the information they need for a small project. For
the project, I would have students work in groups to create their own small business.
They will describe what they are selling, they will be given a budget, and have to
convince people to buy their product.
4. “Finance 101 for Kids: Money Lessons Children Cannot Afford to Miss” By Walter
Andal
This book is a great resource for grades 3-6 in teaching kids all about earning,
saving, spending, and the history of money. The book also discusses credit, the stock
market, the economy, currency, foreign exchange, and giving back to the community.
These concepts are all more in-depth than the lesson plan “Economics and Financial
Literacy” that we made, so I would use this book as an extension exercise after that
lesson. After discussing these concepts, I would have my students come up with a plan
for their future of how they will earn, save, spend, utilize credit, and give back to their
community.
5. Rock, Brock, and the Savings Shock By Sheila Bair
This book is a great resource for grades K-6 because it’s a story about two twins
and their different plans for saving and spending money that their grandfather gives them.
This book shows students the benefits of saving in comparison to just spending, because
the grandpa matches every dollar that’s saved, so one twin ends up with more money in
the end than the other. This book could be used as a read-aloud and whole-class
discussion about the pros and cons of spending and saving and how the twins’ choices
made an impact. The students could discuss with a partner what they would do with the
money if the grandfather had given it to them.
Websites
1. https://www.marbleskidsmuseum.org/moneypalooza
This website is a wonderful resource that gives teachers a variety of activities that
teach students about financial literacy. One activity in particular is the “moneypalooza”
game. We used this game in our lesson plan about saving and budgeting money. This
activity is wonderful to teach students about the basics of money and it puts students in a
real life simulation that allows them to make smart decisions with money. I would use the
Marbles Museum website to use the materials to play the “moneypalooza” game with my
students.
2. https://www.incharge.org/financial-literacy/resources-for-teachers/financial-literacy-for-
kids/
This website is beneficial for teachers to guide and modify their financial literacy
lesson plans. There is a teacher’s guide and student guide for each lesson that has games
and activities for students. I would use the resources on the website to adjust my lesson
plan, and get ideas for discussions and activities I would play with my students.
3. https://www.edutopia.org/blog/elementary-financial-literacy-lessons-resources-brian-
page
This website is one of my favorites in regards to fun and engaging activities I can
use for my classroom. There are a variety of activities that would help students
understand the meaning of money. One of my favorite activities I would use from this
website in my future teaching is the “classroom economy” activity. Students learn how to
be financially responsible through experiential learning. Students are paid in the
simulation for completing classroom jobs, then they decide what they want to do with
their money after “working.” This also would be good for behavior management tactics
in a classroom.
4. http://www.richkidsmartkid.com/index.html
This website is useful because it includes fun and engaging games and activities
for students about the importance of saving money and how to make a profit. I liked this
website because it included a section with resources for parents and lesson plans for
teachers to use to go along with the games and activities. I would use this website in my
future teaching as a way for students to learn how to be financially responsible through
experiential learning, similar to the website above. The students can play “Jesse’s Ice
Cream Stand” to learn about how to earn money and what that looks like, “Reno’s Debt
Dilemma” to learn what debt looks like and what to do, and more.
5. https://www.consumerfinance.gov/consumer-tools/money-as-you-grow/
This website is awesome because it was launched by the White House,
specifically by the President's Advisory Council on Financial Capability, to help children
learn about the economy. The website includes a ton of different resources that can be
used with children to help them better understand earning, saving, planning, shopping,
borrowing and protecting. It includes a lot of talking points that guide parents, or
teachers, on how to have those types of conversations with kids. I would want to use this
resource as a way to find ideas on talking points for lessons about earning, saving,
planning, shopping, borrowing and protecting.
