Family Money Matters

Family Money Matters: Exploring the World of Economics

Learning together As the financial needs of individual consumers become more complex, it is becoming more and more evident that a large percentage of our citizens, notably low income and disadvantaged individuals, do not have the knowledge or skills to manage their financial affairs. Parents who do not understand basic financial principles struggle to provide a sound basis and understanding of money issues to their children.

There is another section in the Thinkfinity Library that provides resources for teaching Basic Intergenerational Financial Literacy (BIFL) to adults. It includes additional ideas for engaging children in economic concepts and intergenerational activity. You may want to review that resource and then continue through Family Money Matters. Click here to review BIFL.

The following Family Money Matters materials and strategies were developed as part of the National Center for Family Literacy's (NCFL) Basic Intergenerational Financial Literacy (BIFL) project to provide basic financial literacy instruction. Funding was provided by Louisville Metro Government and Women 4 Women. Materials and activities were created by NCFL and the Kentucky Council on Economic Education, and piloted in Jefferson County Public Schools.

Click here to learn more about this project.

The Family Money Matters resources will:

Provide teachers with a sample preschool lesson plan using children's literature to introduce basic financial concepts and vocabulary
Introduce an interactive game for adults to play with children that encourages economic word recognition and discussion
Create opportunities for intergenerational activities using children's books

Note: To access the online activities you will need to have Adobe Acrobat Reader and Macromedia Flash Player loaded on your PC. These are free downloads and should only take a few minutes. Make sure to read all of the installation instructions before beginning each download.

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Sheep in a Shop by Nancy Shaw Following is a lesson for preschool children that has been successfully implemented at one of Jefferson County, Kentucky's, Public School (JCPS) preschool programs for four-year-old children. In the JCPS pre-school program, lessons are designed to reflect the Kentucky State Pre-school Standards. All of the lessons centered on a specific book Sheep in a Shop by Nancy Shaw.

Implementing a Lesson Plan

The following lesson plan can continue for a week or more depending on the level of interest of the children and the teacher's creativity in adding new books and materials to the classroom that complement the chosen topic. This particular topic continued for several weeks.

Cover of Sheep in a Shop by Nancy Shaw, illustrated by Margot Apple (Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1991).

Click here for a printable copy of the Lesson Plan.

Click here for a printable copy of the Economic Vocabulary and Concepts/Vocabulary hand-out.

Click here for a printable copy of more books that can be used to learn about economic concepts.

The following is a game created using the Tic-Tac-Toe format for children to play both in the classroom with teachers or parents and at home with their families to reinforce economic vocabulary and concepts. To play it now click here.

For a printable copy of the game click here.

Shopping Children benefit when they are introduced to economic vocabulary and concepts in the preschool classroom. However, to use this new information in everyday life, it is important to have parents understand and use economic vocabulary and strategies at home too. With that in mind, the following activities were designed to use in both adult literacy classes and parent meetings.

Parents can support and expand on these ideas at home. Here are some suggestions for activities parents can do at home with their children as well as some areas for parents to explore on their own.

Family Activities: Connections for the Home

Offer Allowances–chores for change
Read Sheep in A Shop together using Dialogic Reading
Make a "money holder" and keep it in a special place
Saving for a purpose–e.g., giving gifts
Shopping for a gift–finding the best price/using coupons
Making spending choices (decisions) together
Shopping together-using lists

Financial Concepts for Adult Learners to Explore:

Read/review Sheep In a Shop–practice Dialogic Reading
Identify/practice consumer vocabulary
Identifying wants versus needs–discuss what you can buy with $50?
Dream/Reality–How do we make choices?
Turning unused items into cash–Garage Sale 101
History of money–Social Studies
Economic vocabulary–vocabulary of financial institutions–banking simplified
Financial Goals– Short-term, intermediate, long-term
Establishing a budget
English language learners-read story for simple present tense, vocabulary and comprehension
Math lessons using percentages, budgeting, comparing prices, graphing

Using a debit card Remember, there is another section in the Verizon Literacy Network Library that provides resources for teaching Basic Intergenerational Financial Literacy (BIFL) to adults. It also includes ideas for engaging children in economic concepts and intergenerational activity. Return to the beginning of this section to access the link.

Click here for additional web resources.

References

Berger, G. & Berger, M. (1993). Round the money goes. Nashville, TN: Discovery Readers Ideals Children's Books.

Caple, K. (1986). The purse. Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Inkpen, M. (no date). The great pet sale. New York: Orchard Books.

Kentucky Council on Economic Education (2005). Sprouts: Preschool economics through dramatic play, Louisville, KY: author.

McMillan, B. (1996). Jelly beans for sale. New York: Scholastic.

Oxenbury, H. (1985). Tom and Pippo go shopping. New York: Alladan Books.

Rey, M. & Rey, H. A. (2002). Curious George goes to a toy store. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co.

Rockwell, A. (1984). Our garage sale. New York: Greenwillow Books.

Wahl, J. (2004). Candy shop. Waterton, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing.

Williams, R. L. (2001). The coin counting book. Waterton, MA: Charlesbridge Publishing.

Ziefert, H. (2003). You can’t buy a dinosaur with a dime. New York: Blue Apple Books.

This information was produced by the National Center for Family Literacy for use on www.thinkfinity.org, a powerful educational platform supported by the Verizon Foundation. This information is in the public domain and may be reproduced for noncommercial purposes without permission.