Unlock the Power of Personal Finance and Reading: A Dynamic Ongoing Class!

In this engaging and interactive class, students will master essential language arts and mathematics skills while diving into the exciting world of personal finance and economics. Through captivating lessons, they'll explore making choices, understanding opportunity costs, and discovering the role of resources, complementary and substitute goods—all while sharpening their critical thinking and decision-making abilities.

Students will embark on a journey to understand fundamental personal finance concepts like scarcity, choices, goods, services, saving, spending, and the role of banks. These important ideas come to life through beloved children’s literature, making learning both fun and effective. As they read, students will reinforce their reading fluency and comprehension while seamlessly integrating math and language arts into every lesson.

WHAT MAKES THIS CLASS STAND OUT:

Real-World Connections: Students will connect what they learn to everyday experiences, helping them understand the value of smart financial choices from an early age.

Creative Learning Activities: Beyond reading, lessons are packed with hands-on activities that boost school-readiness skills like categorizing objects, counting, and letter recognition.


CORE STANDARDS IN FOCUS:
Literal Comprehension: Thought-provoking questions and discussions will deepen students’ understanding of the stories they read. They’ll practice close reading and learn to cite textual evidence, building strong literacy skills.

Social Emotional Learning (SEL): Students will also develop crucial social and emotional skills, learning to regulate emotions, empathize with others, and form healthy relationships—all key components for success in school and life.
Join us on this enriching journey where students will not only build academic skills but also gain the financial literacy needed to make informed decisions in the future!

S C H E D U L E   O F   B O O K S

S E P T E M B E R 1 - 7
📚The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money Lesson 
In this lesson, students hear a story about two little bears whose parents use several figures of speech relating to money. Students draw a picture of a bank and write a caption explaining their illustration.

S E P T E M B E R 8 - 14
📚The Berenstain Bears Dollars and $en$e - Book written by Stan and Jan Berenstain
In this lesson, students hear a story about spendthrift siblings learning about working for a living, the importance of saving, and, at the same time, not turning into “greedy, selfish little monsters” obsessed with money. All ends well when they head off to the Bear Country Bank to open a savings account.

S E P T E M B E R 15 - 21 - NO CLASS

S E P T E M B E R 22 - 28
📚Beatrice's Goat -  Book written by Page McBrier
In this lesson, students listen to a story about Beatrice, a little girl from Uganda, who receives a goat and the impact of that goat on her family. They learn what it means to save and use estimation to decide whether or not people have enough money to reach a savings goal. 

S E P T E M B E R 29 - O C T O B E R 5
📚Rock, Brock, and the Savings Shock -Book written bySheila Bair
In this lesson, students listen to the rhyming tale of twin brothers Rock, a spender, and Brock, a saver. The boys, who look to be about 8 or 9, are encouraged to save by their canny grandpa, who gives them a dollar a week to do chores and promises to double their money each week if they haven’t spent it. Eventually, Rock ends up broke, while Brock has $512. Fortunately, Rock takes the lesson to heart and mends his ways. The book closes with a table showing how Brock’s fortune grew, while Rock’s didn’t, and a child-friendly guide to the wonders of compound interest.

O C T O B E R 6 - 12
📚 You Can’t Buy a Dinosaur with a Dime, by Harriet Ziefert
In this story students learn about earning money through labor, making choices and paying sales tax.

O C T O B E R 13 - 19
📚But I've Used All of My Pocket Change by Lauren Child
In this story students learn what happens after Lola makes some spending choices that she regrets.

O C T O B E R 20 - 26
📚The Goat in the Rug - Book written by Charles L. Blood and Martin Link
In this lesson, students listen to the book The Goat in the Rug, about a Navajo weaver who uses a number of resources and intermediate goods to make a traditional Navajo rug

O C T O B E R 27 - N O V E M B E R 2
📚Something Good, by Robert Munsch
In this story students learn about unlimited wants, limited resources, choice and couny money.  

N O V E M B E R 3 - 9  - NO CLASS

N O V E M B E R 10 - 16
📚A Dollar for Penny, by Dr. Julie Glass
In this story students learn about producers, consumers and price.  

N O V E M B E R 17 - 23
📚The Great Pet Sale by Mick Inkpen
In this story students learn about bargains and sales, comparison shopping and how commercials and advertisements attract consumers.

N O V E M B E R 24 - 30
📚Charlie Needs a Cloak by Tomi dePaola
In this story students learn about productive resources, labor and income

D E C E M B E R 1 - 7
📚Arthur's Funny Money
In this story students learn about business, price and labor. 

D E C E M B E R 8 - 14
📚Pigs Will Be Pigs, by Amy Axelrod, 
In this story students learn about unlimited wants, choice and adding and counting money.

D E C E M B E R 15 - 21
📚Pigs Go to Market: Fun with Math and Shopping, by Amy Axelrod, 
In this story students learn about price, choice and comparative shopping. They examine the information provided on manufacturers’ coupons.

D E C E M B E R 22 - 28 (NO CLASS ON December 25th)
📚Kermit the Hermit, by Bill Peet
In this story students 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.

D E C E M B E R 29 - J A N U A R Y 4
📚Betcha!, by Stuart J. Murphy
In this story students learn about using mental math while shopping, estimation techniques, and problem solving with money. They use rounding to complete a story and complete a worksheet of estimation with prices.

J A N U A R Y 5 - 11
📚The Go-Around Dollar, by Barbara Johnston Adams
In this story, students will learn about the features of money and how money is used. They complete worksheets on the characteristics and functions of money.

J A N U A R Y 12 - 18
📚The Penny Pot, by Stuart J. Murphy
In this story students learn about choices, producers and consumers, and counting money.

J A N U A R Y 19 - 25
📚The Pickle Patch Bathtub - Book written by Frances Kennedy
In this lesson, students learn about opportunity cost, saving, savings goals and a savings plan by reading The Pickle Patch Bathtub. Students will develop savings plans that lead to their own savings goals.

J A N U A R Y 26 - F E B R U A R Y 1
📚The Case of the Shrunken Allowance 
In this lesson, students listen to a story about P.B. who thinks money is missing from the peanut butter jar on his window ledge. In addition to basic concepts of saving and spending, students learn currency equivalency and some measurement concepts.

F E B R U A R Y 2 - 8
📚A Chair for My Mother - Book written by Barbara Flowers
Students read “A Chair for My Mother,”a story about a little girl and her family who save money to buy a chair after their furniture is destroyed in a fire. Students learn that characters in the book are human resources who save part of the income they earn. Students identify other human resources, discuss how their work allows them to earn income and name strategies that will help them reach a savings goal.

F E B R U A R Y 9 - 15
📚Peanut Butter and Cupcake - Book written by Terry Border 
Students hear a story about Peanut Butter, a slice of bread with peanut butter, who is looking for a friend. They hear about examples of complement and substitute goods and participate in an activity where they are given a good and they find a partner with a substitute or a complement for that good.

F E B R U A R Y 16 - 22
📚How Much Is That Doggie in the Window?  
Written by Bob Merrill 
In this story students explore the feelings that come with doing things to help other people. Students will calculate the amount of money it takes to be a pet owner. 

F E B R U A R Y 23 - 29
📚If You Made a Million - Book written by David M. Schwartz 
In this lesson, students learn about  money and counting concepts through Marvelosissimo the Mathematical Magician. Marvelosissimo shows how various combinations of coins and paper money add up, starting with a single penny and ending with a million dollars. He also introduces the concept of interest—both the kind that banks pay on deposits and the kind they charge borrowers on loans.

M A R C H 1 - 7
📚The Giving Tree - Book written Shel Silverstein
In this story students will  listen to a heartwarming story of sharing and  the journey between the boy and the tree.

M A R C H 8 - 14
📚Saving Strawberry Farm - Book written by Deborah Hopkinson 
In this lesson, students learn that saving is essential to economic well-being, especially in times of extreme economic downturn. They read Saving Strawberry Farm, a story about a Depression-era family attempting to save a neighbor's farm by waging a penny auction. Students hear about the lack of goods and services available and the high rate of joblessness during this terrible time. They simulate a bank run to see how even those with savings were affected. Finally, they learn that savings are safe in banks today.

M A R C H 15 - 21
📚The Have a Good Day Café - Book written by Francis Park and Ginger Park 
In this lesson, students learn how businesses use advertising to influence the choices consumers make. Using magazines, students see that advertisements use a combination of facts and opinions to influence tastes and preferences. Students also listen to a story about a Korean-American family that owns a food cart. They learn how the business changes as a result of competition and how business owners can influence consumers’ tastes and preferences. 

M A R C H 22 - 28
📚Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building - Book written by Deborah Hopkinson 
In this lesson, students learn about human resources, productivity, human capital, and physical capital. They participate in three rounds of a reasoning activity. From round to round they receive training and tools to help them improve their reasoning ability and thus increase their productivity. Students will then listen to a story about how the Empire State Building was built and identify examples of key concepts mentioned or shown in the book.

M A R C H 29 - A P R I L 4
📚 Just Shopping with Mom -by Mercer Mayer 
In this story students learn how the children help Mom with spending at the store. 

A P R I L 5 - 11
📚Ox-Cart Man by Donald Hall
In this story students learn understand how the farm family set goals to make and grow things to use and eat.

A P R I L 12 - 18
📚 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.

A P R I L 19 - 25
📚Sweet Potato Pie -  Book written by Kathleen D. Lindsey
In this lesson students will learn how specialization and division of labor contribute to increased productivity. Your students will discuss examples of these concepts from the book, then develop their own by reading about general stores, comparing them with modern-day general merchandise stores, and examining factory products. The lesson assumes that students have already learned about natural, human, and capital resources and that they can define and give examples of each. The lesson builds on that understanding and has readings and strategies that align with Common Core State Standards. It allows you to integrate economics into language arts and complements students' history studies.

A P R I L 26 - M A Y 2
📚Treasure Map -  Book written by Stuart J. Murphy 
In this lesson, students gain experience in geographic thinking using different types of maps to locate information. They begin by reviewing a current population map of the United States and answering questions about the map and its features. Next, they listen to the book Treasure Map, a story about a group of students who go on a treasure hunt. The students then work together to solve riddles and math problems to unlock gold treasure in Redbeards Cabin Escape Room.  Finally, they practice their map-reading skills by creating a treasure map themselves.

M A Y 3 - 9
📚Supermarket  -  Book written by Kathleen Krull 
In this lesson, students read a story about a supermarket and examine the change in supermarket jobs due to the advances in technology. Students observe two demonstrations. One simulates the checkout process at a grocery store using a cash register, and the other uses scanners that are in stores today. Students conclude which method is faster and more accurate and why.
Prior Knowledge: Students should be able to identify money in coin and paper forms and their value.

M A Y 10 - 16
📚 Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst
In this story students will learn about opportunity, costs, goods and services, incentives and saving.

M A Y 17 - 23
📚 A Bargain for Frances, by Russell Hoban
In this story students learn about scarcity, decision making and exchange. 

M A Y 24 - 30
📚Sally Jean, the Bicycle Queen by Cari Best 
In this story students learn see how Sally Jean uses patience and creativity to get what she really wants.

M A Y 31 - J U N E 6
📚Something from Nothing -   Book written by Phoebe Gilman
In this lesson, students make a choice between a cookie and an ice cream cone and state the opportunity cost of their decisions. They then listen to the story Something from Nothing and identify all the items Grandpa makes for his grandson Joseph, beginning with a blanket. Using a sheet of paper that represents Joseph's blanket, students cut out the various items Grandpa made and identify the opportunity cost for each item they cut out.

J U N E 7 - 13
📚Uncle Jed's Barbershop  -    Book written by Margaree King Mitchell 
In this lesson, students listen to the book Uncle Jed's Barbershop, about an African-American barber who, despite significant setbacks, saves enough money to buy his own barbershop. From the story, students learn about saving, savings goals, opportunity cost, and segregation.

J U N E 14 - 20
📚Those Shoes   - Book written By Maribeth Boelts
Students learn about tastes and preferences related to the goods and services they purchase and how the bandwagon effect can influence what they buy. They listen to the book Those Shoes to understand how preferences affect the shopping decisions made in the story. 

📚The Inventor's Secret: What Thomas Edison Told Henry Ford - Book Written By Suzanne Slade
In this lesson, students will listen to the story of Thomas Edison and Henry Ford, two American innovators who became lifelong friends. Students will learn about the products created by the two men, and how their consumers affected their production and price setting. Students also will learn how curiosity and determination led to innovation of ideas, goods and services that improve human quality of life. Students then will demonstrate innovation by helping solve a problem in their community.

J U N E 21 - 27
📚Sam and the Lucky Money by Karen Chinn
In this story students learn how small amounts make a big difference during Sam’s trip to Chinatown.

J U N E 28 - J U L Y 4
📚One Plastic Bag   -    Book Written by - BY MIRANDA PAUL   
In this lesson, students will learn about responsible consumption and how the choices we make when disposing of trash can impact the environment. Students will listen to a story from the book One Plastic Bag, about an entrepreneur; watch a video about pollutants and distinguish between reducing, reusing and recycling. Students will interpret graphs and data within an infographic and demonstrate their knowledge of responsible consumption through developing their own infographic in collaborative groups. 

J U L Y 5 - 11
📚Time For Cranberries -  Book written by BY LISA H. DETLEFSEN
In this lesson, students will craft and perfect a definition of “entrepreneur” and make a list of key entrepreneurial characteristics. Students will then read Time for Cranberries, which tells a story of a modern entrepreneurial family who grows cranberries. Students will learn how to distinguish between entrepreneurs and employees, and will write a sequel to the story in which one of the characters demonstrates characteristics of an entrepreneur. 

J U L Y 12 - 18
📚Isabel's Car Wash -  Book Written by - By SheiLa Bair
Students are introduced to the roles of entrepreneur and investor in the context of starting a business through the book, Isabel’s Car Wash.

J U L Y 19 - 25
📚My Rows and Piles of Coins by Tololwa M. Mollel
In this story students learn about Saruni, a young boy, and his family, who are both consumers and sellers in a market in Tanzania. 

NOTE: Schedule is subject to change

Please make sure you check the reading list for changes, sometimes teachers may decide to change the order of the books.

How is your class structured?
My class is structured to be a stress free, fun, and interactive learning environment to accommodate different learning styles and abilities.  

How will you teach?
I will teach using slide presentations, interactive games and discussion for question and answer sessions.

What's your teaching style?
I believe that every child learns differently.  I do my best to accommodate individual learning styles.  

Any required experience or knowledge learners need? 
No prior knowledge is needed.