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grade level: K-2, 3-5
curriculum standards:
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posted on: July 2, 2003
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No Funny Money, Honey....I Want the Real Thing!
Key Economic Concepts:
Do you know what funny money is? It's NOT the real thing! Find out how our government tries to make our money hard to copy in this lesson about real and fake money.
Students will:
- Name the security features that make our money unique.
- Pick out the characteristics of money in a drop and drag activity.
- Discover the limitations of barter.
Ask the students why a $10 bill is worth 10 dollars. The paper used to make the bill is not worth 10 dollars. Start a discussion about what it would be like to live in a world without money. What makes money a good way to buy things? How does currency make our life simpler?
You will go online to www.bep.treas.gov/newmoney/main.cfm/learning/counterfeit
[1]
and study how to spot 'funny money.' After you learn about how we keep our money safe, you will play the games at www.bep.treas.gov/newmoney/main.cfm/learning/counterfeit
[1]
.
•Money Central Station: A site that is geared to two age groups: 5-8 and 9-13. The students will go into the site and find out about the security features before playing the games that check their knowledge.
www.bep.treas.gov/newmoney/main.cfm/learning/counterfeit
[1]
•Money Central Station: At this website, students can participate in many fun, educational games.
www.bep.treas.gov/newmoney/main.cfm/learning/fun
[3]
Note: This lesson stresses coins and currency, but does not deal with checking deposits. Tell the students that coins and currency are only part of our money supply. Checks are part of the money supply, too. This lesson is only going to deal with coins and currency. Checks are not created by the U.S. Treasury.
Write the word bartering on the board and discuss its meaning. Explain to the students that bartering is the direct exchange of goods and services between people without the use of money. Money makes trading easier because it has four characteristics.
1. Money is portable. That means it is easy to carry. Would gold be easy to carry? [Only in small amounts; gold is heavy.] Would salt be easy to carry? [No. You'd have to bag it or it would run through your fingers.]
2 Money is divisible. That means it is easy to divide. Ten dollars is worth 10 one-dollar bills. If something costs 7 dollars, we do not have to split or cut actual bills apart to come up with the amount needed.
3. Money is durable. That means it is long lasting. Our bills are not easy to tear and they are not printed with ink that runs. Our bills can even make it through the wash cycle of our washing machines!
4. It is generally accepted. That means a dollar bill can buy gum in Atlanta, in St. Louis, or Los Angeles.
Why should money be hard to obtain? Why should our money be hard to counterfeit? Scarcity of money is the reason it is valuable. If money was like sand, and there was plenty of it, how valuable would it be? Things are scarce when you cannot have as much of them as you want. Money sure fits that definition!
Some people counterfeit money. They make money, but not in the legal way! It is illegal to manufacture money because money would not be scarce if people everywhere could make their own. To find out more about our currency visit the treasure dome (www.moneyfactory.gov/kids/tmap.html)
[2]
or explore the park (www.bep.treas.gov/newmoney/main.cfm/learning/fun)
[3]
to find out more information about currency.
Do you know what a $10 bill should look like? Try piecing together a bill [1] and find out!
Take a true/false quiz [4] to find out how much money knowledge you have.
After the true/false quiz, have the students go to the Money Central Station [1] website and click on "GO" to enter the section that is marked for their age (either 5-8 or 9-13). The games are called 'Whack the Buck' [5] for the younger kids and 'Build A Buck' [6] for older kids. I have chosen not to name the games because many kids might find these names inappropriately funny.
Do the students know about the characteristics of money -- what each characteristic is and why it is important? Check their understanding by using the drop and drag activity.
Students will play the drop and drag activity and the games on the web site.
Many corresponding websites are listed on the Home page of this site. They can be linked by going to www.bep.treas.gov/newmoney/main.cfm/learning/counterfeit [1] listed as "Departures and Arrivals."
Note: The related websites found on www.bep.treas.gov/newmoney/main.cfm/learning/counterfeit [1] are not necessarily useful for the age group targeted by this lesson but are a good reference for the teacher.
Links Used:
1. ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ "www.bep.treas.gov/newmoney/main.cfm/learning/counterfeit" - (www.bep.treas.gov)
2. ^ "treasure dome (www.moneyfactory.gov/kids/tmap.html)" - (www.moneyfactory.com)
3. ^ ^ "www.bep.treas.gov/newmoney/main.cfm/learning/fun" - (www.bep.treas.gov)
4. ^ "true/false quiz" - (www.bep.treas.gov)
5. ^ "'Whack the Buck'" - (www.moneyfactory.gov)
6. ^ "'Build A Buck'" - (www.moneyfactory.gov)
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