Use these lesson plans to teach your students the basics of saving and investing.
High School Lessons | Middle School Lessons | Elementary School Lessons
Interest Calculator
The Interest Calculator shows students the amount of interest accumulated over a specified period. This interactive can
be used as a stand alone activity for students or as a supplement to
multiple lessons on EconEdLink.
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Compound Interest Calculator
The Compound Interest Calculator visually shows students the dramatic
affect that compounding can have on investments. This interactive can
be used as a stand alone activity for students or as a supplement to
multiple lessons on EconEdLink.
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Market Guru (Part 1)
Efficient markets theory states that one cannot look at charts and have any reliable insight as to what these stocks would do in the future. Examining charts to determine what a stock will do next is called "technical analysis."
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Market Guru (Part 2)
You'll start with $100 and attempt to accumulate as much wealth as you can by either investing your money in the stock market or setting it aside safely in the bank. When investing in the stock market, your money will be spread among all the stocks in the market rather than placed in any single stock.
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Market Guru (Part 3)
This time you'll start with $1,000, and your goal will be to see how much money you can make by saving or investing in the stock market.
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Free Economics Lesson (High School)
Taken From Financial Fitness for Life ©
Knowledgeable investing involves choosing among many alternatives. A first step is to learn the language of investing and to understand at least some of the basic investment alternatives. Investment Bingo is a vocabulary-building contest involving investment terms.
Lesson Guide
Student Activity
Free Economics Lesson (Middle School)
Taken From Financial Fitness for Life ©
In this lesson, the students learn about saving and investing, and they consider the importance of setting short-term, medium-term, and long term savings goals. They use math skills to solve problems and they play a game called "Rolling For a Goal" to reinforce the concept of goal setting and working towards a goal. Finally, they engage in a family activity that focuses on the opportunity cost of saving.
Lesson Guide
Student Activity
Free Economics Lesson (Elementary School)
Taken From Financial Fitness for Life ©
In this lesson, children use an adaptation of Aesop's fable, "The Grasshopper and the Ant," to learn about the trade-off between satisfying wants today and planning for the future. Children use the fable to examine their own behaviors and decisions about saving. They learn how interest provides an incentive to save. Writing their own fable provides the children with a creative way to express their ideas about the importance of consuming and saving decisions.
Lesson Guide
Student Activity
Banks & Credit Unions (Part I)
Students learn about banks and credit unions, identifying similarities and differences between the two types of financial institution. They also evaluate a local bank and credit union to determine ...
It's a Not So Wonderful Life
In this lesson students learn about banks and banking. The study the fractional reserve system, and the role the Fed plays in the money creation process.
The Benefits of Investing Early
The students will see how compounding returns make investing at a young age pay off.
The Five Stages of Investing
The practice of saving and investing is definitely a good thing, but there are many ways to save and invest. In thinking about the options, it is important to consider the degree of risk involved ...
The Role of a Bank Teller
In banking and finance, the role of a bank teller is a key feature. In this lesson, we will explore how bank tellers could make or break the banking world!
Work, Earnings and Economics: Using 'Lyddie' by Katherine Paterson
To get started, the students will read Lyddie, a novel by Katherine Paterson. The novel is set mainly in Lowell, Massachusetts, in the 1840s. In Lowell the main character, 13-year-old Lyddie Wort...
Climbing the Savings Mountain
Students discover how saving money can be compared to a mountain climb. The climb can be fast or slow, safe or hazardous, scenic or thrilling. You will find out that there is more than one way...
A Penny Saved is a Penny at 4.7% Earned
There are lots of ways to receive income, and lots of ways to spend it. In this EconomicsMinute you will develop two budgets, or plans, to help you decide how to allocate your income. Assuming ...
The Family Vacation
Students will take a surprise trip around the world. As they travel, they will use clues to discover where they are going. They will then figure out how much money they have spent in U.S. dollars,...
You're Going to College
The students will explore the costs and the benefits of going to college. They participate in a three-part game designed to help them understand the decisions associated with attending college and ...
You Can BANK on This! (Part 3)
Building on the first two lessons in the series, this lesson deals with savings and interest.
Big Banks, Piggy Banks
When choosing a place to put their money, people consider how safe there money will be, how easy it is to access, and whether it will earn more money. Students explore how well different saving...
What's My Interest?
Students explore the concept of interest by means of two activities. The first, a simple activity with jellybeans, introduces the concept of interest accruement, and the second, a practical, &q...
This Little Piggybank Went to Market
Students will learn that work is the source of income and that banks are places in which people save and secure money they have earned.
Banks, Bankers, Banking
Students will demonstrate understanding of the processes associated with banking by role- playing as customers, tellers, and guards.
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