VOLUNTEERS’ EDITION
A supplement to Junior Scholastic
®
presented by
Supplement to Scholastic Magazines. SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc. All rights reserved. 0-545-84918-7
MONEY CONFIDENT KIDS is a registered trademark of T. Rowe Price Group, Inc., 2014-US-6695
DEAR VOLUNTEER,
Welcome to this special supplement to Junior Scholastic from T. Rowe Price.
This edition is designed for kids in grades 5–8 as an easy-to-use tool to help
you show kids how to make well-informed financial decisions.
Here’s how it works:
1. Read the lesson instructions and the student magazine at
www.scholastic.com/MCK.
2. Depending on your interest and how much time you have in the classroom,
choose the activity you will share.
3. Have fun! If you’re having fun and are interested in what you’re talking about,
students will be too.
We hope that these materials will provide a catalyst for interesting discussions
about making wise spending choices. Enjoy!
Additional Online Resources
www.scholastic.com/MCK
Here are additional resources that you may find useful during your classroom visits:
DOWNLOADABLE PDFs
• Money Confident Kids
student magazine
• Language of Money
glossary
• Costly Crossword
puzzle
• Amazing Money Maze
activity
• Spending Tracker tool
STAR banks adventure
Engage students in this exciting
game that teaches positive
financial behaviors.
Resources
• 30 Days of Financial
Fitness family activity
VIDEOS
• “What Kids Say About
Money” videos
This Volunteer Guide and the Money Confident Kids magazine are also available at www.scholastic.com/MCK
Activity A:
spend now,
spend later
GOAL: Through a lively classroom activity, help
students understand that “saving” is really just
planning to spend later.
MATERIALS (30 copies of each): Money Confident
Kids student magazine, statistics chart
TIME FRAME: Approximately 40 minutes (one
class period)
Target grades: 5–8
ICEBREAKER
1. Write the words “save” and “spend” on the board.
2. Ask students whether they feel that either one of
these concepts is better than the other. Opinions
on this question will vary, but encourage a short
conversation without expressing your own feelings.
Take a quick vote to find out what percentage of the
class feels spending is “better” than saving. Draw a
pie chart on the board to show what you discovered
so students can refer to it later.
3. Cross out the words “spend” and “save” on the board
and replace them with the words “spend now” and
“spend later.” Explain that from now on you’d like
them to stop thinking of money in two buckets—
spending and saving. Tell them it’s really all spending.
The difference is whether you’re planning to spend
now or spend later.
Activity C:
Personal
goals
GOAL: Help students identify a goal and develop
a financial plan.
MATERIALS (30 copies of each): Money Confident
Kids student magazine including “Getting to Your
Goal” on the last page of this booklet, Star Banks
Adventure
TIME FRAME: Approximately 40 minutes (one
class period)
Target grades: 5–8
activity
ENTERTAINMENT
ORDER TIME
$60.00
2 WEEKS AHEAD
Rock climbing course
$100.00
4 WEEKS AHEAD
• Share the most challenging spending choice you’ve
had to make.
Fencing instructor
$100.00
2 WEEKS AHEAD
Spa makeover
$120.00
4 WEEKS AHEAD
• Give students the option to share their own spending
and saving challenges and concerns. Most teen
goals are a combination of short-term wants, like
having some cash for a movie, and long-term
desires, like saving for college or buying a car.
GOODIE BAGS
• Talk about the satisfaction of buying right away and
also reinforce the excitement of getting ready to
make a big purchase like a used car, concert tickets,
or a racing bike. You can see your money grow, and
anticipating your purchase gives you time to make
sure you’re getting the best deal.
Stupendous bag
4. T
alk with students about your own experiences with
spending now and spending later. You can:
5. S
eparate students into three to five teams and present
the following challenge:
DJ and dance floor
COST PER ITEM
COST PER ITEM
$37.50
DAY BEFORE PARTY
Great bag
$75.00
DAY BEFORE PARTY
Amazing bag
$90.00
DAY BEFORE PARTY
5 WEEKS AHEAD
Show me how you will make decisions and trade-offs
to spend my money over the next eight weeks and
give me a party that will knock my kid’s socks off!
6. T
here are many possible solutions to this challenge.
Ask students to share their reasoning and follow up
with the following questions:
I want to throw an amazing birthday party for my fifth
grader but I don’t have time to plan it. So, I’d like each
team to present an exciting party plan to me.
• Did anyone choose the Stupendous bag? Why or
why not? (No, they didn’t have $150 five weeks
before the party.)
Here’s the challenge: I will pay you $25 every week for
eight weeks until the party. You need to make choices
from the following list that fit within my budget.
• Could you order a themed lunch for the Spa
makeover party? Why or why not? (No, the
payment timing does not work out.)
Wrap-up
FOOD
COST PER ITEM
ORDER TIME
3D decorated cake
$75.00
4 WEEKS AHEAD
Simple cake
$40.00
2 WEEKS AHEAD
Chips
$7.50
1 WEEK AHEAD
Soda
$7.50
1 WEEK AHEAD
Themed lunch,
buffet-style
$90.00
5 WEEKS AHEAD
Ask students whether their opinion about spending and
saving has changed. We hope that students will feel that
the idea of spending now and spending later is more
positive and proactive.
Leave behind a copy of the Money Confident Kids
magazine for each student.
TIME
You can shorten this lesson by doing the activity as a group.
SPECIAL NOTE:
This activity requires computer access for each student (or
student group). Be sure to check with the teacher before
planning this lesson.
ICEBREAKER
1. B
rainstorm a list of things that students would like
to be able to buy for themselves. Items should be
a mixture of things that they can see themselves
owning within two years (short-term), things they
might want in 2–15 years (medium-term), and things
that are 15-plus years on the horizon (long-term).
activity
2. H
ave students use the T. Rowe Price game, Star Banks
Adventure, to practice setting goals! Separate students
into pairs or small groups so that each student has
access to a computer.
Teen
Spending
ORDER TIME
Fun bag
$150.00
Activity B:
3. Ask all students to go to www.tktk.com and instruct
them to set a goal and play the first level of the game.
At the end of level one, talk to the students about who
did a “trade-off” and purchased a cheaper version of
their goal (i.e., bought a used bike instead of a new
one) and why.
4. Look at the “Getting to Your Goal” infographic on
the back of Money Confident Kids magazine. Help
students apply what they learned in Star Banks
Adventure to their own personal spending goals.
Wrap-up
Distribute copies of Money Confident Kids magazine for
students to take home.
TIME
You can shorten this lesson by distributing the Money
Confident Kids magazine for students to read at home.
GOAL: Help students analyze their own
spending habits.
MATERIALS (30 copies of each): Money Confident
Kids student magazine, “The Power of Advertising”
worksheet, photographs available here
TIME FRAME: Approximately 40 minutes (one
class period)
Target grades: 5–8
ICEBREAKER
1. Ask students what they think the average teen spends
his or her own money on. Make a list on the board,
then ask students to rank them from “most popular” to
“least popular.”
ACTIVITY
2. S
eparate students into pairs and give each a copy
of “The Power of Advertising” student worksheet
(on the back page of this Volunteers’ Edition).
Explain that they are going to be doing some simple
observational research.
3. U
sing a tablet or printouts, ask pairs to carefully
observe the photographs (available here) as they
complete the worksheet together.
4. C
ome together and discuss the observations and
whether those observations will have an impact on
the way that students will shop in the future.
Wrap-up
Explain that retailers use a variety of marketing
strategies to get people to spend their money now
instead of later. Impulse buys are purchases that are
made for immediate enjoyment, like a candy bar at the
checkout, a T-shirt at a concert, or an extra snack at
the movie theater. They are not planned purchases.
Approximately 40% of all purchases are impulse buys,
so encourage students to think carefully about their
long-term goals before spending on an impulse.
Leave behind a copy of Money Confident Kids
magazine for each student.
TIME
You can shorten this lesson by doing the observation
as a full group.
NAME:
The Power of Advertising
Retailers have lots of ways to try to get people to spend their money now instead of later. Spend 10 minutes
observing carefully. Fill in this chart to help you remember what you saw.
Store Environment
1. Do you see signs that
promote impulse purchases?
Describe them.
2. Is the merchandise arranged
in a way that promotes
impulse purchases (such as
small items near the cash
register)? Describe it.
Customers
1. How many customers do
you see?
2. Are any customers making
a purchase? Do you think
others will? Why or why not?
3. Do you think customers
were making impulse
purchases? Why or
why not?
4. Would you be tempted
to buy something at the
stores? Why or why not?
Did anything surprise you?