Back-to-School Budget Activity: Elementary Financial Literacy

Back-to-School Budget Activity: Elementary Financial Literacy

This ready-to-go lesson is designed to foster financial literacy among elementary students in grades 3-6. As a realistic and practical introduction to budgeting, this activity aids students in understanding how money management works from an early age. Blending math and life skills, teachers can use this lesson during the first week back at school to ease their students back into math work after summer vacation.

The activity requires knowledge of basic math operations such as addition and subtraction up to the hundreds and hundredths. Students will create a back-to-school budget plan including:

• deciding their money source (birthday presents, a part-time job, or something else)

• choosing what items are necessary (backpack, pencil crayons, new clothes, lunch bag, etc.) and estimating the cost of each item

• exploring flyers or shopping online independently for the actual prices of their needed items: here's where they can try to find the best deal!

• they can not spend more than the amount they have budgeted, which may lead to making some trade-offs or compromises

• A space has been assigned for students' reflection after they've completed their budgets. This prompts deeper comprehension while simultaneously making room for group discussions related to 'budgeting' as a personal finance principle.

Fits Various Teaching Methods:

• Whole-class engagement? Definitely!

• Solving problems collectively in small groups? Absolutely!

• Giving it as homework assignment? That's feasible too!

What's Included:

4 Page PDF: Title Page, Money Source, Budget Spreadsheet, Reflection

Grades to Use With:

This lesson is perfect for students in grades 3-6 who are learning about decimal operations and money. It could also work well in a middle school or high school special education classroom.

If you enjoy this budgeting activity, check out others in my store:

Christmas Holiday Budget Activity

My Party Budget: Decimals and Percentages

Household Budget Project Grades 7-12

My Budget Project Grades 3-6