April is financial literacy month: Pre-k finance activities

April is financial literacy month.  Educators of pre-k age students are given the task to integrate study theme topic content and 21^st century content throughout lesson plans and classroom instructional practices.  This article will focus on “financial, economic, business and entrepreneurial literacy” taken from the list adapted from the 21^st Century Partnership’s Milestones for Improving Learning and Education (MILE) Guide and served as a foundation for the North Carolina Professional Standards.

The lesson plans and activities throughout the learning environment reinforce financial knowledge of money, currency, and credit/debit card, saving and so forth in relationship to daily life.  Create a focus board on a bulletin board, tri-fold display board or chart paper on various related content information on financial literacy.  Some examples are US coins and currency with name included in different languages (English, Spanish, sign language) checkbook, bank statement and plastic credit card.  The Internet is a good resource to secure other countries currency.

After secured information from different countries use the world map to plot, discuss and place related pictorial/written information on country.  The students can tell country or state they would like to travel to displaying and discussing how to travel, cost, method of payment, clothes for trip, saving money and so forth.

Various centers can be changed giving the feel of being in that state or country.  Discuss, display name of event, photo, and cost, passport and other needed steps.  Students can create passport with photo.  The block center can have blueprints of different buildings, modes of transportation to build that will be followed up with planning cost, designing, and building collaboratively.  A guest speaker can share his/her experiences that is cultural developmental age appropriate conversation.

Engage the students in upcoming activities by recording materials, discuss cost and how to obtain good and/or services.  Students can record entries in the journal to show their level(s) of financial literacy.

Remember, finance literacy will be related to past, present, and future activities throughout the school year.  It is important to help students understand using money responsibility that the skills will be taken into their future.

Check out the slide show to view a few of in class activities reinforcing financial literacy.  Here are some other ideas.

1.     Graph how many pennies long item is and record,

2.     Create coin patters by color, upper case letter, lower case letter, coin shape and so forth,

3.     Create coin and/or currency lace cards and/or puzzle,

4.     Let students dictate their story on financial literacy accompanied with their picture, and

5.     Sink and float different number of coins on different objects.  Record predictions and hypothesis first then afterward record to see who’s guesses were correct.

Share different ways you help preschoolers understand financial knowledge.