Additional Online Resources Here are additional resources that you may find useful during your classroom visits:

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1 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 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 2. Depending on your interest and how much time you have in the classroom, choose the 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 be a catalyst for interesting discussions about making wise spending choices. Enjoy! Additional Online Resources 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 Spending Tracker tool STAR banks adventure Engage students in this exciting game that teaches positive financial behaviors. Resources 30 Days of Financial Fitness family VIDEOS What Kids Say About Money videos This Volunteer Guide and the Money Confident Kids magazine are also available at 1

2 Activity A: spend now, spend later GOAL: Through a lively classroom, help students understand that saving is really just planning to spend later. MATERIALS (30 copies of each): Money Confident Kids student magazine, statistics chart FRAME: Approximately 40 minutes (one Look at the list below and imagine you are planning an amazing party. Your part-time job earns you $25 a week and the party is in eight weeks. This means that you ll have $200 to spend! Here is a list of things you can buy for the party and when you need to buy them (e.g., cake this week, a DJ next week that s twice the price). What decisions do you need to make and what actions do you need to take? 1. Choose one favorite item from each category. 2. Write down how many weeks it will take you to earn the money for each of the three items. What should you buy first? Last? 3. Look at a calendar. When will you purchase these three items? Are there any that you can t buy? Why not? Do you have any money left over? (For example: On Week 4 order the 3D Decorated Cake for $75; Week 6 book the DJ and Dance Floor for $60; Week 8 order Fun Bags for $37.50) 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. 4. Talk with students about your own experiences with spending now and spending later. You can: Share the most challenging spending choice you ve had to make. Give students the option to share their own spending and saving challenges and concerns. 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. 5. Separate students into three to five teams and present the following challenge: FOOD COST PER ITEM ORDER 3D decorated cake $ WEEKS AHEAD Simple cake $ WEEKS AHEAD Chips $ WEEK AHEAD Soda $ WEEK AHEAD ENTERTAINMENT COST PER ITEM ORDER DJ and dance floor $ WEEKS AHEAD Rock-climbing course $ WEEKS AHEAD Fencing instructor $ WEEKS AHEAD GOODIE BAGS COST PER ITEM ORDER Fun bag $37.50 DAY BEFORE PARTY Great bag $75.00 DAY BEFORE PARTY Amazing bag $90.00 DAY BEFORE PARTY 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. You can shorten this lesson by doing the as a group. 2

3 Activity B: Teen Spending Activity C: Personal goals 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 FRAME: Approximately 40 minutes (one GOAL: Help students identify short-, medium-, and long-term goals. 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 FRAME: Approximately 40 minutes (one 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. Separate 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. Using a tablet or printouts, ask pairs to carefully observe the photographs (available here) as they complete the worksheet together. 4. Come together and discuss the observations and whether those observations will have an impact on the way that students will shop in the future. Explain that retailers use a variety of marketing strategies to get people to spend their money now instead of later. Impulse buys are unplanned purchases that are made on the spur of the moment, 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. You can shorten this lesson by doing the observation as a full group. SPECIAL NOTE: This requires computer access for each student (or student group). Be sure to check with the teacher before planning this lesson. 1. Brainstorm 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). 2. What trade-offs could you make in your current spending to be able to buy one or more of the items from the brainstorm list? (e.g., short-term goal example: For the next month I will not go to the movies and instead watch DVDs at home. With the money I saved I will buy the new video game I want. Medium-term example: I will save money from mowing lawns over the next three years to buy a laptop computer.) 3. Have 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. 4. Ask all students to go to 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. 5. 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. 3

4 4 Distribute copies of Money Confident Kids magazine for students to take home. You can shorten this lesson by distributing the Money Confident Kids magazine for students to read at home. Activity D: INFLATION, ASSET ALLOCATION, AND DIVERSIFICATION ARTICLE: THE VALUE OF MONEY GOAL: Help students understand how inflation affects the price of goods and services. MATERIALS: 30 copies of Money Confident Kids student magazine ( volunteers), a pitcher of water (tint green with food coloring) and two clear drinking glasses (one 4 oz., one 8 oz.), 30 copies of Investment Time student worksheet ( FRAME: Approximately 40 minutes 1. Take a look back in time! Sketch a time line on the board from (in 20 year increments). 2. Ask students to guess the changes in cost of the following items, adding the following prices to the time line in the appropriate places. For example, ask students to guess the cost of a Hershey bar in the year Ask them if they think the price was higher or lower 20 years later in Tell them the answer and then complete the rest of the chart together, with students guessing the price changes every 20 years. Connect this to the idea of inflation in Step 3. Product Hershey bar Coca-Cola Can cents (1908) 5 cents cents 5 cents cents 5 cents cents 25 cents cents (1908).99 cents cents.99 cents cents 1.79 cents Source: (You can find the historical prices of more products at if desired.) 3. Explain that inflation (the increase in prices of products and services over time) causes money to lose some of its value over time. This process indicates that prices were (generally) lower in the past and can be expected to be (generally) higher in the future. Ask: How does this affect how we save for long-term purchases like a home or college? (We have to save more, because it will be more expensive in the future.) 4. Present the following to help demonstrate inflation: a. Set a water-filled pitcher on a table so all students can see it. Tint the water green to indicate that it represents money. Then line up two empty cups as follows: 2015 College Cost 2024 College Cost b. Point to the smaller cup. Say: This represents the cost of college today. Use a marker to label it 2015 College Cost. Point to the other cup: This represents the cost of college when you head off to school in about eight years. Label this cup 2024 College Cost. Point to the space between the two cups: This is the time you have to save for college. It s called your time horizon. The increase in the price of college is due to inflation. c. Fill the first empty cup with water. Say: Imagine that you just received a large monetary gift from a relative. This water represents the money that you received. It looks like enough to pay for college if you started today. Congratulations! Unfortunately, you re not ready to start college yet. You can put this money into a savings account and let it sit for the next eight years when you re ready to start college. d. Pour the contents of the water-filled cup into the larger 8 oz. cup. Say: It s time to send in applications! Do you still have enough money for college? (No. You have your original investment, but it s not enough anymore.) e. Say: What we need is a way to have this original investment earn some additional money for you so that this larger glass is filled when it s time for college.

5 5. Reinforce the idea that if you put money into a savings account, you will earn very little in interest (on average) each year. (You can represent that by adding a drop more water to the larger cup.) 6. Explain that asset allocation is all about finding ways to make your money work hard for you before you need to spend it. (An asset is something useful or valuable.) 7. First, decide whether your goals are short- term, long-term, or somewhere in the middle. If you need to buy a new soccer uniform next week, that s a short-term goal. Inflation won t increase the cost of your uniform that quickly, so it makes sense to put your money into a savings account (so it s out of your pocket and you re not tempted to spend it). Starting a college fund when you re 10, however, is a longer term goal. You should consider strategies that will grow your college fund, such as investing in a combination of stocks and bonds. (Fill up the larger cup with water to represent this growth.) 8. Give each student a copy of the Investment Decision Time worksheet. Together, review the directions and point out the time horizon (length of time to reach the goal) for the kitten, car, and college tuition. In small groups, ask students to decide how they would allocate their assets to reach their goal. Conclude by explaining that history shows that stocks and bonds have earned more money over time than a savings account. In the short-term, however, they are riskier than a simple savings account. Based on the time horizon of your goal, select a good mix of investments. You will need to make sure that you own a blend of different kinds of stocks and bonds. This mix is important because if you were to buy all the same kind of stock (such as fast-food or video-game companies) and people suddenly stopped purchasing those products, you d be in trouble. However, a blend of stocks (which can be easy to get with a mutual fund) can provide a better opportunity to meet your goals. As your goal gets closer, you may want to move your money into a combination of bonds and a savings account. Distribute a copy of Money Confident Kids student magazine to each student to take home. You can shorten this lesson by removing Step 8. GOAL: Use a financial education game to help students gain an initial understanding of spending, saving, goal setting, inflation, and asset allocation and diversification. MATERIALS: Star Banks Adventure game (available at FRAME: Approximately 30 minutes (one Target grades: ALL get ready Each student (or student group) will need access to a computer or tablet for this. In this game, students will make financial choices in order to unlock new levels. As they progress, students will use knowledge of inflation and investments to make choices that allow them to reach longer term goals. In addition, students will be asked to answer questions to assess their understanding of key concepts. 1. To get started, open the Star Banks Adventure game at 2. Play Levels 1 and 2 on both the Budget and Deluxe levels. Before playing each level, students should record the savings goal ($1,000 and $2,000). Feel free to click on the question mark to review vocabulary terms and discuss any questions. 3. Now look at Level 3 together. Read the introduction and ask: How is the Yellow Star Bank related to the idea of interest? (Saving in a Yellow Star Bank means you won t lose any coins, but you can only earn a small amount of additional coins.) If you were saving for a long-term goal with a cost that would rise over time, do you predict that savings in the Yellow Star Bank would keep ahead of the rate of inflation? Activity E: STAR BANKS ADVENTURE Continue playing and watch for the inflation challenges on Level 14! Throughout, talk to the students about whether they did a trade-off and purchased a cheaper version of their goal (i.e., bought a used bike instead of a new one). Can they apply what they are learning in Star Banks Adventure to their personal spending goals? 5

6 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? 6