Some Quick Ideas for the Day

The Talk With Our Kids About Money Day website will provide you with additional support beyond what you will find in this Teaching Guide including complete sample Lesson Plans. We encourage you to go to www.talkwithourkidsaboutmoney.com and take a look at the lesson plans and other support resources that are provided for you there.

But to help get your creative juices flowing, let’s “Play the Lightning Round”—that is, let’s look at some quick ideas for what you could do—or talk about—on “Talk With Our Kids About Money Day.” You could probably come up with a variety of ideas on your own—and you may have already. As we noted, you know your students best. And, if you have your own ideas, we are encouraging you to share them with us via the website. But, if you are looking for some quick ideas, here are some for your consideration—listed by subject area.

Arts Education

• Ask students, prior to The Day, to research and find a favourite song about money and, on the Day, either arrange a way to play the chosen songs or ask students to bring in the lyrics. From a sample of the songs selected, discuss the messages conveyed in the songs. Discuss the influence that songs can have on how people think, what people do, and how people can learn. Sample songs could include the following. You can identify others and challenge your students to do so as well.
  • “I Hope You Dance” by various artists including Lee Ann Womack n “Material Girl” by Madonna
  • “Can’t Buy Me Love” by The Beatles
  • “Taxman” by The Beatles
  • “9 to 5” by Dolly Parton
  • “Money” by The Flying Lizards
  • “Money, Money, Money” by ABBA
  • “She Works Hard for the Money” by Donna Summer n “Independent Woman” by Destiny’s Child
  • “Cats in the Cradle” by Harry Chapin
  • “The Gambler” by Kenny Rogers
  • “Money” by Pink Floyd
• Have students, in groups, create a song with a “money message” and share their song with the class.
• Discuss the factors that affect the price of art and why the prices for various artworks vary so dramatically.
• Discuss art as an investment—and what investing is and how investments can make money—and lose money.
• Discuss the importance of respecting “copyright” and the impact of downloading songs, videos, etc. illegally. What goes into making a record? And what if people can’t earn a living from the returns from their music or movies?
• Have students act out a role play exercise to convey a problem that many youth have with money—and how they could overcome the problem.
• Discuss the challenge of earning a living via a career in the arts? What are the challenges? What are the opportunities? How can those with a passion for the arts aim to be able to earn a living from a career where they can apply their passion?
• Ask students to watch the “Money Dance Routine” from “So You Think You Can Dance” on YouTube and analyze the interpretation of the song by the choreographer. www.youtube.com/watch?v=otNdHqj0AxE
• Challenge students to draw a picture conveying a money message for youth—either what to do—or what not to do—and create a class display board of the collection of artwork for each set of messages
• Health and Physical Education
• Exploring their personal skills—have students go to the “Mentors, Ventures, and Plans (MVP)” website (http://www.mvp.cfee.org/) and use the quizzes, personal surveys, etc. there to explore their entrepreneurial interest and potential.
• Discuss personal motivation—what are the factors that motivate you—to do what you do—to make the decisions you do—to act in the ways that you do? What affects your decisions about money—positively and negatively?
• What are ways to earn a living from employment that entails an active, healthy lifestyle that is part of the job?
• How to put together a plan to achieve a goal? How would this relate to a “financial plan” to achieve a financial goal?
• In protecting personal safety and well-being, how does insurance help people to protect their possessions, their income, and the well-being of loved ones?
• How can young people protect their personal information, PIN numbers, money, and identity from those who might want to do them harm in some way—and how can a person guard against being a victim of a fraud or scam?
• What impact can money, and money problems, have on personal and family stress and anxiety—and create problems? How can people manage their money to avoid stress, anxiety, and personal problems?
• What does it cost to have a healthy lifestyle? What about those who cannot afford a healthy lifestyle? What is the consequence of that? How can government and others assist them?
• What can be the impact of a poor diet and unhealthy living on a person’s chances of getting a job, keeping a job, and earning an income? What can be the impact on society if many people are not able to afford healthy living?

Language

• Have students create a poem conveying a message about money—share the poems with the class and discuss the messages conveyed.
• Search the web for “poems about money” and select one, two or a few and read poems to the class with a money message or theme and analyze the messages conveyed.
• Bring in a credit card statement or similar financial document, with personal information removed or hidden, and discuss the language used on many financial documents—and how many people have trouble understanding the level of language used. Talk about credit cards and the pros and cons of credit cards. Refer to the CFEE publication Money and Youth (www.moneyandyouth.cfee.org) for a summary of the pros and cons of using credit.
• For Media Literacy, discuss advertising and advertising techniques (see “Money and Youth” for a summary of advertising techniques. Discuss the role and purpose of advertising, how advertising aims to influence decisions, etc. Ask students to bring in “good ads” and “poor ads”—their opinion—and make a class board of the ads selected and discuss the advertising techniques—and how youth can make decisions with careful consideration of the impact of advertising. Discuss other factors that affect their buying decisions—peers, family members, ego, etc.
• Discuss how social media is having an impact on “trends,” buying decisions of youth, what’s “in” or “out,” etc. How is social media impacting youth and their money decisions?
• Discuss and explore the way the internet is being used by some for frauds and scams to try and take people’s money.
• Create a “Facebook” page with messages for youth about how to manage their money and make good money decisions
• Prepare a multi-media report on “A Money Guide for Youth” that could be presented to groups of students in the school at an assembly.
• Have students work in groups to create an ad for a product and present their ad to the class. Discuss what the goal of the ad was and how it sought to influence people.
• Create a title and brief description for a play about money and assign groups of students the task of writing, and role-playing a particular scene that will convey a specific message, problem, opportunity, etc.

Math

• Discuss and ask students to identify all the various ways in which “mental math” can come in handy when making money decisions—e.g. if told a price for an item with taxes and how to quickly calculate if that is approximately correct. How to determine a tip at a restaurant. How to determine if it is better to pay more for a bigger size of a product.
• Discuss and ask students to identify how math comes into various decisions around the home that relate to money—e.g. how many cans of paint to buy to paint a room, how much gas it will cost to take a trip, how to work out a monthly budget for food, how to cut back on expenses to save a certain amount of money, how to calculate the approximate cost for post-secondary school, how long it will take to save for something that is wanted—e.g. computer, i-pad, etc.
• Talk about interest and provide examples of the cost of a loan at different rates of interest and discuss some of the factors that can affect how much interest a person may have to pay on a loan.
• Discuss “compound interest” and provide illustrations of how compound interest can help people save to achieve their goals. Talk about goals that they may have in life.
• Work out a sample household budget with students to show the kinds of expenses that households incur—and how much it takes to operate a household.
• Have students “track their expenses”—and where their money goes—for a week prior to The Day and then talk with them about whether they were surprised, after the week, to find where it was going and if they are likely to change how they use their money now that they know where it has been going.
• Have students develop and implement a survey among students in the school on a money topic and prepare a report and present it to the class. (e.g. do students think financial education should be mandatory; what do students think should be taught about money; what do students think are the “money problems” youth most frequently encounter; what advice would students offer as important to help youth make good decisions with their money)
• Have students create and conduct a survey to demonstrate how “bias” can occur in a survey and that might mislead people with the results.
• Work with students to determine the odds of winning at various lotteries that are run by the government—or the odds of winning at Roulette. Discuss the pros and cons of legalized gambling, lotteries, and casinos and the problems this can generate for some people and families.

Science and Technology

• Discuss with students the various ways in which money decisions and actions can have an impact on the environment—both positive and negative.
• Discuss the economic challenge of needing to use resources to produce goods and services that people need and want, and generate incomes for people through employment with sustaining and improving the environment.
• Conduct the “Survival” simulation, attached as Appendix F, which illustrates many basic economic concepts for students such as economic resources, production, efficiency, specialization, and distribution.
• Discuss how our transportation decisions—cars, public transport, buses, subways, bicycles, etc. can affect the environment—the costs of each—and why people make the decisions about transportation that they do.
• Have students create a multi-media presentation on a money topic.
• Discuss with students ways in which energy can be saved at home to save money and help the environment.
• Challenge students to create a unique design for, and then on the Day construct, a unique “piggy bank structure”—that is, a unique way to save money.
• Discuss with students how to assess the quality and durability of various products (e.g. jeans, shoes, cell phones, purses/wallets) and why this is important, how it can affect costs, and how it can affect buying decisions. Discuss what goes into good buying decisions.
• Discuss the various ways in which economic activity generates CO2 and the possible actions that could be taken to reduce CO2 emissions.
• Discuss the infrastructure problems and challenges that countries like Canada and the United States face in terms of roads, bridges, public transportation, etc. and where the money comes from for such investments and what this may mean for the future with so many in need of repair or replacement.

Social Studies

• Use the fur trade as an early example of how people exchanged goods with one another to get the things they needed and wanted. Discuss how this becomes complicated as an economy advances and the role that money serves to make exchanges, and setting prices, easier.
• The “Survival” simulation, attached as Appendix F and noted above can also be used in social studies and illustrates many basic economic concepts for students such as economic resources, production, efficiency, specialization, and distribution.
• Conduct a lesson on what has been used in Canada as money—right up to the new currency. Discuss the roles of money, what we use as money, and the concept of the “purchasing power” of money and how the purchasing power of money is reduced by rising prices (inflation.)
• Ask students to research and bring to class on The Day a brief biography of a famous Canadian entrepreneur and be able to discuss the contributions that this individual made to Canada.
• Ask students to research and bring to class on The Day examples of Canadian inventions and innovations and discuss the important role of innovation in our economy.
• Discuss the changes and evolution of the role of women in Canada’s economy and society from the early days to the present.