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Economis Mini-Lesson: Banking Basics (Grades 9-12)
 

Suggested Target Age: Grades 9-12

Time Required: 45 minutes

Topics Covered: checking and saving accounts, deposits and withdrawals, the benefits of having a bank account, check-writing

Sources: Moneyopolis; National Endowment for Financial Education webpage for teens

What Will the Students Learn?

  • What savings and checking accounts are
  • What deposits and withdrawals are
  • The benefits of banks (safety for your money, free check cashing)
  • That check-cashing stores charge expensive fees to cash checks
  • How to write a check and record information in a check register

State Content Standards Key
California: Career Technical Education Model: B2.1, D10.5
Florida: SS.D.2.2
Indiana: E.1.5, E.6.3,
Virginia: Civics and Economics: CE.10; Economics Education and Financial Literacy: Objectives 5, 6, 14,

Materials Required:

  • “Money Traps” article from NEFE Click here for pdf.
  • An envelope that says, “This envelope contains receipts, pay stubs, and $345.86 in cash.” (NOTE – it doesn’t have to have real cash in it!!!)
  • Checks Received and Spending Transactions List Click here for pdf.
  • Definitions Worksheet Click here for pdf.
  • 2 Large cardboard signs; one labeled “Pay Day Advance Store” and the other labeled “Moneymakers Bank”
  • 2 fake paychecks (give one each to Student #3 and Student #4 in the role-play)
  • Pencils for all the students
  • “Scripts for the Banking Basics Lesson Gr. 9-12”Click here for pdf.
  • OPTIONAL – If you choose to teach the “how to write a check” segment of the lesson offline (see step 9 of the Lesson Plan), you will need to make up a very large form of a blank check, drawn or hung on the black board for all students to see. Then print out the handout “Check Writing Worksheet” (click here for pdf) and make copies for each student.

NOTE: The first half of this lesson does not require computers or Internet. However, the second half involves having students log into their Economis accounts online. If you wish, you could teach the lesson without having the students, as a group, practice in their Economis accounts. Just be sure to create some time in your program schedule for individual, or small groups of students to be able to log-in to Economis and have opportunities to make transfers between their savings and checking accounts.

Teacher preparation:

1. You will be having four students participate in a role-play scenario. Select these students and ask them to come to the class just a few minutes early so you can review their roles with them. Figure out who students one and two are going to be. Give student #2 the envelope that says, “This envelope contains $345.86 in cash.” Tell them that after student #2 is told to take out his/her envelope, student #1must steal it and run back to his/her seat. (This will make more sense once you read the lesson).

2. Review the Scripts for the Banking Basics Lesson with role-play students #3 and #4, reviewing both of the dialogues to get them comfortable with them.

3. Read the “Money Traps” article to familiarize yourself with the practices and pitfalls of “storefront” financial institutions that are common in lower-income neighborhoods.

Lesson Plan:
(Note to instructor – be sure to review the basic concepts from the previous lesson with students for a couple minutes before launching into today’s lesson.)

Introductory Activity:
Ask the students to name all the financial services institutions they have noticed in their neighborhood. List all the ones they mention on the board. (NOTE: you are hoping the students will name not just banks/credit unions that may be in your local community, but also so-called “storefront” financial institutions such as check-cashing stores, payday advance/payday loan stores, and pawnshops. If they fail to mention such businesses, and you know that there are such businesses in your neighborhood, identify them and write them down on the board.) Ask how many students have checking accounts. (Ask the ones that do not have checking accounts where/how they get their checks cashed.) Once you have finished this exercise, continue with the lesson plan as below.

1. Tell the students that you are going to do a “Life Without Banks” role-play that will show the difficulties of saving money without banking. Tell them that during the role-play they should be thinking about the problems that a person would run into if he/she doesn’t keep money in the bank.

2. Call your four role-play students up to the front of the room. Tell the class that student #1 just got a job where he/she is making a good amount of money, and gets to buy a lot of things he/she likes. You are going to summarize the earnings and spending of student #1 for the past few weeks by reading aloud the Checks Received and Spending Transactions List. Tell student #1 that he/she must figure out how much money he/she has after earning and spending it. Pull out the list and read it to student #1, making sure that you only take 2-3 seconds between each item, so that student #1 does not have sufficient time to make the necessary calculations. When you are finished reading the list, remind the class to think about what the problem was that student #1 faced.

3. Tell the class that some people are very good at keeping track of their earning and spending. Have student #2 take out the envelope that says, “This envelope contains $345.86 in cash.” Say to the class, “This student has done a great job of keeping track of their earning and spending and saving their money and receipts in this envelope.” Suddenly now student #1 should steal the envelope from student #2 and run back to his/her seat. Remind the class to think about what the problem was that student #2 faced.

4. Now tell the class that student #3 has just received a check (be sure to give student #3 his/her fake paycheck), and since he/she doesn’t have a banking account, he/she must go to a check-cashing store. You will role-play the clerk at the check-cashing store. Hold up the cardboard sign labeled “Pay Day Advance Store” over your head, then go through the short script titled “Using a Check-Cashing Store” on the Scripts for the Banking Basics Lesson sheet.

5. Following this short role-play, remind the class to think about what the problem was that student #3 faced.

6. Now hand a paycheck to student #4. Student #4 should now say, “I love Fridays – that’s payday. I can’t wait to cash my paycheck!” Student #4 should now walk with the paycheck across the front of the classroom where you are standing, now holding the sign “Moneymakers Bank” over your head. Now go through with this student the short script titled “Moneymakers Bank” on the Scripts for the Banking Basics Lesson sheet.

7. Have the four students from the role-play take a bow and return to their seats. Now ask the class to reflect on what they saw. Ask the students what the problems were that the first three role-players ran into, and what some of the benefits are to having a bank account (as shown in the final role play). As they answer, write their responses on the board. (Make sure that you eventually write the following on the board, even if the class doesn’t give the answers: banks keep your money safe; it is easier to keep track of your money, using banks is cheaper than using check-cashing stores, and you gain interest on your money.)

8. Now pass out copies of the Definitions Worksheet and go through each definition, asking students to read them aloud.

9. Now you will teach the students the basics of how to write a check and record the transaction in a checkbook register. You can do this online or offline.

ONLINE: Bring the class into a computer lab. Have them all log into this webpage:
This site (The Beehive) provides a short, interactive activity for students to complete that walks them through the process of writing a check and recording it in a check register. Walk around the computer lab and make sure everyone goes through the exercise. After a few minutes, ask if everyone completed the exercise and ask whether anyone has any questions.

OFFLINE: Draw or post the large image of the blank check on the blackboard. Hand out copies of the “Check Writing Worksheet,", as well as pencils, to each student.

Tell the students you are going to write out a check to pay the electric bill. The payee is Virginia Power (or use whatever your local utility company name is). Use today’s date. The bill due is $115.44. Pretend that you do not know how to write a check and need them to teach you. Ask them to tell you how to write the check and see how knowledgeable they are about how to do it. Correct any mistaken instructions the students give. Go through this exercise until it’s clear to everyone what a properly written check should look like.

Now refer the students to their Check Writing Worksheet. Tell them that you want them to write a check paying $45.67 to Wal-Mart for a video game they just bought for their nephew. They should fill out the worksheet IN PENCIL. Walk around the room to check on the student’s work and make any corrections as needed. (Tell them when they actually write checks, they will use a pen, but you are having them complete the worksheet in pencil so they can erase and correct any mistakes they make.)

Now explain that after they write a check, it is very important to record the information in the checkbook register. Refer them to the bottom half of the Check Writing Worksheet and explain how to mark an entry in the register for the check that they just wrote. Walk around the room to look over the students’ work and correct any mistakes.

OPTIONAL CONCLUDING ACTIVITY

10. Have all the students log on to their Economis accounts. Have them click on Manage Finances.

11. Ask the students to identify the main difference, in Economis, between their checking and their savings account (money kept in their savings account earns interest).

12. If the students want, they could now transfer some funds from their checking accounts to their savings accounts so that they can begin earning interest. Just remind them that when they use their Economis debit card to purchase items from your store (Online shopping or a Point of Sale store), their debit card is linked ONLY to their checking account. So, if they have 10 units of currency in their checking account and 50 units in their savings account and they go to purchase something that costs 25 units, the sale will be refused for insufficient funds, despite the fact that they have the 50 units of currency in their savings account. If this happens to a student when shopping, he/she simply needs to log into their Economis account and transfer funds back from savings into checking.

13. You as the instructor could go through the Economis Flash Cards with the class, using cards most relevant to the lesson you have just taught. (For copies of the flash cards, go to www.elevateurbanyouth.org and click on Resources, and then select Handouts, and then select Flash Cards). To encourage students to use the Flash Cards themselves to practice, you might offer incentives – such as 5 units of your currency for a student who can correctly answer 10 questions from the Flash Cards.