Teachers should educate their students on money management. While it's outside of the Common Core requirements learning how to handle money is an incredibly important life skill that your students will appreciate knowing for the rest of their lives. Here are some great tips to get started:
Talk tipping
Many adults have paid for services like taxis and going to restaurants for years but still don't know how to properly tip. Knowing who and how much to tip is as much about math as it is etiquette. According to Emily Post, a typical tip for a sit-down restaurant is between 15 and 20 percent of your bill before taxes. Write up some pretend bills for a meal and have your students imagine they must then pay their dues. They'll use addition to total up each menu item they supposedly ate, and then multiply by the desired percentage to get the appropriate tip. Next, the students will need to add the tip to the total to find the overall cost of the meal. It's a perfect way to use various math skills while also learning something that is very useful throughout life.
Choose age-appropriate money discussions
Would you strike up a conversation with second-graders about their potential future salaries? Probably not – this isn't very age-appropriate. The Wall Street Journal has a great infographic about what grades identify with certain money talk. For example, you might discuss what household chores could warrant an allowance in fourth grade, or tell an eighth-grader about credit cards and interest. When choosing a money-related topic to work on with your class, look for one that your pupils can relate to. Students entering junior high, for example, might be looking to get part-time jobs in the near future, so teaching them about banks and loans isn't a bad place to start.
Start your own 'store'
Many classrooms use pretend money to purchase items at a school store. Students earn points for doing specific tasks, like completing a project or helping clean out the class pet's cage, and can use those points to purchase items like erasers, fun stickers and other school supplies. Consider creating your own currency to teach your students about money handling in class.
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