Education Resources Recommended by Andrea Caceres-Santamaria

A Chair for My Mother Lesson for Grades 1-3
Students read A Chair for My Mother, about a little girl and her family who save money to buy a chair after their furniture is destroyed in a fire. Students learn that characters in the book are human resources who save part of the income they earn. Students identify other human resources, discuss how their work allows them to earn income and name strategies that will help them reach a savings goal.

Something from Nothing Lesson for Grades 3-5
Students make a choice between a cookie and an ice cream cone and state the opportunity cost of their decisions. They then listen to the story Something from Nothing and identify all the items Grandpa makes his grandson Joseph, beginning with a blanket. Using a sheet of paper that represents Joseph's blanket, students cut out the various items Grandpa made and identify the opportunity cost for each item they cut out.

Bunny Money Lesson for Grades K-1
In this lesson, students listen to the story of Ruby and Max, two bunnies that go shopping and make many spending decisions. They are introduced to short-term and long-term savings goals to help them save for the goods they want in the future. After a goal-sorting activity, students choose and illustrate their own savings goal.

Bankruptcy: When All Else Fails
This issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance discusses earning income, budgeting, late payments, and collections. It introduces the basics of legal protection offered in the form of bankruptcy and describes some potential consequences of filing a bankruptcy case.

Budgeting 101 Online Course
Budgeting is the most basic and most important tool in anyone's financial toolbox. With this resource, students are given the hands-on opportunity to create budgets for fictional "Regan" during her sophomore year in nursing school, and, later, as a recent graduate with an apartment and a new car. Using either Microsoft® Excel or Google Docs, the students download our budgeting tool with space for their own budget, as well as the examples they created by establishing Regan's budget.

Cards, Cars and Currency Curriculum Unit
Students are given a portfolio of investments, and they assess the relative risk associated with the products in their portfolios. They later determine which savings and investment instruments might be most suitable for clients of different ages and economic status.

Diversification and Risk
This curriculum unit challenges students to become involved in three specific areas of personal finance: credit cards, debit cards and purchasing a car.

Supply and Demand Short Courses
Supply and demand are among the most fundamental concepts in economics. An understanding of these topics helps explain the economic world in which we live. This series of short courses uses a fictitious chocolate market to help explain the essential concepts: demand, supply, and market equilibrium.