Education Resources Recommended by Jeannette Bennett

Jeannette Bennett is the senior economic education specialist at the Memphis Branch of the St. Louis Fed.

Jeannette's favorite resources are listed below.

For Elementary School Classrooms

• Sky Boys: How They Built the Empire State Building Lesson for Grades 3-5
  Students learn about human resources, productivity, human capital, and physical capital. They participate in three rounds of a reasoning activity. From round to round they receive training and tools to help them improve their reasoning ability and thus increase their productivity. Students will then listen to a story about how the Empire State Building was built and identify examples of key concepts mentioned or shown in the book.


• Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression Lesson for Grades 2-4
  After reading and discussing a story about a family during the Great Depression, students differentiate between goods, services, barter, and money. Students are led through several rounds of a barter activity that incorporates math skills. Through this activity, students learn about the difficulties of using barter to satisfy wants.


• Meet Kit: An American Girl Lesson for Grades 3-5
  Students listen to the story Meet Kit about a young girl's life in America during the Great Depression. They learn through discussion and role-playing about the impact that unemployment and reduced consumer and business spending can have on people's lives.

For High School Classrooms

• Great Depression Curriculum Unit
  History holds many economic lessons. The Great Depression, in particular, is an event that provides the opportunity to teach and learn a great deal about economics-whether you're studying the economic reasons that the Depression took place, the factors that helped it come to an end or the impact on Americans who lived through it. This curriculum is designed to provide teachers with economic lessons that they can share with their students to help them understand this significant experience in U.S. history.


• Cards, Cars and Currency Curriculum Unit
  Cards, Cars and Currency is a curriculum unit that challenges students to become involved in three specific areas of personal finance: credit cards, debit cards and purchasing a car.


• Advertising: Dollars and Decisions
  Consumers see or hear thousands of advertisements each day. The April 2017 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance reviews advertising history and strategies ads use to create demand and influence consumer tastes and preferences.


• Individual Income Tax: The Basics and New Changes
  The federal individual income tax is certain. The December 2018 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance addresses basic facts about the federal individual income tax and the new changes in taxation laws in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act.


• Smart Phones and Budget Changes
  Spending patterns change over time because of changes in income, education, the structure of our families, and technology. The April 2018 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance addresses how phone technology has changed our lives and our budgets.


• Credit Bureaus: The Record Keepers
  Credit bureaus have evolved into big businesses. The December 2017 issue of Page One Economics: Focus on Finance addresses the growth of credit bureaus and how the credit reports they maintain affect both creditors and borrowers.

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Questions?

You can contact Jeannette at 901-734-8011 or jeannette.n.bennett@stls.frb.org.