KidsECON Episode 6: School Lesson

(1) Engage (10 minutes):

Begin by asking students: "What are some things our school needs to buy to help us learn and have fun?" (List their ideas on the board).
Introduce the idea that schools have a certain amount of money to spend on all these things.
Explain that they will watch a short video about how schools use their money.

(2) Explore (15 minutes):

Watch the Video: Play the prepared short video linked in the resources tab.
Post-Video Discussion: After the video, facilitate a discussion using questions like:
What were some of the things the school spent money on in the video?
Why do you think the school needs to spend money on those things?
Do you think the school has enough money for everything it wants? Why or why not?

(3) Explain (15 minutes):

Introducing the Budget: Explain that a budget is like a plan for how to use money. Just like they might have a plan for how to spend their allowance, schools have a plan for their money.
Categorizing School Expenses: Display pictures or drawings representing different school expenses.
As a class, discuss each item and why it's important for the school.
Create two columns on the chart paper or whiteboard labeled "Things Our School Needs Money For" and "Things Our School Might Want Money For (But Aren't Always Possible)."
List the items under the appropriate headings, guiding students to understand the difference between essential expenses and desirable but not always necessary ones.

(4) Elaborate (10 minutes):

Making Choices: Explain that sometimes the school doesn't have enough money to buy everything it wants. This means they have to make choices about what is most important.
Ask students: "If the school only had enough money for new books or new playground equipment, which do you think they should choose first? Why?" (Encourage different viewpoints and discuss the reasoning behind prioritizing needs).
Connect this to their own lives – if they have a limited amount of money, they have to make choices about what to buy.

(5) Evaluate (Ongoing and 5 minutes for final activity):

"School Budget Wish List": Provide each student with construction paper or drawing paper and crayons or markers.
Instruct them to draw two things:
One thing they think the school needs to spend money on.
One thing they wish the school could spend money on (a want).
On the back of each picture, have them write one sentence explaining why the first item is a need and the second is a want for the school.
Collect the drawings for informal assessment of their understanding.

The supplemental activities are additional activities you can use at your own discretion as an extension to the video. Monitor and adjust based on the learner.

differentiation: Provide sentence frames for the discussion (e.g., "Our school needs money for ______ because ______," "Our school might want money for ______ because ______").

extension: Challenge them to think about different categories of the school budget (e.g., learning materials, building maintenance, staff salaries). Ask them to brainstorm ways the school could save money or raise more money.

• Observe student participation in discussions.
• Review the accuracy of the categorized school expenses on the chart paper.
• Evaluate the student drawings and written explanations for understanding of school budgets and the difference between needs and wants in that context.