Volume16 Issue 3
An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program
You Can Count on It
PHOTODISC
Student Activity: One to 25 Percent
■ KidsPost Reprint: “Why Money Matters: Kids learn about finance in school”
■ Student Activity: Monthly Income and Expense Log
■ Student Activity: A Debit Card or a Credit Card?
■ Student Activity: Living on a Minimum Wage
■
Nov. 6, 2015
©2015 THE WASHINGTON POST
Volume16 Issue 3
An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program
W
CAROL PORTER FOR THE WASHINGTON POST
hether the youngest student is learning to count coins
and to identify a nickel or an older student is forming
a budget with long-term goals in mind, financial literacy
is in action.
“A Debit Card or a Credit Card?” utilizes two elements of journalism
— the interview and advertising. Students are asked to talk to users
of debit and credit cards to get first-hand information. They then
review advertisements
from banks and other
financial institutions that
offer credit and debit
cards to become more
discerning consumers.
Jar#1
Charity
Jar#2
Quick cash
Jar#4
Jar#3
Mediumterm savings
Long-term
savings
Using classified ads,
students begin to face
the reality of living on
a minimum wage in
their community.
No matter the allowance,
the weekly earnings or monthly wage, a budget and plan for saving is
needed. You can count on it!
Nov. 6, 2015
2
©2015 THE WASHINGTON POST
Name ___________________________________________________________ Date______________________________________
One to 25 Percent
THE WASHINGTON POST.COM
Penny
Nickel
When your parents pay for something, they can use coins,
paper bills, a credit card, a debit card or a check. There are four
main coins to use. They are named a penny, a nickel, a dime
and a quarter. Each of them is worth a different amount. When
someone asks how much money you have, you can tell them
how many cents or dollars and cents you have. The cent symbol
looks like this: ¢. One hundred cents equal one dollar. The
dollar symbol looks like this: $.
Dime
Quarter
Count Your Coins
1. After helping to clean the house, you have found the following coins. How many pennies, nickels, dimes
and quarters do you have? Total how many cents you have.
= ___________ ¢ or $ ___ . __________
= ___________ ¢ or $ ___ . __________
= ___________ ¢ or $ ___ . __________
= ___________ ¢ or $ ___ . __________
Note: Coins are enlarged or reduced for illustration purposes
and are approximate in size relativity.
Name ___________________________________________________________ Date______________________________________
One to 25 Percent continued
2. Your uncle gives you five quarters. How much money is this? ______¢ or $ ____.________
3. Count each group of coins.
a. = ___________ ¢ or $ ___ . _________
b.
= ___________ ¢ or $ ___ . ________
c.
= ___________ ¢ or $ ___ . ________
4. You are saving your allowance. If you get $1.50 each week, how many weeks will it take you to save $10.00? __________________ weeks
Create a Bar Graph
5. The ten dollar bill below is divided into four segments. How much money does each segment equal?
$ ____________________. Each segment is ________% of the whole.
a. You have four quarters which equal $ ____.________. This is ____________% of $10.00.
Mark and color that percent on the $10.00 bill.
b. You save for several weeks. You now have the coins shown on the left.
Add the coins. These coins equal ____________¢ or $____._______.
c. Show this additional money on the $10 bill.
Color it.
What percent of the $10 bill is now colored? ______ percent. This equals $ ____.__________.
Volume16 Issue 3
An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program
Kids learn about finance in school
M
onica Casters took a trip to
the future a few weeks ago:
Suddenly, the eighth-grader was
30 years old, married, with a child
and working at a job that paid her
$93,000 a year. This was no dream,
but it wasn’t real, either. She was
Nov. 6, 2015
visiting Junior Achievement Finance
Park, an educational center in Fairfax
where kids learn about managing
money. Lessons about spending,
saving and borrowing are becoming
a regular part of classes, sometimes
starting in elementary school.
PHOTODISC
KIDSPOST
Money sense
Why do kids need to know about
money?
“All kids see parents do with
money is spend it,” said Neale
Godfrey, author of a book called
“Money Doesn’t Grow on Trees.”
©2015 THE WASHINGTON POST
Volume16 Issue 3
An Integrated Curriculum For The Washington Post Newspaper In Education Program
But the amount of money you can
spend isn’t endless. “There really is
such a thing as a budget,” Godfrey
said. (A budget is a plan that limits
how much you spend on different
things to fit the amount of money
you have.)
Local educators agree. Maryland
and Virginia school boards decided
in the past three years that students
must learn about money-related
topics in school.
In Fairfax County Public Schools,
all eighth-graders take a half-day
field trip to Finance Park after
spending 20 hours in class talking
about managing money.
On a recent visit, students from
Carl Sandburg and Lanier middle
schools were each given a card
that told them how old they were,
whether they were married or had
children, and how much money they
earned each year. Their task? Visit
18 pretend stores or offices and
choose how much of their imaginary
salary to spend at each place.
That meant some big decisions.
A house with four bedrooms or a
smaller one with a pool? A family
car or a convertible? Movie channels
or basic cable?
Students discovered that staying
within their budgets wasn’t always
easy.
“I went over my limit on clothes,”
admitted Monica, who attends
Sandburg, just south of Alexandria.
“I’ve learned I can’t have everything
I want.”
Kareem Homsi, a student at Lanier
in Fairfax, ended up with more
savings than his budget required by
choosing a practical car.
Nov. 6, 2015
Eighth-graders Patrick Aitken, left, and Jose
Bejarano go over their budgets at Junior
Achievement Finance Park in Fairfax.
“Maybe after that I can buy the
convertible,” Kareem said.
Start small
Buying a car involves a large
amount of money, but spending habits
start with much smaller purchases.
Let’s say there’s a $30 Lego set that
you want, but Mom says you have
to buy it yourself. That may seem
impossible when your allowance is
$5 a week.
Godfrey says that the Lego set is
a reachable goal even for kids who
are tempted to spend money as soon
as they get it. The key is setting up
a system. Her system has four jars
into which you put all the money you
receive. (You can ask your parents to
save empty jam jars.)
• Jar 1: Charity — food bank,
cancer organization, etc.
• Jar 2: Quick cash — apps or ice
cream.
• Jar 3: Medium-term savings —
toy, gifts for friends and relatives,
video game.
• Jar 4: Long-term savings —
computer, college, car.
She suggests putting 10 percent
of your money in the first jar, then
splitting the rest evenly among
6
the others. Under this system, you
would divide your $5 allowance by
putting 50 cents in the charity jar
and $1.50 in jars 2, 3 and 4. Money
for toys comes out of Jar 3, so if you
put in $1.50 every week, the Lego
set would be yours in 20 weeks. It’s
easy to keep track of if you create a
monthly chart of the things you need
to buy — a birthday gift for Dad,
maybe — and the things you want
to buy. And don’t sneak money out
of long-term savings!
Bank it
Your long-term savings shouldn’t
just sit in a jar, Godfrey says. It
belongs in a bank, where it can earn
interest (the small amount of money
the bank pays you for keeping it in a
savings account). Ask your parents
to open an account for you at their
bank or see if your school has an
in-school bank branch. For example,
at Glen Haven Elementary School in
Silver Spring, any student with $5
can open an account.
“We’ve had deposits from two
cents to $200,” said Yvette Reynolds,
a teacher who coordinates the
Educational Systems Credit Union
branch.
Reynolds said the accounts have
helped students think beyond the
latest toy or game they see advertised
on television.
“Everything is buy, buy, buy,” she
said. Having the bank at school
sends a different message. “They
learn the importance of savings,”
Reynolds said.
— Christina Barron
January 25, 2013
©2015 THE WASHINGTON POST
Name ___________________________________________________________ Date______________________________________
Monthly Income and Expense Log
INCOME
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
TOTAL
Week 1
Week 2
Week 3
Week 4
TOTAL
Allowance
Work
Gift
Other
Total School
INCOME
Lunch
Lesson Fee
Miscellaneous
Transportation
Public: Bus/Metro
Personal
Cell Phone
Car Payment
Car Insurance
Car Fuel
Clothing
Entertainment
Gifts to Others
Toiletries
Other
Tithe
Savings
Total
Name ___________________________________________________________ Date______________________________________
A Debit Card or a Credit Card?
You should understand the difference between a debit card and a credit card. They might look the same: have the
same number of digits on the front, the holder’s name, and even a credit card “logo,” such as VISA or MasterCard, on
the front. However, credit and debit are very different ways of paying for products and services.
A debit card normally allows a consumer to spend only the amount of money that he or she has in the account to
which the debit card is linked. With a credit card, consumers can borrow money from the financial institution that
issued the credit card to them, up to a certain limit. As a consumer, you will pay interest and any additional fees on
the funds you borrow. If you don’t pay the balance by the payment due date indicated on your statement, you will be
charged interest and, therefore, pay more for your purchase.
In order to be smart consumers, you should understand the advantages and disadvantages of each.
Interview Credit and Debit Card Holders
1. Interview adults who use both credit and debit cards. Questions would include:
a. When do you use your credit card? For what kinds of purchases do you use it?
b. For what different kinds of purchases do you use your debit card?
c. Are you charged by the bank to use one or both cards?
d. When is money withdrawn from your account? Immediately? On a certain day each month?
e. Would you recommend one kind of card over the other?
Compare Shopping Using Banking Ads
2. Find the business pages of the most recent edition of The Washington Post. In the daily paper, this section is found
in the back of the “A” section. In the Sunday edition, Business is its own stand-alone section, Section G. Students
will find advertisements for two different banks — if necessary from two different days — and go to the websites
of those banks to find the following information. If the information is not available on the website, students can call
the bank’s customer service number to inquire:
Debit Cards
Advantages/DisadvantagesBank A: Bank B:
General Fees? If so, how much
and how often are they paid?
Protection Against Unauthorized Purchases?
Automatic Bill Pay Service?
Track Activity Online or with an App?
Overdraft Protection?
Fee for ATM Withdrawal at Other Banks?
If so, what is the fee?
Liability for Lost or Stolen Cards?
List any other benefits the bank offers to debit card holders that are not included in the above chart.
Name ___________________________________________________________ Date______________________________________
A Debit Card or a Credit Card? continued
Credit Cards
Advantages/DisadvantagesBank A: General Fees? If so, how much
and how often are they paid?
Bank B:
Protection Against Unauthorized Purchases?
Warranties on Purchases?
Travel Rewards?
Cash Back Rewards?
Fee for Cash Advances? How much?
Car rental collision insurance?
Free credit score provided?
Liability for lost or stolen cards?
List any other benefits the bank offers to credit card holders that are not included in the above chart.
3. Based on the interview and additional research, make a list of the advantages and disadvantages of using a debit card. Then make a similar list of the advantages and disadvantages of using a credit card.
4. Write a concluding paragraph, explaining whether you would choose a debit or a credit card, based on the
information you gathered. Include at least one quotation from the person you interviewed. Be sure to give
attribution.
5. Write a short statement in which you explain from which of the two financial institutions you would get your
debit or credit card. Be sure to give specific reasons.
Name ___________________________________________________________ Date______________________________________
Living on a Minimum Wage
There is much debate on what is a fair wage — and what is a proper minimum wage. Established by contract or by
legislation, minimum wage is the lowest compensation an employee must receive for labor. Check out the facts. See
if you could afford to live on the minimum wage in your community.
1. Research to find what the minimum wage is in your area. Some states have no minimum wage law and others have a minimum wage lower than the federal minimum wage. On July 1, 2015, increases to the minimum wage in D.C. and Maryland went into effect, making the minimum wage in Maryland $8.25/hour and for D.C. $10.50/
hour. D.C. was the first jurisdiction to require more than $10.00 per hour. Some jurisdictions are scheduled to change in 2016.
What is the current minimum wage where you live?
$ _____________ per hour or $ _________________ for a 40-hour week (less taxes)
2. Use the apartment classifieds in the Sunday edition of The Washington Post to find the least expensive apartment for one person in your city or county (a studio or one bedroom apartment). Could an individual making minimum wage and working full time (40 hours a week) afford one of these apartments? (Taxes will be taken out of earnings.) Before you answer, think of other expenses that must be paid each month. A budget worksheet might help you. Show your work.
3. Use grocery ads from the Sunday paper or from the local grocery store online to shop for groceries for one person for a week. What would be the total grocery bill for a month? How much of the person’s monthly pay would go toward food and beverage?
4. After paying for housing and food, what other essential items must be included in a budget?
5. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2014, 1.3 million hourly workers earned the federal minimum wage. Another 1.7 million earned less than the minimum wage. Who are the workers who receive less than the federal minimum wage?
$20,241
THE AVERAGE DROPOUT can expect to earn an
annual income of $20,241, according to the U.S.
Census Bureau. That is a full $10,386 less
than the typical high school graduate, and
$36,424 less than someone
with a bachelor’s degree.
-$10,386
-$36,424