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Lesson Plans for Teachers
The Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia publishes lessons for K-12 teachers to use to teach economics and personal finance in their own classrooms. The lessons emphasize active- and collaborative-learning teaching methodologies.
All lessons are downloadable in PDF format.
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- Elementary
- Middle
- High
- Exhibit
All Lessons
Uncle Jed's Barbershop 
(9-11 years) Children's Literature
Lesson Description: Students listen to the book Uncle Jed’s Barbershop, about an African-American barber who, despite significant setbacks, saves enough money to buy his own barbershop. From the story, students learn about saving, savings goals, opportunity cost, and segregation. The students participate in a card game to further investigate what it takes to reach a savings goal.
A Lesson to Accompany "The First Bank of the United States: A chapter in the History of Central Banking" (Grades 9-12)
In this lesson, through a reader’s theater, students learn about the economics of the early United States and the debate between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson over the founding of the first Bank of the United States. They examine quotations from Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s letters to President Washington and the arguments each man is trying to make about the need for and constitutionality of the bill to incorporate the bank. They read the booklet "The First Bank of the United States" to learn about the founding of the first Bank of the United States, the financial crisis associated with the bank’s stock subscription, the bank’s operations, and the way it influenced the early American economy. The students learn to read primary sources by examining letters written in the 1790s about the First Bank and its operations. In the final activity, the students learn about the First Bank’s influence on the availability of credit in the early American economy by examining simple banking scenarios.
The Goat in the Rug (8-10 years) Children's Literature
Students listen to the book The Goat in the Rug, about a Navajo weaver who uses a number of resources and intermediate goods to make a traditional Navajo rug. The students are placed in groups to learn about productive resources and intermediate goods. They play a matching game and make posters to classify the natural resources, human resources, capital resources and intermediate goods used in the story.
Ten Mile Day (10-12 years) Children's Literature
In this multidisciplinary lesson, students work in small groups ("work crews") while participating in a production activity. Students learn about competition, division of labor, and incentives. They also demonstrate how division of labor and incentives help lead to greater productivity.
Money, Money, Honey Bunny! (6-8 years) Children's Literature
Students listen to a story written in rhyme about a bunny who has a lot of money in her piggy bank. Students distinguish between spending and saving and goods and services. They play a matching game to review the content of the story and to practice rhyming words.
Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression (7-9 years) Children's Literature
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.
Tortilla Factory (8-10 years) Children's Literature
Students observe the teacher produce a paper taco and produce their own paper tacos following the process demonstrated by the teacher. Students learn about the productive resources—human resources, natural resources, and capital resources—and intermediate goods used to make final goods and services. They listen to the book "Tortilla Factory " and identify the productive resources and intermediate goods used to produce corn tortillas. Students classify the resources used to produce their paper tacos.
Saturday Sancocho (8-10 years) Children's Literature
Students listen to a story and answer questions about a family in Central or South America that barters to get the ingredients for chicken sancocho, a kind of stew. The students complete sentences that record the various trades carried out by the family to obtain all of the ingredients for the sancocho. They also participate in trading activities that illustrate money’s advantages over barter.
A Basket of Bangles: How a Business Begins (9-11 years) Children's Literature
Students listen to a story and answer questions about lending in Bangladesh. They complete a diagram that shows the impact of lending on a community. Working as a class, they compare the similarities and differences between banks lending in the United States and the Grameen Bank lending in Bangladesh. Students work with a partner to estimate profits based on Sufiya’s prices and costs in the book.
The Case of the Gigantic $100,000 Bill (Grades 9-12)
Students participate in a demonstration of the money creation process using a large $100,000 bill. Expansions of the money supply caused by successive deposits and loans are traced on the board so that students can observe the process. Required reserves are cut from the large bill during each stage of the process. Students learn to calculate the upper bound of the money creation process using the simple money multiplier.
Less Than Zero (8-10 years) Children's Literature
Students learn about saving, savings goals, interest, borrowing and opportunity cost by reading "Less Than Zero" by Stuart J. Murphy. Students use a number line and a line graph to track spending and borrowing in the story.
A Lesson to Accompany "Benjamin Franklin and the Birth of a Paper Money Economy" (Grades 9-12)
In this lesson students learn about the role of money in the colonial economy by participating in a trading activity in which they observe the effects of too little money on trade within a colony. They learn about the difficulties associated with barter and the characteristics and functions of money. They read the booklet "Benjamin Franklin and the Birth of a Paper Money Economy" to learn about Benjamin Franklin’s role in shaping our understanding of the role of money in the economy. The students participate in an activity to learn more about how a land bank would work. In the final activity, students learn how too much money can lead to inflation.
Let's Get Financially Focused! (Grades 9-12) Exhibit Lesson
Students complete a short assessment of their knowledge about personal finance. Then, they learn concepts and terms related to personal financial education by participating in a bingo game. Working in groups, students prepare a set of calculations as financial advisers for a mock client.
Monetary Policy (Grades 9-12) Exhibit Lesson
Working in groups, students develop an understanding of monetary policy. Students will learn about the indicators the Fed uses to determine what changes, if any, should be made to the course of monetary policy. The groups play a card game to review the vocabulary associated with the, economic indicators.
Monster Musical Chairs (5-6 years) Children's Literature
Students listen to the book "Monster Musical Chairs" and identify the scarcity problem the monsters had – not enough chairs for every monster to have one. Students wear a picture of a want they have drawn and play a version of musical chairs in which the chairs are labeled goods. Students learn that a good can satisfy a want and that due to scarcity not everyone's wants are satisfied.
On the Court with … Michael Jordan (9-11 years) Children's Literature
Students participate in a simulation to learn about choices, alternatives, opportunity cost, and human capital. They learn the PACED decision-making model, apply the model, and recognize that learning the model is an investment in their human capital. Student groups build a tower with paper cups. Each group has different physical abilities based on an assigned level of human capital.
The Pickle Patch Bathtub (8-10 years) Children's Literature
Students learn about opportunity cost, saving, savings goals and a savings plan by reading "The Pickle Patch Bathtub" by Frances Kennedy. Students will develop savings plans that lead to their own savings goals.
So Few of Me (7-9 years) Children's Literature
Students learn about scarcity, alternatives, choices, and opportunity costs by reading "So Few of Me" by Peter H. Reynolds. The class participates in an activity to help Perdita figure out her morning schedule at summer camp. The students identify Perdita’s alternatives, choose activities for her, and identify the opportunity costs of those choices. Then, students work in groups to make choices and identify opportunity costs for Juan’s after-school schedule.
What Does the Fed Do? (Grades 9-12) Exhibit Lesson
Students participate in a banking activity to learn more about the fractional reserve banking system. Students learn about the three basic functions of the Federal Reserve System and reflect on the validity of a dozen statements about the Fed.
What Is the Federal Reserve? (Grades 6-8) Exhibit Lesson
Students participate in a simple banking simulation to learn how banks take in deposits, make loans, and hold reserves. Students will simulate the difficulties of check clearing without a clearinghouse and efficient check clearing with the Federal Reserve’s clearinghouse.
What Is Money? (Grades 3-5) Exhibit Lesson
To experience problems with barter, students participate in a simulation in which they barter to obtain ingredients to make cookies. Repeating the simulation using money, they learn about the advantages of using money.
Why Money? (Grades 6-8) Exhibit Lesson
Students participate in a trading simulation to learn about barter and the benefits of using money. Working in pairs, students receive information cards on different forms of money used during U.S. history and identify specific problems with each.
Elementary School Lessons
Uncle Jed's Barbershop (9-11 years) Children's Literature
Lesson Description: Students listen to the book Uncle Jed’s Barbershop, about an African-American barber who, despite significant setbacks, saves enough money to buy his own barbershop. From the story, students learn about saving, savings goals, opportunity cost, and segregation. The students participate in a card game to further investigate what it takes to reach a savings goal.
The Goat in the Rug (8-10 years) Children's Literature
Students listen to the book The Goat in the Rug, about a Navajo weaver who uses a number of resources and intermediate goods to make a traditional Navajo rug. The students are placed in groups to learn about productive resources and intermediate goods. They play a matching game and make posters to classify the natural resources, human resources, capital resources and intermediate goods used in the story.
Ten Mile Day (10-12 years) Children's Literature
In this multidisciplinary lesson, students work in small groups ("work crews") while participating in a production activity. Students learn about competition, division of labor, and incentives. They also demonstrate how division of labor and incentives help lead to greater productivity.
Money, Money, Honey Bunny! (6-8 years) Children's Literature
Students listen to a story written in rhyme about a bunny who has a lot of money in her piggy bank. Students distinguish between spending and saving and goods and services. They play a matching game to review the content of the story and to practice rhyming words.
Potato: A Tale from the Great Depression (7-9 years) Children's Literature
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.
Tortilla Factory (8-10 years) Children's Literature
Students observe the teacher produce a paper taco and produce their own paper tacos following the process demonstrated by the teacher. Students learn about the productive resources—human resources, natural resources, and capital resources—and intermediate goods used to make final goods and services. They listen to the book "Tortilla Factory " and identify the productive resources and intermediate goods used to produce corn tortillas. Students classify the resources used to produce their paper tacos.
Saturday Sancocho (8-10 years) Children's Literature
Students listen to a story and answer questions about a family in Central or South America that barters to get the ingredients for chicken sancocho, a kind of stew. The students complete sentences that record the various trades carried out by the family to obtain all of the ingredients for the sancocho. They also participate in trading activities that illustrate money’s advantages over barter.
A Basket of Bangles: How a Business Begins (9-11 years) Children's Literature
Students listen to a story and answer questions about lending in Bangladesh. They complete a diagram that shows the impact of lending on a community. Working as a class, they compare the similarities and differences between banks lending in the United States and the Grameen Bank lending in Bangladesh. Students work with a partner to estimate profits based on Sufiya’s prices and costs in the book.
Less Than Zero (8-10 years) Children's Literature
Students learn about saving, savings goals, interest, borrowing and opportunity cost by reading "Less Than Zero" by Stuart J. Murphy. Students use a number line and a line graph to track spending and borrowing in the story.
Monster Musical Chairs (5-6 years) Children's Literature
Students listen to the book "Monster Musical Chairs" and identify the scarcity problem the monsters had – not enough chairs for every monster to have one. Students wear a picture of a want they have drawn and play a version of musical chairs in which the chairs are labeled goods. Students learn that a good can satisfy a want and that due to scarcity not everyone's wants are satisfied.
On the Court with … Michael Jordan (9-11 years) Children's Literature
Students participate in a simulation to learn about choices, alternatives, opportunity cost, and human capital. They learn the PACED decision-making model, apply the model, and recognize that learning the model is an investment in their human capital. Student groups build a tower with paper cups. Each group has different physical abilities based on an assigned level of human capital.
The Pickle Patch Bathtub (8-10 years) Children's Literature
Students learn about opportunity cost, saving, savings goals and a savings plan by reading "The Pickle Patch Bathtub" by Frances Kennedy. Students will develop savings plans that lead to their own savings goals.
So Few of Me (7-9 years) Children's Literature
Students learn about scarcity, alternatives, choices, and opportunity costs by reading "So Few of Me" by Peter H. Reynolds. The class participates in an activity to help Perdita figure out her morning schedule at summer camp. The students identify Perdita’s alternatives, choose activities for her, and identify the opportunity costs of those choices. Then, students work in groups to make choices and identify opportunity costs for Juan’s after-school schedule.
What Is Money? (Grades 3-5) Exhibit Lesson
To experience problems with barter, students participate in a simulation in which they barter to obtain ingredients to make cookies. Repeating the simulation using money, they learn about the advantages of using money.
Middle School Lessons
What Is the Federal Reserve? (Grades 6-8) Exhibit Lesson
Students participate in a simple banking simulation to learn how banks take in deposits, make loans, and hold reserves. Students will simulate the difficulties of check clearing without a clearinghouse and efficient check clearing with the Federal Reserve’s clearinghouse.
Why Money? (Grades 6-8) Exhibit Lesson
Students participate in a trading simulation to learn about barter and the benefits of using money. Working in pairs, students receive information cards on different forms of money used during U.S. history and identify specific problems with each.
High School Lessons
A Lesson to Accompany "The First Bank of the United States: A chapter in the History of Central Banking" (Grades 9-12)
In this lesson, through a reader’s theater, students learn about the economics of the early United States and the debate between Alexander Hamilton and Thomas Jefferson over the founding of the first Bank of the United States. They examine quotations from Hamilton’s and Jefferson’s letters to President Washington and the arguments each man is trying to make about the need for and constitutionality of the bill to incorporate the bank. They read the booklet "The First Bank of the United States" to learn about the founding of the first Bank of the United States, the financial crisis associated with the bank’s stock subscription, the bank’s operations, and the way it influenced the early American economy. The students learn to read primary sources by examining letters written in the 1790s about the First Bank and its operations. In the final activity, the students learn about the First Bank’s influence on the availability of credit in the early American economy by examining simple banking scenarios.
The Case of the Gigantic $100,000 Bill (Grades 9-12)
Students participate in a demonstration of the money creation process using a large $100,000 bill. Expansions of the money supply caused by successive deposits and loans are traced on the board so that students can observe the process. Required reserves are cut from the large bill during each stage of the process. Students learn to calculate the upper bound of the money creation process using the simple money multiplier.
A Lesson to Accompany "Benjamin Franklin and the Birth of a Paper Money Economy" (Grades 9-12)
In this lesson students learn about the role of money in the colonial economy by participating in a trading activity in which they observe the effects of too little money on trade within a colony. They learn about the difficulties associated with barter and the characteristics and functions of money. They read the booklet "Benjamin Franklin and the Birth of a Paper Money Economy" to learn about Benjamin Franklin’s role in shaping our understanding of the role of money in the economy. The students participate in an activity to learn more about how a land bank would work. In the final activity, students learn how too much money can lead to inflation.
Let's Get Financially Focused! (Grades 9-12) Exhibit Lesson
Students complete a short assessment of their knowledge about personal finance. Then, they learn concepts and terms related to personal financial education by participating in a bingo game. Working in groups, students prepare a set of calculations as financial advisers for a mock client.
Monetary Policy (Grades 9-12) Exhibit Lesson
Working in groups, students develop an understanding of monetary policy. Students will learn about the indicators the Fed uses to determine what changes, if any, should be made to the course of monetary policy. The groups play a card game to review the vocabulary associated with the, economic indicators.
What Does the Fed Do? (Grades 9-12) Exhibit Lesson
Students participate in a banking activity to learn more about the fractional reserve banking system. Students learn about the three basic functions of the Federal Reserve System and reflect on the validity of a dozen statements about the Fed.
Exhibit Lessons
Let's Get Financially Focused! (Grades 9-12) Exhibit Lesson
Students complete a short assessment of their knowledge about personal finance. Then, they learn concepts and terms related to personal financial education by participating in a bingo game. Working in groups, students prepare a set of calculations as financial advisers for a mock client.
Monetary Policy (Grades 9-12) Exhibit Lesson
Working in groups, students develop an understanding of monetary policy. Students will learn about the indicators the Fed uses to determine what changes, if any, should be made to the course of monetary policy. The groups play a card game to review the vocabulary associated with the, economic indicators.
What Does the Fed Do? (Grades 9-12) Exhibit Lesson
Students participate in a banking activity to learn more about the fractional reserve banking system. Students learn about the three basic functions of the Federal Reserve System and reflect on the validity of a dozen statements about the Fed.
What Is the Federal Reserve? (Grades 6-8) Exhibit Lesson
Students participate in a simple banking simulation to learn how banks take in deposits, make loans, and hold reserves. Students will simulate the difficulties of check clearing without a clearinghouse and efficient check clearing with the Federal Reserve’s clearinghouse.
What Is Money? (Grades 3-5) Exhibit Lesson
To experience problems with barter, students participate in a simulation in which they barter to obtain ingredients to make cookies. Repeating the simulation using money, they learn about the advantages of using money.
Why Money? (Grades 6-8) Exhibit Lesson
Students participate in a trading simulation to learn about barter and the benefits of using money. Working in pairs, students receive information cards on different forms of money used during U.S. history and identify specific problems with each.
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