Home > Economic Education > Lesson Plans
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.
Lesson Title |
Lesson Description |
Concepts |
Age/Grade Level |
| A Basket of Bangles: How a Business Begins (3.7 MB, 16 pages)  |
In this lesson, 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. | banks, collateral, interest, profit | 9-11 years |
| The Case of the Gigantic $100,000 Bill (718 KB, 11 pages) |
In this lesson, 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. | money creation, money multiplier, money supply | Grades 9-12 |
| Less Than Zero (110 KB, 8 pages) |
In this lesson, 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. | borrowing, interest, saving, savings goal | 8-10 years |
| Let’s Get Financially Focused! (146 KB, 35 pages)  |
Students complete a short assessment of their knowledge about personal finance. Then, students 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. | credit, interest rates, fraud, identity theft, purposes and functions of the Federal Reserve System | Grades 9-12 |
| Monetary Policy (417 KB, 45 pages) |
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. | discount rate, economic indicators, Federal Reserve, federal funds rate, interest rates, monetary policy, open market operations, reserve requirements | Grades 9-12 |
| Monster Musical Chairs (366 KB, 12 pages) |
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. They also learn that due to scarcity not everyone's wants are satisfied. | economic want, good, scarcity | 5-6 years |
| On the Court with... Michael Jordan (189 KB, 14 pages) |
In this lesson, 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. | alternatives, decision-making, human capital, investment in human capital, opportunity cost | 9-11 years |
| The Pickle Patch Bathtub (287 KB, 10 pages) |
In this lesson, 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. | opportunity cost, saving, savings goal, savings plan | 8-10 years |
| So Few of Me (310 KB, 20 pages) |
In this lesson, 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. | choice, alternative, opportunity cost, scarcity | 7-9 years |
| What Does the Fed Do? (725 KB, 29 pages) |
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 Federal Reserve. | bank failure, bank panic, bank reserves, bank run, discount rate, Federal Reserve System, fractional reserve banking system, monetary policy, open market operations, reserve requirement | Grades 9-12 |
| What Is the Federal Reserve? (1.2 MB, 32 pages) |
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. | bank panic, check clearing, clearinghouse, federal reserve system, interest, reserves, saving | Grades 6-8 |
| What Is Money? (60 KB, 15 pages) |
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. | barter, coincidence of wants, commodity money, money, characteristics of money | Grades 3-5 |
| Why Money? (82 KB, 26 pages) |
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. | money, barter, coincidence of wants, commodity money, representative money, fiat money, characteristics of money, functions of money | Grades 6-8 |
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