|
Activity: A Dollar Here, a Dollar There
Instructions
In this activity, one teacher shares how
she and her students started to track their expenses and
create a budget using a spreadsheet. Although this sample
activity relies on the students’ comfort with sharing
personal spending information, you may find that students
are more comfortable keeping track of their expenditures
in a small, private notebook. In some cases, students
may choose to keep this information private. That should
be respected. What is most important is that students, themselves,
are encouraged to record their expenses over a given period
of time so that they grow more conscious of their spending
habits.
Among other potential lessons, students’
spending information can form the basis of a math class
on percentages, decimals, charts, and graphs.
Sample Activity
On Monday, I asked how many students had
stopped at the convenience store on the way to school that
morning. Amazingly, 80 percent of the students had visited
the convenience store and had spent an average of $4.50.
Next, the group computed the cost of stopping at the convenience
store every weekday during an eight-week period. The class
members were astonished by the thought that they would spend
$180 each during the duration of the program! Having realized
the amount of money that was being wasted by buying coffee
or muffins on the way to school, the group brainstormed
about how to save money. All students quickly realized that
if they had bought the items at the grocery store and packed
a lunch daily, the cost over an eight-week period would
drop by 80 percent.
This exercise sparked a conversation about
spending habits and how to curb them but still maintain
a fulfilling life. As an exercise, the students were asked
to create a spreadsheet of daily expenses for the next week.
Students were asked to input items and their cost, and through
simple addition the spreadsheet recorded the total spent
for the day. These totals could easily be tallied as weekly
and monthly expenses as well.
In other words, each time students spent
any money (even small change—each penny adds up!),
they wrote the amount spent and the item bought on the spreadsheet.
The group reconvened one week later to discuss what was
bought and how one might cut back on expenses.
Previous
Page | Next Page
|
