3. 3
I. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Overview
Cedarcrest High School has more 950 students and 61 DECA members. Our chapter aims
to gain maximum involvement in all the activities that we do including fundraisers, chapter
social events, and competition. During the 2015-2016 school year, Coraly Miller Jacob Jewel,
and Joshua Budig, had the pleasure to teach Mrs. Farnworth’s 5th grade class on financial
literacy. The overall objective from teaching the class was to
“Create an active learning environment by empowering Mrs.
Farnworth’s 5th grade class to use what they have learned from
our Financial Literacy class to critically think and make
responsible financial decisions and to be able to problem solve,
reflect, and adapt to those decisions”.
After the objective was clear, the curriculum was chosen by analyzing multiple curriculums with
our group, and we decided the Financial Fitness for Life curriculum was going to meet our
overall objective the best. We presented the Financial Fitness for Life lesson plans to the
beginning Marketing 1 class to obtain their feedback and approval. After their recommendations
and approval our team contacted the Stillwater Elementary principal Mr. Madigan and 5th grade
teacher Mrs. Farnworth to discuss our intentions to teach her class. We presented our lesson plan
and they were excited to have the involvement of high school DECA in the elementary school.
We scheduled 7 dates to teach that included the following dates: November 6th, November 13th,
December 4th, December 11th, December 16th, December 17th and January 8th. Each date we
spent 1 hour the night before gathering our materials and time boxing our agenda plans. Then the
next day we would spend 45 minutes teaching a practice lesson to the 24 students in the
Marketing I class. The lessons we taught at the elementary school each lasted 1 hour, broken up
into exciting activities that lasted no longer than 10 minutes each to prevent students from
getting bored.
Management of Activities
Each lesson was carefully planned out with a theme and fit within a 1 hour time period. The
material in the lessons focused on teaching economic and personal financial concepts, utilize
4. 4
various learning styles that include audio, visual, reading, writing, kinetic, and application of the
lesson theme. Below is each lesson with an overview description.
1. Lesson 1 Earning income
Ice-breaker activities and introduction to curriculum
2. Lesson 2 Urban Mouse and Rural Mouse
A fictional community to learn why people create businesses to provide goods
and services for their communities.
3. Lesson 3 People Pay Taxes
Taught the students when and why people pay taxes
4. Lesson 4 The Grasshopper and the Ant
A fable about satisfying wants today and planning for the future.
5. Lesson 5 Savings Starts with Wanting More Lesson 5
The students set a realistic financial goal, determined their strategy for saving, and
decided how much they would save to achieve their goals
6. Lesson 6 part 1 Hello Working World Capstone Project Lesson 6 part 1
Applications of all the lessons by playing “The Bean Game” budget activity in
class
7. Lesson 6 part 2 Hello Working World Capstone Project Lesson 6 part 2
Applications of all the lessons by playing “Hello Working World” budget activity
at home with parents to promote financial discussion. Then presented results in
class.
Every activity we did had a specific purpose and used the Visual, Audio, Read/Write, and
kinesthetic learning style. Below are the VARK learning styles explained.
5. 5
We utilized the VARK learning styles in each lesson to make sure the students understood
the concepts and reinforced those using different learning techniques. We believe this was an
important component in the success of our project.
Our most popular activity we did was DECA Pen Pals. During the first lesson the
students kept asking about the Cedarcrest DECA students and what they were like. Our team
channeled their interest by having them write to “Dear Pen pal” during the second lesson and
discuss with them what they had learned and questions they had in the letter. After the initial
letter, the high schoolers responded back with their names and through all of the lessons the
students got to personally know their Pen pals’ name, hobbies, and they received feedback on
questions they had. Our chapter surprised the 5th graders the last lesson when we brought the
Pen pals to our lesson to talk and answer questions with the kids. They were thrilled to finally
meet their Pen pals and it was a great way to finish our project.
Evaluation and Recommendations
The students began to always look forward to when the “cool DECA high schoolers” would
come and teach. They understood the concepts of each lesson, and they made rational
decisions for the last budgeting projects. It was fulfilling to see them expand their financial
literacy and rewarding to know we made a positive impact in their lives. We recommend to
future chapters to teach more than one class to positively affect a larger number of students.
Chapter Member Involvement
Chapter membership= 61 members
Lesson 1- 24 Marketing I students, 13 of them are DECA members = 21%
Lesson 2- 24 Marketing I students, 13 of them are DECA members, 29 Advanced Marketing
DECA II students = 68.85%
Lesson 3- 24 Marketing I students, 13 of them are DECA members, 29 Advanced Marketing
DECA II students = 68.85%
Lesson 4- 24 Marketing I students, 13 of them are DECA members, 29 Advanced Marketing
DECA II students = 68.85%
Lesson 5- 24 Marketing I students, 13 of them are DECA members, 29 Advanced Marketing
DECA II students = 68.85%
Lesson 6- 24 Marketing I students, 13 of them are DECA members, 29 Advanced Marketing
DECA II students = 68.85%
6. 6
II. INTRODUCTION
A. Description of local DECA chapter
Cedarcrest High School is a small 2A secondary school that has approximately 950 people.
In the small town of Duvall Washington, Cedarcrest is the only High School in the Riverview
school district. Cedarcrest’s DECA Chapter has 61 members and is run by Marc Hillestad who is
the marketing and business teacher at the school. The leaders in our DECA chapter serve to
foster leadership among members through community service and membership activities. We are
involved in community service, school fundraisers, charitable fundraisers, and DECA
competition. DECA promotes community service by putting on events like the Holly Jolly Fun
Run, and the Big Rock Classic Car Show to raise money for charity. The Big Rock Classic Car
show has been put on by Cedarcrest DECA members for the past 9 years, and functions to spread
awareness and donations for prostate cancer. Events like these are prime examples of the strong
foothold that the CHS local chapter holds in the community of Duvall. To add, the Holly Jolly
Fun Run was a community service event our chapter created in order to raise gifts for less
fortunate kids and families who might not be able to afford gifts. The fun run was a great way for
our chapter to foster leadership within our club by delegating tasks and empowering the
underclassmen with responsibility. On top of the events we put on, our chapter also constantly
takes small efforts to raise donations for local charities. One of the charities we help is called
Acres of Diamonds which is a group that provides housing for domestic violence families and
victims. The main way our chapter supports Acres of Diamonds is by hosting “miracle minutes”
at sporting events and assemblies. A “miracle minute" is a one minute rush of gathering
donations into containers that are passed around in a high populated area. The miracle minute
earnings have helped many families within our community. Our local chapter is a community
7. 7
oriented and charity driven club that strives to both keep its members involved and challenge
current members to explore opportunities beyond themselves such as volunteering and
competition.
B. Description of the school and community
Cedarcrest High School is fed by Tolt middle school, and the middle school is fed by four
elementary schools; Stillwater, Cherry Valley, Carnation, and Eagle Rock. Geographic location
determines which elementary school students will go to, but they all eventually end up at the
same middle and high school. Stillwater Elementary is located near Lake Marcel, about 10
minutes away from Cedarcrest High School. Financial Literacy teams have worked with
Stillwater Elementary in the past, and we chose to continue to work with them because we have
an established relationship. There is a need for financial literacy in our town, and Cedarcrest
DECA has helped educate our communities’ youth to meet that need. Cedarcrest has about 950
students enrolled and nearly 61 of those students are members of the Cedarcrest DECA chapter.
III. MANAGEMENT OF ACTIVITIES TARGET AT OUTSIDE AUDIENCE
A. Purpose of the activities
Before starting our lesson plan, our group met and identified a goal for our promotion
project. We decided that we wanted to “create and active learning environment by empowering
Mrs. Farnworth’s 5th grade class to use what they have learned from our Financial Literacy class
to critically think and make responsible financial decisions and to be able to problem solve,
reflect, and adapt to these decisions.” We then pursued our goal by creating a lesson plan that
catered to developing the 5th grade students with these skills. The purpose of the lesson plan
structure was to build off previous concepts as we advanced in the lessons, which would lead to a
8. 8
final culminating budgeting event which would use all the elements we had taught, and furthered
their understanding of the concepts.
After analyzing multiple curriculums- Practice Money Skills for Life, NCDPI Financial
Literacy, Financial Fitness for Life, and others, we decided that the Financial Fitness for Life
was the best curriculum because it was specifically created for a 5th grade level, and the agenda
speed called for 1 hour lessons which was similar to what we wanted. We then organized the first
six lessons and outlined the objectives and goals of each lesson. We then presented our agenda
proposal to 24 beginning Marketing I students to obtain there feedback and to gain practice on
pacing the lesson. The Marketing I students approved our proposal and gave us critical feedback
that would enhance our lessons, specifically time boxing each activity and switching learning
styles to prevent students from becoming bored. We then went back through our lesson plans and
included more activities and different learning styles by teaching in the four main learning style
areas: Visual, Auditory, Reading and Writing, and Kinesthetic. Below are each lesson, and the
purpose behind these lessons.
STAGE 1: EARNING INCOME
1. Earning income Lesson 1- Students don’t always realize that their ability to spend
is limited by their ability to earn income. We introduced students to economic and
personal finance concepts that included goods, human capital, human resources,
income, investment in human capital, services, and wages. By the end of this
lesson, students would able to define the concepts, explain how people earn
income by providing recourses in the marketplace, explain connection between
human capital and income, and identifying ways in which they can invest in
human capital.
9. 9
2. Urban Mouse and Rural Mouse Lesson 2- the purpose was to set up a fictional
community to learn why people create businesses to provide goods and services
for their communities. The economic and personal finance concepts used to
describe this community included cost of production, entrepreneurs, goods,
income, opportunity recognition, profit, revenue, services. By the end of this
lesson, students were able to define the concepts, and calculate profit by
subtracting the cost of production from revenue.
3. People Pay Taxes Lesson 3- The purpose of this lesson was to teach the students
when and why people pay taxes. They learned about income and the differences
between gross and net income. They also learned that the government taxes
income to pay for goods and services not provided by private enterprise. The
economic and personal finance concepts explored were gross income, income,
income taxes, net income, payroll taxes, property taxes, sales taxes, and taxes. By
the end of this lesson the students were able to define the concepts, explain what
the government uses tax revenue for and specific examples of the goods and
services provided, as well as being able to explain the difference between gross
and net income.
STAGE 2: SAVING
1. The Grasshopper and the Ant Lesson 4- In this fable the 5th grades learned
satisfying wants today and planning for the future. They then created fables of
their own to further express their understanding about important decisions of
consuming and saving. The economic and personal finance concepts explored
were economic wants, interest, opportunity cost, savings, spending, and trade-off.
10. 10
By the end of the lesson the students were able to define the concepts, and then
analyze trade-offs and opportunity cost in a decision about saving, identify
reasons to save, explain why savings helps you in the future, use the opportunity
cost concept to compare and contrast saving, and explaining how interest serves
as an incentive to save. The overall purpose of this lesson was to have the students
critically analyze financial decisions because resources and incomes are limited.
2. Savings Starts with Wanting More Lesson 5- The purpose of this lesson was to
create personal economic wants for the students, and then having them critically
think about decisions in regards to saving their own money. The students set a
goal, determined their strategy for saving, and decided how much they would save
to achieve their goals, and learned where to save money. The economic and
personal finance concepts explored were economic wants, incentive, interest,
long-term goals, savings, and short-term goals. At the end of the lesson the
students were able to define the concepts, explain the components of a savings
plan, create realistic long-term and short-term goals, give examples of incentives,
and compare and contrast savings options.
STAGE 3: CAPSTONE PROJECT
1. Hello Working World Capstone Project Lesson 6- The final activity was designed
to culminate and apply all the lessons into a final project activity done in class and
at home with the students’ parents. This activity was two budgeting challenges
using elements of all the lessons, and took two teaching days to complete. The
students learned about the options of the working world, regarding jobs, marital
status, spouses/roommates occupation, monthly salary and net income, housing,
11. 11
food, utilities, entertainment, and savings plans. The students learned what it will
take to live their “ideal lifestyle”, and take in consideration taxes and expenses.
The final question was to analyze their final balance, then determine how they
could change their future to support their wanted lifestyle.
Each lesson built off one another, and led to the final capstone project. The purpose of
our series of lessons was to teach the students how to analyze financial situations, and how to be
financially successful. Once we had the purpose of our lessons, we then had to determine what
type of learning and activities would allow the students to understand and remember the lessons.
B. Planning and Organization of Activities
After our initial meeting on what concepts and objective we wanted to achieve for each
lesson and how we would plan to capstone our lessons, we then went into the specifics on how
we would teach to make sure the students understood the material. We decided it was best for us
to present each lesson to Cedarcrest’s beginning Marketing I class, to obtain there feedback and
to practice the teaching pace to meet our agenda.
The next step was to reach out to Mrs. Farnworth asking if we could teach her students
about financial literacy. She was thrilled to have high school students interacting with the
elementary kids and replied back that she was excited to have us teach. We then met with her, as
well as Stillwater Elementary schools principle Mr. Madigan to discuss our lesson plan, and
dates that would work best for us to teach. We determined the Friday early release days would be
best since the high school releases at 12:30 pm while the elementary school gets out at 2:00 pm,
allowing us to teach from 1:00- 2:00 pm. The dates we agreed to teach on were November 6th,
November 13th, December 4th, December 11th, December 16th, December 17th and January 8th.
Each week before a lesson we would meet as a group for about an hour to discuss speaking roles
12. 12
and materials we needed for the upcoming lesson. Jacob Jewell usually created the economic and
personal finance concept PowerPoints, Coraly Miller would create and print off worksheets, and
Josh Budig would designate speaking roles and create review presentations. We would then
practice the lesson with the marketing I class and edit the lesson based on the feedback prior to
presenting to the Stillwater kids.
We also included a social component in our curriculum by having the 5th graders wright
to “Dear Pen pal” about what they had learned and questions they had, then 29 of our high
school Advance Marketing II DECA members would respond to their letters with their name and
answers to their questions as well as information about themselves. This was planned after the
first lesson because the 5th graders kept asking about the high school DECA members so we
decided to dedicate 10 minutes every lesson for them to talk directly with them and to summarize
what they learned that day. Below is each lesson that we discussed with the beginning
Marketing I class, Mrs. Farnworth and Mr. Madigan, and how we time boxed, planned, and
organized the activities to meet the lesson objectives.
STAGE 1: EARNING INCOME
1. Earning income Lesson 1-
The first goal of this lesson was to break the ice and introduce ourselves, and for
the students to feel comfortable with us teaching them. We agreed that a guessing
Time Box Agenda for Earning income Lesson 1 , November 6th, 1 hour
Minutes Activity Learning style Speaker
0-5 min Introduction of names and curriculum purpose as well as outline Audio Jacob, Josh, Corally
5-15 min Guessing game on various occupations, actively discuss with students answers Audio Jacob
15-17 min Transitional break, pass out occupational worksheet and salary cards Read/Write Jacob, Josh, Corally
17-25 min PowerPoint on concepts Visual Jacob
25-35 min Have students do worksheet, walk around and help Read/Write Jacob, Josh, Corally
35-45 min Go over answers and discuss reasoning Audio Josh
45-47 min Transitional break, answer any last questions Audio Corally
47-55 min BrainPOP video on Money Audio/Visual Corally
55-60 min Recap and review lesson, write main points on Activeboard Audio/Visual Jacob, Josh, Corally
13. 13
game about various occupations would break the ice and reach the audio learners.
We then decided to include an occupational worksheet and salary cards to cater to
the read/write learners and would teach the students about different jobs and the
income they make. Finally we included a PowerPoint on the economic and
personal finance concepts and also a BrainPOP video with the theme of earning
income that targeted the visual learners, and visually
enforced what the worksheet had taught. We
organized the first lesson for us to meet and get to
know the students, introduce them to financial
concepts, and meet the learning styles of the majority
of students. Coraly Miller is pictured to the left
helping a student who was having trouble with the
worksheet.
2. Urban Mouse and Rural Mouse Lesson 2-
We decided that we needed to start off lesson 2 with a quick review of the concept
and ideas established in lesson 1. We then decided we would start teaching the
new concepts with a guessing game about “what do dry cleaners do?” which
would break the ice, create discussion, and reach the audio learners. Jacob then
Time Box Agenda for Urban and Rural Mouse Lesson 2 , November 13th, 1 hour
Minutes Activity Learning style Speaker
0-5 min Review and discuss last lesson concepts/ main ideas Audio/Visual Jacob, Josh, Corally
5-10 min Ask “what do dry cleaners do?” Audio Josh
10-13 min Transitional break/ handout Urban Mouse and Rural Mouse Visual Jacob, Josh, Corally
13-20 min PowerPoint on Concepts Visual Jacob
20-30 min Student read out loud, stop and review each paragraph Audio/Read Jacob, Josh, Corally
30-33min Transitional Break/ hand out questions to story Reading Corally
33-43 min Answer questions Writing/Social Corally
43-45 min Transitional break/ into BrainPOP Video Social Jacob
45-53 min BrainPOP video Audio/Visual Josh
53-60 min Recap/review/Pen pals Audio/Visual Jacob, Josh, Corally
14. 14
would go over the concepts with a PowerPoint.
Once the students would learn the concept the
question asked earlier was extended by handing out
a story about an Urban Mouse and Rural Mouse
because it was a fun story would engage the
students. Taking turns, students were scheduled to
read aloud each paragraph which would enforce the
audio and reading learning styles. In order to enforce the comprehension and
ideas, we included review questions in the handout, which fell under the category
of learning through writing. We then played a BrainPOP video and reviewed what
we had learned that day. Finally by the 2nd lesson we had feedback from the
students and they kept asking about what the high school kids were like. We
decided to capitalize on this interest by creating DECA pen pals. After this lesson
we would slot 10 minutes to have the 5th graders write what they had learned and
questions they had to ‘Dear Pen pal’. Jacob Jewell is pictured to the left helping a
student understand the comprehension and message of the story.
3. People Pay Taxes Lesson 3-
Time Box Agenda for People Pay Taxes Lesson 3 , December 4th, 1 hour
Minutes Activity Learning style Speaker
0-5 min Ask “why do people pay taxes?” Audio Josh
5-10 min Ask “What is Sales, Property, and income tax?” Audio Corally
10-15 min PowerPoint on concepts Audio/Visual Jacob
15-20 min Activity work sheet on ‘Mike Muggles working at Burger Barn’ Read Corally
20-25 min Discuss, answer questions Audio/writing Josh
25-30 min Then ask to take away taxes; federal, payroll, state, social security Audio Jacob
30-35 min Discuss and reinforce why we need taxes Audio Corally
35- 40 min Calculate net income Writing Jacob
40-45 min Review key points Audio Jacob, Josh, Corally
45-47 min Transition/ ask to take out STAGE 1 materials Social Corally
47-55 min Earning Income section review Audio/Visual Jacob, Josh, Corally
55-60 min Pen pals Audio Jacob, Josh, Corally
15. 15
We determined lesson 3 had two components: the first was to identify why people
pay taxes, and then review the main concepts of STAGE 1 EARNING INCOME.
The lesson was planned to start off with audio learning by discussing taxes, then
visually going over economic and personal finance concepts by a PowerPoint. We
then would hand out an activity worksheet that would incorporate
audio/writing/reading learning styles. Lesson 3 would then be reviewed and then
we would review STAGE 1 EARNING INCOME to finalize the understanding of
the first stage. The students would then wright back to the high schoolers response
and again describe what they had learned and questions they had for the day.
Jacob Jewel is pictured to the right going over the PowerPoint concepts. Josh
Budig is pictured to the left helping a student calculate income.
16. 16
STAGE 2: SAVING
1. The Grasshopper and the Ant Lesson 4-
The first 3 lessons focused on earning income and stage 2 focused on the “what
should I do with my disposable income” aspect. We planned to start of this lesson
with a fable about a grasshopper and ant. The plan was for the students to learn
about the trade-off between satisfying want today and
for the future. They would use the fable to connect to
their own life and personal saving and spending
decisions. After the audio/reading learning, we then
would go over a visual PowerPoint to reinforce the
concepts. We would then discuss and review the
lesson. Finally the students would write back to their
Pen pals and describe what they had learned and questions they had. Coraly
Miller is shown discussing the with the student about the fable he wrote.
Time Box Agenda for The Grasshopper and the Ant Lesson 4 , December 11th, 1 hour
Minutes Activity Learning style Speaker
0-5 min Introduction to saving by asking “why would you save?” Audio/Visual Corally
5-7 min Transition/ pass out story Social Corally
7-17 min Have students take turn reading story then write extension paragraph Audio/read Jacob
17-27min Connect fable to own life, share examples discussion Audio Josh
27-35 min PowerPoint Audio/Visual Jacob
35-45 min Discussion Audio Josh
45-50 min Review Audio/Visual Corally
50-60 min Pen pals Writing/Social Jacob, Josh, Corally
17. 17
2. Savings Starts with Wanting More Lesson 5-
The 5th lesson was specifically planned to transition from talking about the
concepts into personally applying them into the students’ lives. This lesson was
aimed to discuss where to save, and why to save or spend. The students would
then be introduced to the concepts and then put a list of goods and services on a
worksheet. Each student would then circle the realistic goods and services then
created long term and short term goal. The class
would then discuss how to get the income for
their goals and how much per month they
would have to save, per month to meet those
goals. The picture demonstrates how the
students’ goals started with short term and long term goals. Some were unrealistic
like the long term goal of a start ship, but it was to demonstrate and discuss
unrealistic versus realistic goals.
STAGE 3: CAPSTONE PROJECT
Time Box Agenda for Savings Starts with Wanting More Lesson 5, December 16th, 1 hour
Minutes Activity Learning style Speaker
0-2 min Draw a piggy bank, purse and coffee jar and ask "what do these have in common?" Audio/Visual Josh
2-4 min Explain discuss how people get income by working Audio Corally
4-6 min Ask if the students earn income by doing chores then ask “what do you do with it?” Audio Corally
6-10 min Discuss spending and saving and the situations you would do each Audio Josh
10-18 min PowerPoint on concepts Audio/Visual Jacob
18-20 min Ask “why do you want to save?” Audio Josh
20-30 min Pass out Lesson 5 worksheet that has students list goods and services Writing/Read Corally
30-32 min Ask what goods and services they put down Audio Jacob
32-34 min Have them circle what they can afford now, and what they can save to get Writing/Social Corally
34-44 min Have them create realistic short term and long term goals based on there answers, Audio/Writing Jacob
discuss and have students calculate how much needed to be saved per month
44-50 min Review Audio/Visual Josh
50-60 min Pen Pals Writing/Social Jacob, Josh, Corally
18. 18
1. Hello Working World Capstone Project Lesson 6 Day 1-
The capstone project was planned for two
budgeting activities; one in class created by Utah
State University called “The Bean Game”, and
one to send home created by Scholastic called
“Hello Working World” for the students to do
over break with their parents. These budgeting
activities were obtained by analyzing many
budgeting activities with our advisor, group, and
Mrs. Farnworth. The economic and personal finance concepts were covered to
introduce the students to the lesson. Then the students would participate in a
kinetic and social lesson called “The Bean Game”, which gives every kid a “20
Bean Salary” and consisted of two rounds. For round #1 the individual had to
select one item in each category (food, housing, furnishing, transportation,
insurance, clothing and laundry). Each category items costed a different amount
of beans. Once the student was finished selecting the items in the required
categories to use up their 20 beans, we would then ask the student the reasoning
behind why they chose certain items, and what goals they had in mind. They then
would compare their findings with their classmates. Round #2 gave the students
Time Box Agenda for "Hello Working World" Lesson 6 day 1, December 17th, 1 hour
Minutes Activity Learning style Speaker
0-5 PowerPoint on concepts Audio/Visual Jacob
5-10 min "The Bean Game" pass out activity, explain Audio/Risual Jacob, Josh, Corally
10-20 min Round #1 Social/Kinetic Corally
20-25 min Discuss Audio Josh
25-35 min Round #2 Social/Kinetic Jacob
35-40 mim Discuss Audio Corally
40-50 min "Hello Working World" pass out activity, explain Audio/Read Jacob, Josh, Corally
50-60 min Pen Pals Writing/Social Jacob, Josh, Corally
19. 19
only 13 beans and the students would have to decide on what items to give up,
and what changes to make. After round #2 we planned to discuss what items were
given up, what they learned about the money process, and compared the budget-
cutting choices with their classmates. After this activity, we then had another
activity for the students to take home and do with their parents called “Hello
Working World” which was more advanced then “The Bean Game”. After the
lesson the students then had time to write to their Pen pals. Jake Jewell is shown
celebrating with a student on his “aha!” moment regarding budgeting.
2. Hello Working World Capstone Project Lesson 6 Day 2-
Part 2 of lesson 6 was organized to allow presentation time of the “Hello Working
World” activity. For this activity the student had to choose an occupation and
salary by drawing a number, then calculating their
monthly income based on their yearly income. A
number was drawled determine marital status (odd
number was single, even was married). The students
who drew an even number then had to draw their
spouse’s occupation and salary. After this, students
then had to calculate their taxes based on their salary
taxed at a rate of 30%. After calculating their net
income, the students could then budget what they could afford concerning
Time Box Agenda for "Hello Working World" Lesson 6 day 2, January 8th, 1 hour
Minutes Activity Learning style Speaker
0-30 min "Hello Working World" presentations Audio/Visual Jacob, Josh, Corally
30-40 Feedback on presentations Audio Jacob, Josh, Corally
40-42 min Introduce highschooler Pen Pals Social Jacob, Josh, Corally
42-50 min Question and answer with highschoolers Audio/Social DECA highschoolers
50-60 min 5th graders discussed what they have learned, give feedback Audio Jacob, Josh, Corally
20. 20
housing, transportation, marital status, utilities, entertainment, and savings. After
the activity presentations were done, we created time for the 5th graders to meet
some of their high school Pen Pals. There was time for them to ask questions
about what they had learned, and what they have done in DECA. We then slotted
ten minutes to gain feedback from the 5th graders to determine what could be done
better in the future. The Pen pal entry picture shows how 5th grader Nathan was
telling his high school Pen pal Alex about what he had learned.
Above is the budgeting
activity we obtained from
Scholastic and organized
for the 5th graders to do
with their parents. To the
left is a picture of Mrs.
Farnworth’s class
celebrating the last lesson.
21. 21
C. IMPLEMENTATION OF ACTIVITIES
STAGE 1: EARNING INCOME
Earning income Lesson 1
Lesson 1 focused on breaking the ice and getting the 5th graders comfortable with us. We
started off by introducing ourselves as members in DECA and passed out DECA pins as well as
DECA themed folders that had been made by the Advanced Marketing II DECA students. Each
folder had different financial quotes, terms and pictures that interested the 5th graders, and they
also got them familiar with why we were teaching, and our goals. They learned the economic and
personal finance concepts that include goods, human capital, human resources, income,
investment in human capital, services, and wages by a PowerPoint and class discussion. They
were also excited to learn about salaries based on occupations from the worksheet we handed
out. At the end of the lesson the 5th graders were eager to raise their hand when we were
reviewing what we had taught them. Taking turns the students would share their thoughts and
contribute to a class discussion. They also kept asking about what the high school DECA kids
were like and what DECA was about. Their interest gave us an idea to create a “Dear Pen pal”
activity that would allow them to communicate directly with the Cedarcrest High School DECA
members. We established a friendly and fun atmosphere during the first lesson.
Urban Mouse and Rural Mouse Lesson 2
For the first part of each lesson, we did a quick review to refresh the previous lesson the
students had learned. After that they were eager to answer discussion questions on services and
goods. We then handed them a story on the Urban Mouse and Rural Mouse that was read aloud
one student at a time. Since we were consistently switching learning styles and activities, they
remained engaged during the full lesson. When the 5th graders read the Urban Mouse and Rural
22. 22
Mouse they were really able to distinguish why communities have businesses and the difference
between goods and services. They were also excited to make the decision on where they would
work if they lived in Carter City, and also create their own business name and products they
would sell. The last part of the lesson we taught them how to calculate profit which they learned
very quickly. We ended the day with surprising them that they had a Pen pal DECA member
from the high school, and they were thrilled to write to them on questions and what they had
learned from our financial literacy class.
People Pay Taxes Lesson 3
Learning about different businesses and services in a community set up lesson 3 as an
extension to lesson 2. The students understood how businesses generate income, and in this
lesson we introduced that businesses have to pay taxes on their income. At first, the 5th graders
were hesitant to answer what goods and services were provided by the government, but once we
gave them a hint about police and firefighters they jumped into discussion. They made
calculations on their “Mike Muggles working at Burger Barn” worksheet and the simplicity of
the story allowed the students to primarily focus on the math component. The end of lesson 3
called for a review of all the lessons so far, and the students were able to memorize and master
all the components from lessons 1,2,3. They had reached the end of STAGE 1 EARNING
INCOME and were excited to advance in the curriculum. At the end of this lesson we surprised
the students by passing out their Pen pals responses, and the 5th graders were ecstatic to read
them. They shared with each other what the responses of their Pen pals were and wrote back
about what they had learned that day, and tied together the last 3 lessons. Creating stages in our
overall lesson plan allowed the 5th graders to reflect on what they had learned, anchor and apply
information.
23. 23
STAGE 2: SAVING
The Grasshopper and the Ant Lesson 4
We started off this lesson by writing the word “Fable” on the whiteboard. We asked the
students if they could recall any fables they have read and herd and they took turns eagerly
sharing their favorite fables. They all agreed that fables teach a lesson about life. We decided to
use a fable in this lesson be3cause the concept of fables was currently being taught by Mrs.
Farnworth for the 5th grade curriculum. We then asked them about situations when they had to
choose between two economic wants; deciding whether to spend their money on candy or for
their mothers birthday present. They explained situations when they had to make decisions and
we lead them to explain their rationale for those decisions. After our discussion, they understood
that sometimes we have to give up things in order to get the thing we want the most. We
introduced the term “opportunity cost” for these situations, and went right into a fable called
“The Grasshopper and the Ant”. They all took turns reading out loud and soon learned that the
grasshopper spent all of his money all the time. The grasshopper then tried to borrow money
from the ant but instead of lending the grasshopper money the ant explained the benefits of
saving and how to save. The grasshopper realizes life isn’t fun when you have no money because
you spent it all, so he decided to save so he could have money in the future. The students
understood the moral of the story, so we had them wright an extra chapter to assess their concept
on what the grasshopper would do once he saved his money. The majority of the stories
explained how the grasshopper would put money aside weekly, and budget for spending each
week. They also included the term “opportunity cost” in their stories to stress how the
grasshopper realized that he cannot always impulse spend his money if he has long term
financial goals. We then defined terms in the story for better understanding and reviewed the
24. 24
lesson. The 5th graders then eagerly wrote back to their Pen pals about what they had learned for
the day and were excited to start knowing there Pen pals by name and interests.
Savings Starts with Wanting More Lesson 5
Lesson 5 started with a picture of a piggy bank, purse, and coffee jar on the white board.
The students quickly made the connection that these pictures are all places to save money. They
then shared how they made money by doing chores and saving it “under my mattress” and “in
my piggy bank”. A critical learning point in this lesson was when they had to circle realistic
goods and services they could afford now, and could afford one year from when we taught the
lesson. There was a boy named Aaron who circled a service called “Camp Waskowitz” which is
the camp the Stillwater Elementary 5th graders go to at the end of the school year. We then
helped him create a savings goal and calculate how much he needed to save each month. He
determined he needed to save $30 a month for five months to reach his goal. He agreed that if he
did his chores and saved his money he would be able to accomplish his goal. This lesson was a
breakthrough because the students realized that they were using what they had learned from us to
accomplish their financial goals. We reviewed the lessons from the 2nd stage and the students
were sharp on our discussion primarily because they could relate and use what we had taught
them. At the end of the lesson the 5th graders were excited to share their realistic financial goals
to their high school Pen pals.
STAGE 3: CAPSTONE PROJECT
Hello Working World Capstone Project Lesson 6 Day 1
After going over the economic and personal finance concepts like we did in every lesson,
we then passed out a kinetic budgeting game called the “Bean Game.” We worked with the
students to decide what they wanted to spend their 20 beans on which included food, housing,
25. 25
furnishing, transportation, insurance, clothing and laundry. Some students were excited to share
how many beans they had left, while others were struggling to keep enough beans to pay for
things they needed. We then challenged them to only use 13 beans, which caused the students to
use rationale based on concepts they had learned especially on what they needed and what they
wanted. After they finished this activity we introduced a take home project to do with their
parents to create financial conversations with their guardians. At the end of part one of the final
lesson they wrote back to their Pen pals on what decisions they made regarding the bean game.
Hello Working World Capstone Project Lesson 6 Day 2
The final day was a celebration of what the 5th graders had learned. They shared their
“Hello Working World” and talked about what they had discussed with their parents. We then
gave them feedback on their presentations and were proud of how far they had come. We also
surprised the 5th graders by bringing in some of their Pen pals from the high school. They were
excited to meet them and ask them questions about DECA and how they use DECA in their
lives. The 5th graders then gave us critical feedback about our lessons that will help our future
members who teach financial literacy and expand this to other 5th grade class in our district.
IV. EVALUATION AND RECOMMENDATIONS
A. Evaluation of Campaign
STAGE 1: EARNING INCOME
Earning Income Lesson 1
During lesson 1, we set an important foundation of what DECA was. We explained our club and
what we did, along with introducing ourselves to the kids. Lesson one was mainly focused on
getting a feel for the classroom and making sure the students knew why we were there. The
students seemed to be extremely excited to have us there with them, and were eager to learn.
26. 26
During our first lesson we decided that having group discussions and activities would be the
most effective way to break the ice and get to know some of the students. By introducing a few
basic skills we were able to see what topics they knew about, and what topics we should
implement more in the next lesson. After lesson 1 we chatted about how it went and came to the
decision to have pen pals from Mr. Hillestad’s marketing class write to the fifth graders. This
idea turned out to be a hit and something that the kids always looked forward to. The first lesson
ran very smoothly and we were excited to come back.
Urban Mouse and Rural Mouse Lesson 2
As a group we decided that at the beginning of each lesson we would do a quick refresher on the
previous lesson. After we finished with that we dove into a fun story which the kids enjoyed and
were engaged in due to the fact they took turns reading aloud. After the story we had an activity
for them to do which furthered their connection with the story and gave them a chance to reflect
on it. By having activities where they were able to be creative and talk about themselves, they
were heavily engaged and attentive. They also were quick to grasp concepts and would often
refer back to concepts they had learned in previous weeks with no difficulties.
People Pay Taxes Lesson 3
Lesson three was more challenging than the two previous lessons were. Although we realized
that the fifth graders almost always asked for help when they were stumped and they were eager
to learn and master the concepts. By building on what we had learned the previous week they
were able to show us that their knowledge was growing. They became more invested in the
lesson and paid attention when we spoke. It was important that we be patient with them and give
them as much help as necessary, especially with the tougher math concepts.
STAGE 2: SAVING
27. 27
The Grasshopper and the Ant Lesson 4
We believe that this lesson was highly successful because of the way we started it off. By writing
one word on the board we were able to grasp the attention of the students and let them wonder
where we were going to go with it. Then, after we had them take turns reading a story aloud we
let them come up with another chapter to add to the end of the story. By letting their
imaginations lose, they didn’t think of this lesson as boring or learning necessarily. By weaving
important concepts in such as opportunity costs, and tradeoffs, they were able to learn, while also
having fun. It also seemed the pen pals were still a big hit.
Saving Starts with Wanting More Lesson
This lesson was a big success due to the relevance it had to the students and how it could easily
be applied to real world situations for them. Having them come up with a realistic goal and
calculate how long it would take them to save up money to reach that certain goal, was very
interesting. Many of the kids informed us that they were going to start saving for that specific
goal because of our lesson. We instilled in them that having savings goals and prioritizing what
to buy is an important part of life, and an exciting one too.
STAGE 3: CAPSTONE PROJECT
Hello Working World Capstone Project Lesson 6 Day 1
The standout activity of our time spent with the fifth graders was the bean game. The bean game
was a wonderful project to have them do because it was hands on, engaging, and relevant. The
students put the concepts we had been teaching them to use such as budgeting, opportunity cost,
and more. They were able to tell us their reasoning behind the choices they made, highlighting
the knowledge they had retained from previous weeks. They had to make decisions and support
28. 28
those decisions with facts. It was fun, entertaining and we were proud to see how far they had
come.
Hello Working World Capstone Project Lesson 6 Day 2
Our last day with the students was a chance for us to reflect on what they had learned and
celebrate it as well. After discussing with them what they liked and didn’t like we gained new
and valuable insight. They informed us that they highly enjoyed the hands on activities and the
group discussions we had. They also liked when they were given the opportunity to collaborate
with their peers. They especially enjoyed getting the chance to meet some of the pen pals. It was
an exciting day for us and for the kids.
B. RECOMMENDATIONS FOR ADDITIONAL NEW ACTIVITES FOR FUTURE
CAMPAIGNS
Our Financial Literacy Project was a project designed to teach kids about important life
skills that they could use to help them in their everyday life for years to come. It involved
extensive planning, rigorous research, and hours of teaching. We had to have time management
skills, be organized, and learn to work effectively as a team. The skills and knowledge attained
from this experience will easily transfer into our day to day lives. We hope that DECA members
in our chapter continue to grow this program next year. The Marketing I and II students that were
involved have been signing up to take Personal Finance next semester to learn more bout their
finances, and members in those classes have expressed interest in wanting to teach the program
at Stillwater next year or the elementary they attended. Also the kids at Stillwater talk about and
recognize the DECA logo and activities we do around town and have expressed interest in
wanting to join DECA when they get to high school. We believe it is an outstanding program
and that it should flourish in years to come. Some of our recommendations include recruiting
29. 29
more members and extending it to all of the fifth grade classes at Stillwater Elementary instead
of just one. This way the different DECA students who are teaching the classes can compare how
lessons went, and cultivate more ideas for teaching the fifth graders. We also recommend
spanning this out over a longer period of time. There was so much more we could have taught
them and would have loved to keep building upon the lessons we taught. Another idea would be
to join with a local bank/credit union to come and speak about savings opportunities. We
encourage future groups who take on this project to allow adequate time to plan and organize all
of their lessons.
V. Bibliography
http://nces.ed.gov/pubs/web/96184ex.asp
https://extension.usu.edu/utah/files/uploads/Finance/THE%20BEAN%20GAME.pdf
https://www.scholastic.com/teachers/sites/default/files/asset/file/hello_working_world.pdf
http://fffl.councilforeconed.org/
