Lesson 11: Introducing budgets
Introduction
Time:
Single class period
Materials:
Activity Two: Think-Pair-Share
Introduction:
Planning for the future helps us to get what we want or need. Managing money can be tricky; it’s easy to lose track of spending and end up not being able to make ends meet. Learning how to budget is a simple way of managing your money. During this lesson, students will learn what a budget is and how budgets work in a range of different contexts.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Activity One: Review of Lesson 10 Homework Task
1. Invite students on one side of the room to call out their top tips for super spenders. Note their responses on the white/blackboard.
2. Repeat the process for students on the other side of the room for super savers.
3. Ask students which group – super spenders or super savers – are easier to provide with advice and why do they think this is the case?
Activity Two: Think-Pair-Share
1. Explain to the class that they are going to do an activity where they will think about, and discuss their understanding of the word ‘budget’.
2. Distribute one Student Worksheet: Think-Pair-Share to each student and invite them to complete it individually.
You could begin by asking students if they have ever heard this word before and if so in what context (e.g. government budget, household budget etc). Ask if anyone in the class ever sat down and came up with a plan about how to save, e.g. to buy Christmas presents or for a holiday etc.?
Explain all budgets, inclusive of personal budgets, household budgets, business budgets or government department budgets. They are a way of:
- planning how money is spent
- keeping spending under control
- keeping track of everything that is coming in and going out
- helping to develop an awareness of money and where it goes and to make planning for the future easier
3. Ask students to form pairs, compare their work and decide which the best answers are for each of the boxes on their completed worksheets.
4. Invite feedback from a sample of pairs, recording student responses on the white/blackboard.
