FINANCIAL LITERACY COLLECTION

A ResourceAnd Curriculum Guide forRaising A Reader Implementers

Program ImplementationThe Raising A Reader Financial Literacy Book Collection includes 20 high quality picture books that focus on four (4)key financial literacy categories: Money and Math, Sharing and Charity, Savings and Financial Consciousness, and Work Ethic. Over the course of a programming year, families have the opportunity to explore and discuss the four key financial categories by sharing five books related to each theme and use interactive reading techniques taught in the Raising A Reader program.

In addition, each book contains a bookplate (translated in both English and Spanish) that provides the family with information and guidance in discussing the theme. Families are provided with developmentally appropriate information about the key concepts within the theme, sample questions and sentence frames to ask while reading the book, and real world extension activities to do as a family.

Implementers are also encouraged to use the Financial Literacy Book Collection within their curriculum and lesson plans. Included at the end of this resource guide are suggested curriculum ideas for a small sampling of the books.

Parent WorkshopsThrough the Raising A Reader program, families have the opportunity to develop, practice and sustain family literacy behaviors. The Financial Literacy Book Collection offers families the extra opportunity to develop the habit of discussing family financial beliefs and practices and practice positive financial skills and habits in a real world setting.

Parent Engagement Workshops centered around the book collection should help and support parents and caregivers in using interactive book sharing techniques to guide book discussions about the four key financial literacy themes. Parents and caregivers should also learn how to engage in real world financial extension activities.

Sample Parent Engagement Workshop Agenda:• Introduce the Financial Literacy Book Collection• Child Development and Financial Literacy Development• What Does Interactive Reading Look Like Using the Financial Literacy Collection?• Time to Explore the Financial Literacy Book Collection

Children and Financial Literacy. . .

BackgroundIn the United States, the primary focus of education is to prepare students to be “college-and-career ready” by ensuring that they receive strong instruction in literacy, math, and science. While the ability to read, write, and do math are fundamental skills that children will need for future success, an equally important area of focus that often gets overlooked in education is developing and helping children achieve financial literacy--the ability to understand how money works in the world: how money is earned, how it is managed, how to invest money, and how money is donated to help others (Giesler & Veresiu, 2014). As a result, very few young people enter adulthood with the appropriate knowledge and skills required to successfully manage their personal finances.

Topics related to financial literacy are typically considered to be topics that adults engage in. There is an assumption that young children are not able to grasp what are generally thought of as financial concepts, such as making a living, savings, investing, and economic inequities that exist in society. However, starting from a very young age, children are aware of what money is and have a very basic understanding that money is used in exchange for goods and services.

It is important that a financial literacy program for young children center around giving children developmentally appropriate knowledge and experiences that will serve as building blocks for creating positive financial behaviors in the future. In order for a financial literacy program for young children to be effective, it must involve the whole family as research has shown that parents and caregivers greatly influence and impact the behaviors and beliefs of their children. Taking a whole family approach to financial literacy also has the added bonus of allowing the adults in the family to reflect upon their own financial values and behaviors and for the family as a whole to grow in their understanding of financial concepts and behaviors together.

Finally, young children are experiential learners. They grow in their understanding of concepts through exposure and practice. Financial literacy development for young children should provide children with the opportunity to see adults involved in financial transactions and other activities that involve money as well as have the opportunity to practice these behaviors themselves.

The Raising A Reader Financial Literacy CollectionThe primary goal of the Raising A Reader (RAR) Financial Literacy Collection is to provide parents and/or caregivers the opportunity and resources to introduce and engage in developmentally appropriate conversations about financial literacy concepts with their young children. Using the RAR Financial Literacy Collection, parents and/or caregivers will:

1. Increase the frequency of discussions with their children about money2. Engage in family discussions regarding decisions about how the family earns and spends money3. Provide their children with opportunities to practice authentic financial activities

Four Key Financial Literacy

Categories

1. Money and Math

2. Sharing and Charity

3. Savings and FinancialConsciousness

4. Work Ethic

Raising A Reader’s Financial Literacy Book Collection

The Financial Literacy Book CollectionThe Raising A Reader Financial Literacy Book Collection consists of 20 high quality picture books* appropriate for children ages 4-8. Each book has been chosen to support one of the key financial literacy categories: Money and Math, Sharing and Charity, Savings and Financial Consciousness, and Work Ethic.

BookMoney and Math Sharing and

CharitySavings and

Financial Consciousness

Work Ethic

A Chair for My Mother x

A Dollar for Penny x

All for a Dime x

Benny’s Pennies x

Bunny Money x

Erandi’s Braids x

Follow the Money! x

How Much is that Doggie in the Window? x

Isabel’s Car Wash x

Just Saving My Money x

BookMoney and Math Sharing and

CharitySavings and

Financial Consciousness

Work Ethic

Lemonade in Winter: A Book About Two Kids

Counting Moneyx

Max’Bunny Business x

Should I Share My Ice Cream? x

Something Special For Me x

The Adventures of Billy and Penny x

The Coin Counting Book x

The Giving Tree x

The Little Red Hen Makes a Pizza x

The Penny Pot x

Those Shoes x

*Note: Titles are subject to availability.

Financial Literacy Collection Bookplates

Financial Literacy BookplatesOn the inside cover of each Raising A Reader Financial Literacy book, parents will find a bilingual English-Spanish bookplate that describes which of the four suggested Financial Literacy categories a particular book belongs in. The bookplate outlines simple, age- appropriate key concepts and topics that can be found in the book, provides related discussion questions that parents can use with their child during the book sharing experience, and offers real world connection activities to help their child further develop an awareness and understanding about what they are reading in the financial literacy themed books to their own life.

Rotating Financial Literacy Books in the Red Raising A Reader Book Bags

To rotate the Financial Literacy books in the Red Raising A Reader Book Bags, simply remove one (out of the 4) non-FinancialLiteracy RAR books and replace that title with a RAR Financial Literacy title. Rotate the Red Bags using whatever Bag Rotation you have set up in your class-room or site.

Sharing & CharityBookplate

Work Ethic & Aspirations

Bookplate

Savings & Financial

Consciousness Bookplate

Money & Math Bookplate

Identifies and describes the suggested RAR Financial Literacy category that the book is classified in. Highlights the general key concepts and topics inluded in books of that category.

Suggested discussion questions and real world connection activities translated into Spanish for Spanish-speaking families.

Suggestions for discussion questions and real world connection activities that parents can use to engage and build their child’s financial understanding and awareness while sharing the book.

Comprehension / Connection Questions to Ask

Before Reading:• How many of you have saved money before? Why do people want to

save money? Why is it important to save money?

• What can people use to save their money? Where do people go to savetheir money?

During Reading:• At the beginning of the story, Little Critter comes home with a broken

skateboard and he tells his dad that he wants a new one. How many ofyou have ever needed to buy something new because you broke it ormaybe it was too old to use?

• After counting the money that Little Critter had in his bank, his dad toldhim that he is going to have to save more money to buy a new skate-board. Why do you think Little Critter’s dad told him that he was going tohave to save more money?

After the Reading: • What kinds of things did Little Critter do to make money?• How would you save money?• Can you think of ways that people make or save money?

Extension Activity Ideas

• Story or Drawing Idea: What would you do with $5? What canyou buy with $5?

• Write a story about how you would save money or why it isimportant to learn to save money?

• Money/Coin Sort Activity: Have the students sort out moneylike George does in the story. Create a graph out of thedifferent coin piles.

• Craft Idea: Make Piggy Banks

Financial Literacy Concepts Covered

• Savings andfinancialconsciousness

• Counting money

• Work ethic

Financial Literacy Concepts Covered

• Earning andspending money

• Goods andservices

• Creating abusiness(Entrepreneurship)

Extension Activity Ideas

• Help the children start a classroom store: Have the studentscreate a design for fake money that they can use in theirclassroom store. (Consult with teacher about this idea beforedoing it.)

• Brainstorm with students fun/odd jobs they can do to earnmoney. Have them write, draw, and share their story.

Comprehension / Connection Questions to Ask

Before Reading:• How many of you know what a business is?

• What does it mean to own a business? Why do people have a business?

• How can people earn money? What do people do with money?

During or After Reading:• At the beginning of the story, the Nelly Longhair doll, the object of

Isabel's desire, is on sale at Murphy's Toys for ten dollars. But Isabel has only fifty cents. How much money did Isabel need to purchase a Nelly Longhair?

• What idea did Isabel come up with to make money?

• How much money Isabel borrow from her friends?

• In the story, Isabel decides to start her own business to make money.What kind of business did she start? How did Isabel prepare to starther business? What did Isabel do with the money she earned?

Suggested Curriculum for Max’s Bunny Business

Suggested Curriculum for Just Saving My Money

Financial Literacy Concepts Covered

• Savings andfinancialconsciousness

• Sharing andcharity

• Counting money

Extension Activity Ideas

• Place a handful of coins on the table and talk about the value of each. Askquestions such as: “Which coin is a dime?” “How many pennies equal adime?” “How many nickels?” “Can you combine pennies and nickels tomake a dime?”

• Practice using coins in everyday situations: Help the students choose thecoins needed to ride a bus, buy a magazine or a healthy snack, etc.

• “How many different combinations can you make using 25 cents?” Theanswer is 13 different ways. The kids can use money to help them figure itout and can write out how they came to the answer.

• Give the students each a mixed bag of plastic coins containing pennies,nickels, dimes, and quarters. Have the students sort out money like thecharacters do in the story. Create a graph out of the different coin piles.

Comprehension / Connection Questions to Ask

Before Reading:• How many of you know what money is? What are some examples of

money? (i.e. quarter, penny, dollar, etc.)

• Why is it important for people to have money?

During Reading: • What does Jessie want to do?• How much does it cost to get her face painted?• Does she have enough money?• How do you think Jessie will get enough money to pay for the face

painting?

After the Reading:• In the story, the children put their leftover coins in the Penny Pot. Was

that something that they had to do or was it something that they wantedto do?

• What were the coins in the Penny Pot used for? Would you havecontributed to the Penny Pot if you had money leftover?

Suggested Curriculum for Lemonade in Winter

Financial Literacy Concepts Covered

• Earning andspending money

• Goods andservices

• Creating abusiness(Entrepreneurship)

• Advertising andsales

• Counting money

Extension Activity Ideas

• Help the children start a classroom store: Have the students createa design for fake money that they can use in their classroom store.(Consult with teacher about this idea before doing it.)

• Brainstorm with students fun/odd jobs they can do to earn money.Have them write, draw, and share their story.

• Art Activity: Coin Rubbings

• Money/Coin Sort Activity: Give the students each a mixed bag ofplastic coins containing pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters. Havethe students sort out money like the characters do in the story.Create a graph out of the different coin piles.

Comprehension / Connection Questions to Ask

Before Reading:• How many of you know what a business is?

• What does it mean to own a business? Why do people have a business?

• How do people let other people know about their business?

During or After Reading:• Pauline and John-John decide that they want to open up a lemonade

stand even though it’s cold outside. What do you think of their idea? Doyou think that they will get customers? Why or why not?

• How do Pauline and John-John get money to buy the things to start theirlemonade business?

• How do Pauline and John-John advertise their business? What are someideas that Pauline and John-John come up with get people to buy theirlemonade?

• What do Pauline and John-John buy with the money they earned fromselling lemonade?

Suggested Curriculum for The Penny Pot

Follow Us and Share Your Stories!We love learning about how different classrooms are using the Raising A Reader Financial Literacy Collection! Follow us and share your stories and pictures on any of our social media pages:

Raising A Reader National RARNational

raising_a_reader RaisingAReaderNational