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]]>Summer is almost here, and while the school doors may be closed, the opportunity for learning remains wide open! The Pathway to Financial Success program is dedicated to empowering students with essential financial literacy skills, and summer is the perfect time to elevate this initiative. Let’s dive into how we can support students during these sunny months and ensure they continue to build a brighter financial future.
Pathway to Financial Success, supported by Discover Financial Services and Discovery Education, has been making a significant impact on financial literacy. The program is designed to bring financial education into classrooms across the country, providing funding for curriculum, materials, and teacher training. The goal is simple: equip students with the skills they need to succeed long after they leave the classroom.
Why Summer Learning Matters: Summer learning is crucial to prevent the “summer slide,” where students lose academic skills gained during the school year. By integrating financial education into summer activities, we can keep students engaged and help them retain valuable knowledge. Plus, it’s a fantastic way to make learning fun and relevant!
Strategies for Summer Learning
To keep students engaged and learning throughout the summer, it’s essential to incorporate fun and interactive financial education activities. Here are some effective strategies to ensure students continue to build their financial literacy skills during the summer months:
- Interactive Workshops: Host engaging workshops that combine financial education with hands-on activities. Think budgeting games, investment simulations, and money management challenges. These can be held at community centers, libraries, or even online.
- Reading Programs: Encourage students to explore books and resources on financial literacy. Partner with local libraries to create a summer reading list focused on money management, saving, and investing. Audiobooks and interactive e-books can also be great tools for learning on the go.
- Family Involvement: Get families involved by providing resources and activities they can do together. Create fun challenges like “Family Budgeting Week” or “Savings Goals Month” to foster a collaborative learning environment at home.
- Online Learning Platforms: Utilize online platforms like Khan Academy, Duolingo, or Scratch to offer courses and modules on financial topics. These platforms provide interactive and engaging content that can be accessed anytime, anywhere.
Support Teens This Summer with Financial Goals
Summer is a special time for teens as they embark on exciting adventures to test the waters on what it’s like to be independent and away from home. Here are a few resources that can help families support their teens this summer—from establishing good credit and strong savings to considering career options and life beyond high school!
Summer is a time for fun, growth, and learning. By integrating financial education into summer activities, we can help students stay engaged, retain valuable skills, and build a foundation for a successful financial future.
Let’s make this summer a season of empowerment with the Pathway to Financial Success program!
DE Staff
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]]>September is College Savings Month! Discovery Education’s collection of engaging content gives younger students the stepping stones to learning financial responsibility, while inspiring older students to think critically about their college plans and financial goals.
Making Plans for the Future
A major part of saving for college is thinking about the number of years a career path will need. Since some fields will require higher degrees than others, it’s important for students to narrow their focus to give their financial goals some clarity. Encourage students to explore different careers, then determine how they’ll need to prepare for these careers with higher education. Career profiles from the STEM Careers Coalition and Discover Data can help students envision themselves in different careers and guide their career goals.
Once students determine a direction for their future, it’s time to focus on financials! Introduce students to technical programs, community colleges, public universities, and private universities to compare prices and programs. Encourage students to research different tuition rates, room and board costs, and estimate costs for books and materials.
Make family discussions about college planning easy with discussion guides from TGR EDU: Explore, a program with TGR Foundation, A Tiger Woods Charity. These resources will help older students (grades 6-12) understand the various types of financial aid, navigate the application process, and prioritize responsibilities for college admissions.
Personal Finance Support
Identifying and meeting financial goals can also lead to conversations on budgeting and personal financial choices. Lead students in grades K-2 through the Needs and Wants activity to help them determine what purchases should fit into a budget. The Premium Products hands-on activity in the Discover Data Channel helps students in grades 6-8 learn why some items cost more than others. Lastly. students can understand the financial effects of their choices with conversations around budgeting and behavioral economics lessons from Econ Essentials.
Explore how to make personal finances culturally relevant and interesting in the professional learning series from Pathway to Financial Success in Schools, developed with Discover Financial Services. Through these real-world educator stories, teachers see firsthand the benefits financial education can have on students. Plus, find more resources that offer additional step-by-step navigation to guide students in grades 6-12 on their financial and personal missions.
Find fun in financial literacy with Discover Venture Valley, a program with the Singleton Foundation for Financial Literacy and Entrepreneurship. Discover Venture Valley empowers students in grades 6-12 to build financial and business basics through gamified learning as they take on the role of a budding entrepreneur in the new Venture Valley video game.
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]]>Preparing future-ready students means helping them build the skills needed to succeed beyond the classroom. And what better way to help students focus on life skills than to celebrate Financial Literacy Month! Discovery Education has a wealth of resources to teach all students about money management, financial responsibility, and all about the economy.
Introducing Financial Literacy
It is never too early to learn about financial literacy! Discovery Education’s Money Channel and Financial Literacy Channel are great places to find videos and instructional activities that will introduce a strong foundation of financial understanding for students in K-12.
The Money Channel invites students to dive into the role money plays in our world. Find age-appropriate topics—from identifying money to understanding investments—and activities for grades K-5, 6-8, and 9-12. As younger students begin identifying how goods and services connect to the role of money, older students can put these concepts into practice by considering how to save, spend, and invest in the real world.
Once students understand the purpose of money, they are one step closer to learning how to manage money. The Financial Literacy Channel helps students understand how making good financial choices and using the right money management tools can make a community of wise consumers who can achieve their dreams. From discussions about earning money to analyzing how to budget wisely, the resources in the Financial Literacy Channel can help all students prepare for future financial choices.
Cha-Ching Money Smart Kids prepare kids in grades K-6 with the knowledge, tools, and practice they need to make informed decisions to reach their goals and dreams. With videos and activities on earning, saving, donating, and spending money, students can practice the decision making that comes with managing money.
Looking to the Future
As students in grades 6-12 grow closer to entering the workforce, it’s important to connect their financial education to the real world to help students visualize how they will interact with money as they move into adulthood.
Econ Essentials brings the basics of economics and financial principles to life with standards-aligned instructional materials from Futures Fundamentals. This growing collection of videos, collaborative activities, and self-guided learning modules introduces how financial decisions can be affected by economic systems in place and explores how students will interact with these systems in the future.
Wisconsin
The Pathway to Financial Success Channel, created in partnership with Discover Financial Services and Discovery Education, provides middle and high school students with a comprehensive unit-based curriculum enhanced by videos, self-paced modules, and cross-curricular activities. Students can progress through relevant topics such as financial responsibility, identifying a career, and using credit wisely. Elementary resources and animated videos are coming at the end of April, so stay tuned for more resources to help more students prepare for their financial future. Making major financial decisions calls for major preparation – and Pathway to Financial Success is a great means of preparation!
Students can sharpen their entrepreneurial skills with videos and interactive lessons from Discover Venture Valley, as the activities and videos get students started on the path to becoming the game-changing entrepreneurs of the future. Help students imagine the possibilities of their future from both a financial and business standpoint with simple ways to start envisioning themselves as entrepreneurs.
Don’t forget! Financial Literacy Month kicks off April 1 and Discovery Education has plenty of activities, videos, and resources to help your students find their financial footing!
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