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Building Blocks of Finance

The Building Blocks of Finance Educator Section includes tools as well as ready-to-use classroom materials. Educators can see how the National Standards for Personal Financial Education and the Common Core State Standards align with the Building Blocks of Finance books, organized by the grade level(s) they teach. In addition, educators will have access to reading resources such as discussion guides and comprehension checks as well as fun classroom activities like vocabulary bingo! The Educators Section will also include engaging lessons with built-in differentiation options to support all learners as they continue to explore this content.

Building Blocks of Finance Standards Alignment

Use this section to view how the National Standards for Personal Financial Education align to the Building Blocks of Finance series.

National Standards of Personal Financial Education

Reading Resources

Each book in the Building Blocks of Finance series comes with a discussion guide as well as a comprehension check! Each Discussion Guide includes 10 questions and is intended to be used during or after reading the text to help students better understand the content. Potential answers are also included. Each Comprehension Check also includes 10 questions and comes with an Answer Key. The Comprehension Check is intended to be used after reading and is a great assessment option.

Classroom Activities

These activities are designed for classroom use and can be used in both the small group and/or whole group setting. These activities bring some fun, engagement, and reflection to students’ learning!

Vocabulary Bingo

Play this bingo game with your students to deepen their understanding of key vocabulary words related to the entire Building Blocks of Finance series. This can also be used as a fun review game before an assessment.

Debit Cards vs. Credit Cards

This hands-on activity involves sorting information about debit and credit cards to better understand how these tools work as well as the pros and cons of each. This activity will require students to apply what they know about debit and credit cards to real-world situations.

My Spending Priorities

Learning about finances is one thing but being able to apply our knowledge to our real lives is another. Luckily for students, today they will consider their spending priorities and how these might change depending on the situation.

Lesson Plans

World Book has created lesson plans that can be used to help deepen students’ understanding of the Building Blocks of Finance concepts. These full lesson plans are aligned to standards, include assessment options, describe possible differentiation considerations, and include a variety of ways for students to stay engaged in their learning. Many materials are included as quick and easy downloads for your convenience.

Supply and Demand

This lesson is designed for students in grades 4-8 and includes differentiation options to make the lesson appropriate for your group of students. In this lesson, students will read about the concept of supply and demand. They will also analyze a graph to help deepen their understanding of this idea. Students will apply their understanding and use their creativity to consider supply and demand in the real world.

Savings are Important Opinion Writing

This lesson is designed for students in grades 4-8 and combines financial literacy learning with opinion writing. This lesson also includes differentiation options to tailor the learning to your students’ strengths and needs. In this lesson, students will brainstorm and write about why saving money is important to them. They will reference saving for fun purchases, saving for the future, and saving for emergencies.