Kindergarten is NOT too early to get ready for college! How can students be college or career ready without an understanding of finances or money management? The answer is, they can’t.
Ariel Education Initiative (AEI), the nonprofit arm of Ariel Investments, believes that financial literacy is a critical 21st-century skill and is vital to our kids, our society, and our future. That’s why AEI developed FUTURES: Financially Literate Kids for a Financially Literate Society™, a vibrant financial literacy program for kids. This proven educational program is FREE and readily available to districts, schools, teachers, coaches, counselors, and families, too!
Created by teachers for teachers, the easy-to-use program provides a comprehensive platform for teaching students how to make sound financial decisions and construct strong success-building goals. The FUTURES™ program guides students from kindergarten through eighth grade, starting with a basic and progressing up to an advanced understanding of four main finance-related instructional content strands: Personal Finance, Economics, Entrepreneurship, and Investing, each rich with important financial education topics. The stand-alone nature of each topic makes it easy to weave these important skills into any ongoing curriculum.
Each strand is made up of sections, 29 sections in all across the four strands. Each section begins with a detailed ready-to-use planning guide and is brimming with handouts and resources—including projectables, worksheets, charts, and other student materials. Because each section is divided into five color-coded sections, moving up in difficulty level, teachers can use their knowledge of student strengths and challenges to adapt and modify each section to meet their students’ needs. Throughout the program, students will develop knowledge of finance and investing using real-world examples and connections while honing critical-thinking skills, applying math skills, considering social studies and other real-world topics.
With an agile and flexible scope and sequence for instruction, lesson plans and assessments align to the national JumpStart Personal Finance Standards and National Council of Economic Education (NCEE) economics standards. In addition, Common Core State Standards for Math and English Language Arts that relate to the sections are also provided where applicable.
This program also “travels” smoothly far beyond the typical classroom, making it easy to introduce and weave in financial education topics in after school programs, home-school settings, and even around the family dinner table. When sports teams are ready to fund-raise, coaches can choose targeted sections from FUTURES™ to get the team off to a winning beginning.
Follow this Blog Each Day in April
Please join us for the next 30 days during Financial Literacy Month and get a taste of the program as we share games, activities, and other resources designed to help kids become more financially aware—the first step.
For more information about FUTURES: Financially Literate Kids for a Financially Literate Society™ for students in kindergarten through eighth grade or to download any of the 29 sections of the program, please click below.