Grade 2 · 36 weeks
Grade 2 financial literacy curriculum
Earning income, adding money, making change, and setting saving goals. One lesson a week for the school year, about 45 minutes each, with a worksheet, a quiz, a family letter and a checkpoint test every six weeks.
Every week includes
- Lesson plan with timings, differentiation and a hands-on activity
- Student worksheet and answer key
- Weekly quiz (75% unlocks the next week)
- Family letter in English, Spanish or Portuguese
Aligned to standards
Every lesson is tagged with the six areas of the National Standards for Personal Financial Education (Jump$tart Coalition and Council for Economic Education) and the grade's Common Core math standards. State codes are available for Illinois, Texas, Florida, North Dakota, Colorado, Georgia, Arizona, Utah, Nebraska.
Scope and sequence
Unit 1 · Weeks 1–6Jobs, Coins, and Adding Cents
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Work Becomes Pay Pay is money earned for work that is finished. | Earning IncomeSpending |
| 2 | Many Kinds of Jobs There are many different jobs, and each one earns money. | Earning IncomeManaging Risk |
| 3 | Money Around the World Different countries use different money, but it all does the same job. | Earning IncomeSpending |
| 4 | Counting Coins We can count coins to find a total amount. | Spending |
| 5 | Adding Money Amounts We can add two money amounts to find how much in all. | Spending |
| 6 | Review: Money So Far We review earning, money around the world, counting, and adding money. | Earning Income |
Checkpoint 1 closes the unit: Jobs, Coins, and Adding Cents.
Unit 2 · Weeks 7–12Dollars and Cents, Place Value, and Comparing
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Dollars and Cents Money can be shown in dollars and cents. | Spending |
| 8 | Writing Money the Clean Way We write dollars and cents in a neat, correct way. | Spending |
| 9 | Place Value with Money Money amounts have places for dollars, dimes, and pennies. | Spending |
| 10 | Comparing Money Amounts We can tell which money amount is greater or less. | Spending |
| 11 | Making Amounts Different Ways The same money amount can be made with different coins. | Spending |
| 12 | Review: Dollars, Cents, Place Value We review writing money, place value, and comparing. | Spending |
Checkpoint 2 closes the unit: Dollars and Cents, Place Value, and Comparing.
Unit 3 · Weeks 13–18Making Change, Word Problems, and Saving Goals
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | What Is Making Change Change is the money you get back when you pay too much. | Spending |
| 14 | Counting Up to Make Change We count up from the cost to find the change. | Spending |
| 15 | Money Word Problems We read a story problem and solve it with money math. | Spending |
| 16 | Take Away Money Problems We subtract money when some is spent or given away. | SpendingManaging Credit |
| 17 | Estimating Costs We round prices to the nearest dollar to guess a total before we buy. | Spending |
| 18 | Review: Change and Word Problems We review making change, estimating costs, and word problems. | SpendingSaving |
Checkpoint 3 closes the unit: Making Change, Word Problems, and Saving Goals.
Unit 4 · Weeks 19–24Weeks to Save, Needs and Wants, and Budgets
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | Weeks to Save We can find how many weeks it takes to reach a goal. | Earning IncomeSpendingSavingInvesting |
| 20 | Saving Faster Saving more each week reaches a goal sooner. | SpendingSaving |
| 21 | Safe Places for Money: Jar, Wallet, Bank Money can be kept in a jar, a wallet, or a bank, and each place has trade-offs. | SpendingSavingManaging Risk |
| 22 | Needs First When Money Is Limited When money is short, we spend on needs before wants. | Spending |
| 23 | A Simple Budget A budget is a plan for how to use our money. | SpendingSavingManaging Credit |
| 24 | Review: Saving and Budgeting We review saving goals, weeks to save, needs first, and budgets. | SpendingSaving |
Checkpoint 4 closes the unit: Weeks to Save, Needs and Wants, and Budgets.
Unit 5 · Weeks 25–30Smart Shopping, Borrowing, and Fair Planning
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Saving Money by Comparing Prices Comparing prices shows which costs less and how much we save. | SpendingSaving |
| 26 | Best Buy for Your Money The best buy gives us more for the money we spend. | Spending |
| 27 | Do I Have Enough Money We check if our money is enough to buy something. | Spending |
| 28 | Returns, Refunds and Receipts We keep our receipt so we can return or exchange something. | SpendingManaging Credit |
| 29 | Planning the Money Fair We plan a class money fair to use what we learned. | Earning IncomeInvesting |
| 30 | Review: Smart Shopping We review comparing prices, best buys, and smart spending. | Spending |
Checkpoint 5 closes the unit: Smart Shopping, Borrowing, and Fair Planning.
Unit 6 · Weeks 31–36The Money Fair, Investing, and Money Tricks
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Pricing for the Fair We set fair prices for the items we will sell. | Earning IncomeSpending |
| 32 | Making Change at the Fair Sellers give change when buyers pay too much. | SpendingManaging Credit |
| 33 | The Money Fair Day We hold our money fair and use all our money skills. | Spending |
| 34 | Money That Grows: Saving and Investing Saving keeps money safe. Investing tries to make more money. | Earning IncomeSavingInvesting |
| 35 | Spotting Money Tricks Some messages try to trick us out of money or secrets. | Managing Risk |
| 36 | Year-End Money Review We review all the money we learned this year. | Earning IncomeSpendingSaving |
Checkpoint 6 closes the unit: The Money Fair, Investing, and Money Tricks.
Bonus unit · after week 36Money and Investing
| Lesson | Topic | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| B1 | How Money Changed Over Time People went from trading to using useful things as money, then coins, bills, and digital money. | Spending |
| B2 | Saving and Investing Saving keeps money safe for later, and investing tries to help money grow. | SavingInvesting |
| B3 | Staying Safe With Digital Money Game money is not real money, digital wallets hold real money, and we keep it safe online. | SpendingManaging Risk |
| B4 | How a Bank Keeps Money Safe Banks keep money safe, keep careful records, and may pay you a little extra for saving. | SavingManaging Risk |
| B5 | Why Prices Change Over Time Over many years most prices rise, so a dollar buys less than it used to, and we compare, choose, and save. | SpendingSaving |
Money connections: 8 short activities in this grade link the week's topic to Managing Risk, Managing Credit, Investing (shown above in the Standards areas column).
Other grades
Kindergarten Grade 1 Grade 3 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8