Grade 3 · 36 weeks
Grade 3 financial literacy curriculum
Banks, interest, budgeting, comparing prices, and opportunity cost. 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 1–6Banks, Deposits, Withdrawals, and Balances
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | What Is a Bank? A bank is a safe place that keeps money for people. | SavingManaging Risk |
| 2 | Making a Deposit A deposit means putting money into a bank. | SavingManaging Credit |
| 3 | Making a Withdrawal A withdrawal means taking money out of a bank. | Saving |
| 4 | Deposit or Withdraw? Deposits add money and withdrawals take money away. | Saving |
| 5 | Your Bank Balance A balance is how much money you have in your account right now. | Saving |
| 6 | Review: Banks and Balances We review deposits, withdrawals, and balances from weeks one to five. | Saving |
Checkpoint 1 closes the unit: Banks, Deposits, Withdrawals, and Balances.
Unit 2 · Weeks 7–12Saving, Interest, and Growing Savings
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 7 | Why Save Money? Saving means keeping money now to use later. | SavingManaging Risk |
| 8 | Saving a Little Each Week Small amounts saved often grow into a large total. | Saving |
| 9 | Interest: Free Money That Grows Interest is extra money the bank adds to your savings. | SavingManaging Credit |
| 10 | Figuring Out Simple Interest Simple interest is a small percent the bank adds to your savings. | SavingManaging Credit |
| 11 | Watching Savings Grow Over Time Savings grow year after year when interest is added. | Earning IncomeSavingInvesting |
| 12 | Review: Saving and Interest We review saving habits and simple interest from weeks seven to eleven. | SavingManaging Credit |
Checkpoint 2 closes the unit: Saving, Interest, and Growing Savings.
Unit 3 · Weeks 13–18Budgets, Income, Spending, and Saving
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 13 | What Is a Budget? A budget is a plan for the money you get and spend. | Earning IncomeSpendingSaving |
| 14 | Income: Money Coming In Income is the money you get or earn. | Earning IncomeSpending |
| 15 | Spending: Money Going Out Spending is the money you use to buy things. | SpendingManaging Credit |
| 16 | Income Minus Spending What is left after spending can be saved. | Earning IncomeSpendingSaving |
| 17 | Building a Simple Budget A full budget shows income, spending, and saving together. | Earning IncomeSpendingSaving |
| 18 | Review: Income, Spending and Saving We review income, spending, and saving from weeks thirteen to seventeen. | Earning IncomeSpendingSaving |
Checkpoint 3 closes the unit: Budgets, Income, Spending, and Saving.
Unit 4 · Weeks 19–24Prices, Deals, Word Problems, and Saving Goals
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 19 | Quality or Price? Is Cheaper Always Better? Cheaper is not always better when an item breaks fast or works poorly. | Spending |
| 20 | Which Is the Better Deal? The better deal gives you more for your money. | SpendingSaving |
| 21 | Checking Accounts and Debit Cards A debit card spends money straight from your checking account. | SpendingSaving |
| 22 | Saving Goals and Steps A saving goal is reached by saving small amounts over time. | SpendingSaving |
| 23 | Reading a Bank Statement A bank statement shows every deposit, withdrawal, and fee, so check it each month. | SavingManaging Credit |
| 24 | Review: Money Skills We review quality and price, deals, checking accounts, saving goals, and bank statements from weeks nineteen to twenty three. | SpendingSaving |
Checkpoint 4 closes the unit: Prices, Deals, Word Problems, and Saving Goals.
Unit 5 · Weeks 25–30Choices, Opportunity Cost, Trade-offs, and Borrowing
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 25 | Making Choices With Money With limited money we cannot buy everything we want. | Spending |
| 26 | Opportunity Cost Opportunity cost is the thing you give up when you choose. | SpendingInvesting |
| 27 | Weighing Trade-Offs A trade-off means giving up some of one thing to get more of another. | Spending |
| 28 | Borrowing and Credit A loan is money you borrow and pay back, plus interest. | Managing Credit |
| 29 | Money Challenge Project: Plan We plan a project to spend 20 dollars wisely. | Spending |
| 30 | Review: Decisions and Project Check We review opportunity cost and trade-offs and check our project plans. | Spending |
Checkpoint 5 closes the unit: Choices, Opportunity Cost, Trade-offs, and Borrowing.
Unit 6 · Weeks 31–36Money Projects, Investing, Year Plans, and Scams
| Week | Lesson | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| 31 | Money Challenge Project: Build We build our project by choosing items and adding costs. | SpendingManaging Risk |
| 32 | Money Challenge Project: Share We share our spending plans and explain our choices. | Spending |
| 33 | What Is Investing? Investing means buying something you hope will grow in value over time. | SpendingSavingInvesting |
| 34 | My Money Plan for the Year We make a full plan using income, saving, and goals. | Earning IncomeSaving |
| 35 | Giving Wisely: Charities and Causes A charity helps others, and giving can be part of your money plan. | Spending |
| 36 | Year-End Review and Celebration We review the whole year of money learning and celebrate. | SpendingSaving |
Checkpoint 6 closes the unit: Money Projects, Investing, Year Plans, and Scams.
Bonus unit · after week 36Money and Investing
| Lesson | Topic | Standards areas |
|---|---|---|
| B1 | Commodity, Fiat, and Digital Money Money has been things that are useful themselves, paper money people trust, and numbers in computers. | Spending |
| B2 | Owning a Share Saving keeps money safe and earns a little interest, while investing in shares can grow more but has risk. | SavingInvesting |
| B3 | What Is Cryptocurrency? Cryptocurrency is digital money made with computer code that people send to each other without a bank in the middle. | InvestingManaging Risk |
| B4 | Checking, Savings, and Your Debit Card Banks offer checking accounts for spending and savings accounts for saving, and the money in them is protected. | SavingManaging Risk |
| B5 | When Prices Go Up Inflation means prices in general rise over time, so each dollar has less purchasing power. | SpendingSaving |
Money connections: 7 short activities in this grade link the week's topic to Managing Credit, Managing Risk, Investing (shown above in the Standards areas column).
Other grades
Kindergarten Grade 1 Grade 2 Grade 4 Grade 5 Grade 6 Grade 7 Grade 8