Teaching students how to understand their savings and checking accounts is a skill that is definitely in my top three most important financial literacy lessons students need to learn. (It’s up there with understanding their paychecks and budgeting…)
Unfortunately, it’s also become one of the more challenging topics to teach because there is now so much reliance on using banking apps to manage money, and this is a tough thing to simulate in the classroom.
Also, with current technology, do students find learning how to write checks relevant?
Do they even know what a checkbook is?
Should we still be teaching students how to ‘balance a checkbook?’
These were all questions I struggled with as I started to put together a unit on banking and saving. I wanted the banking lessons I created for students to be useful and relevant, even if I didn’t have a way to have students directly experience online banking in my classroom.
Here are six lesson and activity ideas that address all of these issues and will help you engage your students while teaching about checking and savings accounts.
Intro to Banking Lesson
This lesson is designed to give students a short overview of different types of banks and the services they offer. They’ll learn about the differences between banks and credit unions, checking and savings accounts, how banks make their money, how they’re insured, and more.
Students will also explore a bank website to learn how to research a bank and the services each bank offers. You can check out the full details here.
Understanding Savings Accounts Lesson
Savings accounts haven’t changed much over the years, so these accounts are a little easier to teach about than checking accounts. There have been a few new developments over the last several years, including high-yield savings accounts becoming more common.
Savings accounts also provide students with the opportunity to start learning about interest, fees, and how to understand their bank statements.
If you’re looking for a lesson that incorporates all of these topics, you can find my lesson here.
Understanding Checking Accounts Lesson
Out of all the lessons and activities I’ve put together for bank accounts, this lesson was definitely the most challenging.
As of writing this post, I still think it is important for students to have exposure to writing checks… but I reserve the right to change my mind about this in the future! I think there are still times when students will need to know how to do this.
I also think students need to learn how to track their spending and verify that their bank account balance/statements are accurate. However… I no longer call this ‘balancing a checkbook’ because I doubt most students will ever record transactions in a checkbook to verify them against their bank statement.
I do still have students practice recording transactions in a ‘transaction register’ because I think this is a good skill to learn when you’re first starting out, even if you don’t continue this as an adult. I also know that this is still a required skill for people who run a business.
For this lesson, I emphasize the types of checking accounts, understanding a debit card, writing checks, recording transactions in a transaction register, and how to reconcile a statement to make sure the balance is accurate.
Do I think students will utilize all of these skills as adults? Probably not, but at least for the current moment, I think students still need to understand these things in case there is a problem with their account.
You can find my full checking account lesson here.
Checking and Savings Accounts Activity Stations
It’s always good to get students up and moving! These station activities will give your students a little more practice with all the skills they need for checking and savings accounts.
You’ll set up seven stations around your classroom, and students will rotate through each one and practice writing checks, recording transactions, checking for bank statement errors, reconciling statements, and more.
You can find all seven station activities here!
Choosing a Bank Independent Exploration Activity
This activity challenges students to choose three banks and compare them. They’ll look at the website for each bank and fill out a table that asks them to find types of accounts, branch locations, fees, and more.
Students can complete this activity independently, so it works great for days where you are out of the classroom and have a sub.
You can find the table I use for this activity here.
Guest Speakers
Many banks have outreach programs that will send bank representatives to your school to give financial literacy lessons on topics related to banking and bank accounts. Reach out to banks in your area to see what programs they offer that could be incorporated into your classroom.
Looking for more financial literacy lessons for your classroom?
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