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Students learn about savings goals, interest, borrowing and opportunity cost by reading Less Than Zero. Students use a number line and a line graph to track spending and borrowing in the story.

Students listen to the book Uncle Jed's Barbershop, about an African-American barber who, despite significant setbacks, saves enough money to buy his own barbershop. From the story, students learn about saving, savings goals, opportunity cost, and segregation. The students participate in a card game to further investigate what it takes to reach a savings goal.

In this lesson, students listen to a story about Beatrice, a little girl from Uganda, who receives a goat and the impact of that goat on her family. They learn what it means to save and use estimation to decide whether or not people have enough money to reach a savings goal. They also work through a set of problems requiring that they identify how much additional money people must save to reach their goals. Students learn what opportunity cost is and identify the opportunity costs of savings decisions made by Beatrice and her family.

Read a children’s book and use these questions and answers to talk with your children about basic personal finance found in the books.

• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Parent Q&A Resources

Girl Scout and Boy Scout Leaders--Learn about resources for helping scouts earn money and personal finance badges.

• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Econ Lowdown Resources Help Girl Scouts Earn Badges & Leaves
• Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis: Econ Lowdown Videos Featured in Boy Scouts Merit Badge Pamphlet