Author Archives: Janna Jensen

Financial Literacy Starts with Time Management

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by Janna Jensen

📖Standards

CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.W.8.4 Produce clear and coherent writing in which the development, organization, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience.

📲Technology Required

Any Internet enabled device

⏰Time

Day 1: 45 minutes, Day 2 (a week later): 30 minutes

📃Summary

Students watch a 12-minute video that gives time management tips for students. They complete a worksheet to assess where they spend their time and identify changes they would like to make. As a class, students discuss their own time management strategies. Out of class, students track their time usage for a week. In the follow-up lesson, students review in writing and class discussion how well they predicted their time usage and strategies for improving time management in the future.

Lesson

Discuss how time management relates to financial literacy

We recommend introducing the lesson with a brief discussion of how time management relates to financial literacy. We’ve all heard that time is money, so this 10-lesson unit on financial literacy begins with time management. Truly, students need to find the time to get a job, keep a job or write a budget, so it starts here.

Watch a video on time management

A 12-minute video on how to manage your time as a student

Writing Assignment

Have students download and complete the time management tips worksheet. You can copy and paste the instructions below into your Google classroom or other classroom management system.

Instructions for time management worksheet

This is an assignment that we will be using throughout the financial literacy unit. AFTER you have watched the assigned video, start today with pages 2 and 3 of the worksheet.

  1. Download the time management worksheet.
  2. Open a Google doc and answer the 3 questions from page 2 on how you spend your time, your priorities and what you want to stop doing.
  3. On page 3 of the worksheet, Ellen discusses four methods of time management. In your Google doc, answer these questions – Which one appeals to you the most? Why do you think that will work for you? ANSWER IN COMPLETE SENTENCES. For example, “I think the time blocking would work best for me because I tend to get bored and jump from one task to another. That wastes a lot of time remembering where I left off.”

Track Your Time Homework

You can copy and paste the instructions below into your Google classroom or other classroom management system.

Instructions for time tracking assignment

Where does the time go? If you are like most people, you did not come up with 24 hours accounted for in your time management worksheet assignment. For the next week, track how you spend your time each day. The easiest way to do this for most people is using the notes app on their phone. If you don’t have your phone with you all of the time, a piece of paper and a pen will work just as well.

  • EVERY day for one week, record how you spend your time. For example, “Midnight to 7am – sleeping. 7-8 Got ready for school. 8-8:30 Bus to school. 8:30- 2:30 – classes. 2:30 – 4:30 basketball practice. 4:30-5 Bus home. 5-6 Dinner. 6-7 Study. 7-8 Played GTA game. 8-9 Talk to friend online 9-9:30 study 9:30 – 11 Watch YouTube. 11-12 Sleep.”
  • Your activities must add up to 24 hours each day.
  • The easiest way to keep an accurate account is to write down how many minutes or hours you spent immediately after you finish doing something, for example, 12:00- 12:15 TikTok

HINT: To spur the next week’s discussion, it may be helpful for the teacher to do this activity as well.

DISCUSSION

After watching the video and answering the questions in writing, students discuss the following questions as a class. You may wish to simply ask each question, or use this slides presentation to show the questions. Students learning at home can answer the questions in writing.

  • What are some things you do to try to be efficient with your time?
  • Do you have a strategy for your time management?
  • How could you become better at time management? Did you identify any ways you spend your time that you would like to change?

DAY 2 (A week after Day 1)

Complete Written and Reading Assignment

Students complete page 4 of the time management worksheet and read tips on page 5.

DISCUSSION

After completing the written assignment, students discuss questions as a class. You may wish to simply ask each question, or use this slide presentation to show the questions. Students learning at home can answer the questions in writing.

  • Did anything about how you spent your time surprise you? Did you spend more or less time on some activities than you thought you did?
  • How helpful do you think tracking your time was for you?
  • Did you use any of the time management strategies suggested in the video? If so, how did those work for you?

HINT: It may be helpful to lead off the discussion with your own answers to these questions.

Assessment

Students will submit responses to worksheet questions for teacher comment. Since this assignment is primarily asking for student opinions, we recommend marking the worksheet assignment as 100% if completed with the student using complete sentences to answer the question regarding page 3, 90% if all questions are answered but not with complete sentences.

For the time tracking assignment

State Standards

ND STATE STANDARDS: 

North Dakota Business Education Standard 3.3a.1.13   Describe appropriate time management techniques and their application/transference to the workplace.

Multiplication word problems

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📖 Standards

CCSS.Math.Content.4.NBT.B.5 Multiply a whole number of up to four digits by a one-digit whole number, and multiply two two-digit numbers, using strategies based on place value and the properties of operations. (Common Core Standards)

H.3-5.3     Describe the North Dakota Native American Essential Understandings. (US State – ND – Social Studies 2019 Standards)

📃 Summary

In this integrated lesson, students learn about responsibilities of children in traditional Dakota society and discuss their responsibilities today. They learn a problem-solving strategy that can be applied to a wide range of situations, including mathematics. Students play Spirit Lake: The Game or watch videos solving multiplication problems set in the context of a story based on Dakota culture. Students can complete a written assessment in class and on-line classes can complete these problems in Google doc or other preferred method .

📲 Technology required

The game in this lesson plan, Spirit Lake, can be played on Mac or Windows computers. Once students have logged in, they can continue playing, even if the Internet drops. The program should be installed on devices before the lesson. Students will create a username and password the first time they play the game. If students need to play offline, they can play Spirit Lake Beginnings – Lakota . If students do not have access to a Mac or Windows computer they can watch similar content in the linked videos.

⏰ Time Required

30-40 minutes

📚 Lesson Plan

1. Presentation on responsibilities and problem-solving

Begin with the PowerPoint presentation discussing student responsibilities. Also available as Google slides. Discuss with students the responsibilities they have at home. Explain that whether students are baking a cake or solving a multiplication problem they can take the same four steps to solve their problems. You’ll also use this presentation for practice during the lesson and assessment at the end of the lesson.

Time: 5-10 minutes depending on length of student discussion.

2. Practice

Complete multiplication table on page 11 of Google slides presentation independently 2-3 minutes

3. Game Play

Play the Spirit Lake game, In levels 1 and 2 of the game, players solve multiplication problems set in the context of a story based on the history and culture of the Dakota people. They learn a problem-solving strategy that can be applied to a wide range of situations, including mathematics. .After this lesson, students will be able to solve word problems using multiplication of one-digit numbers and understand the general application of problem-solving steps. (10-15 minutes)

Option for students without access to Mac/ Windows computers

3a. Game Play Video

For schools that want the game play and multiplication problems from Spirit Lake: The Game but now your students are at home, without a computer, what do you do? You can have them watch this four-minute preview up to the multiplication word problem. Your students will learn a few words in Dakota, see the game and be set for your lesson on multiplying one-digit numbers.

3b Instructional Video

In this six-minute video, students learn four steps in solving a problem: understand what’s required, select a strategy, do it, and test it. Multiplication word problems are used as examples, but these scaffolding strategies for Grades 3-5 can be applied to any problem in math.

Assessment

Individual Assessment

Have students work independently to solve the problem in the PowerPoint or Google slides linked above. Have students present their solutions. Show one recommended solution that is in the presentation.

If students will be completing the assignment in class, print out pages 11,12 and 14 for assessment. On-line classes can complete these problems in Google doc or other method used by the teacher for assignments.

Estimated time: 5 minutes

A second assessment is in the reports for the Spirit Lake game, which show whether students answered correctly the problems in Levels 1 and 2, whether they read the hint before answering the problem, and whether they were correct on the first try or had to attempt the problem more than once. Note that these reports are NOT available for Spirit Lake Beginnings, which is played offline.

Group Assessment

Continue with the PowerPoint presentation or Google slides. Students will work in groups to solve 4 multiplication problems. Estimated time: 5 minutes

State Standards

Minnesota Math Standard 4.1.1.3 – Multiply multi-digit numbers, using efficient and generalizable procedures, based on knowledge of place value, including standard algorithms.