Middle School Financial Literacy Resources

Standards

Standards implemented in the 2017-2018 school year included requirements for financial literacy and inquiry skills, which the Money Minded Illinois curriculum meets. Inquiry skills equip students for college, career, and civic life. You can read the standards at the links below.

• Illinois Learning Standards for Social Science

Curriculum

Our Middle School curriculum integrates the Financial Literacy and Inquiry learning standards, challenging students to think critically about the world around them. By the end of the lessons, students should be able to understand the stock market, craft a budget, understand interest, risk, and insurance, bank online safely, and much more. Students explore these concepts in a variety of investigative strategies, including hands-on activities, writing, and nonfiction reading.  Below is an overview of how each unit is organized.

Unit Structure: Inquiry-Based Learning

Each lesson follows a clear inquiry cycle:

Ask → Investigate → Create/Discuss → Reflect

Ask: Every lesson begins with a compelling question, followed by three supporting questions that connect directly to it. The supporting questions increase in complexity as students move through the lesson, making it easy to differentiate instruction and adjust pacing.

Create/Discuss: Here you’ll find the formative performance tasks tied to each supporting question. All activities are included in the unit and are ready to use. Reflect: This section includes the lesson’s summative performance task, giving students a final opportunity to demonstrate what they learned.