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Scaffolded consumer math curriculum for building financial literacy
How do I file a tax return? What is a credit score? How much of my paycheck will be withheld for taxes? How much rent can I afford? What is an APR?
I got A TON of questions just like these while teaching high school consumer math. Many of the questions were about things I assumed my students would already know. But how would they know? My students were seniors and worried about life after high school. Understandable!
When I taught consumer math, we had a very basic book but that was it. I spent a lot of time piecing the course together from materials found online. My students were all seniors with IEPs for mild to moderate disabilities in math/reading, so I needed to find accessible materials that were also age-appropriate and interesting. I wanted my students to enjoy building their personal finance skills because these are fun skills to learn! In spring 2022, I decided to get working on building the consumer math curriculum I had wished I had back then. The curriculum is now available on my website.
This printable consumer math curriculum is an approachable guide to building financial literacy for teens. It includes warm-ups, a student book, accompanying student notebook sheets, a teacher's book, PowerPoint projector notes, editable quizzes and all answer keys. The curriculum will answer all of your students' personal finance questions, and more.
"Hands-down, this is the best consumer math curriculum. Easy to use even if you don’t have the greatest understanding of certain concepts. Warms-ups for access to extra practice problems as well as walkthrough power-points and much more. So thankful I got it! My students enjoyed learning each concept and were able to work through excellent real-world math problems making it relatable!” -Teacher Jodi Staggers
Here's a short video overview of the student book and student notebook sheets:
Units:
- Wants vs. needs
- Checks and registers
- Wages and salary
- Bank accounts
- Budgets
- Electronic banking and credit cards
- Credit score
- Discounts and coupons
- Sales tax and tip
- Percent change
- Unit price
- Income taxes*
- Car loans
- Mortgages
- Student loans
- Investing
- Car insurance
*The income taxes unit will be updated every year. Updates are free.
"This Consumer Math curriculum is amazing. It is so well organized! I also used the activity bundle and this made a super year long course! I would highly recommend it!" - Teacher Amy Field
Files included:
- Student book (186 pages)
- Teacher’s book (190 pages)
- Student notebook sheets (114 half sheets)
- PowerPoint projector notes
- Editable quizzes for each unit (17 quizzes)
- Warm-ups for each unit
- All answer keys
Details:
The student book is a reference that includes vocabulary, examples and questions for students to answer. You can choose to print the entire student book at once, or each unit at a time for student packets or their binders. Both formats are included.
The student notebook sheets are half-sheets designed for an interactive notebook. The sheets provide space for students to answer the questions posed in the book, and also include additional analysis questions. Students paste these notebook sheets into a composition notebook, which then becomes their own personal finance reference.
The teacher’s book and student notebook sheets answer key include all answers to all questions presented in the student book and the extra analysis questions on the student notebook sheets.
The projector notes match the student notebook sheets so that you can complete notes along with your students on the board.
The quizzes are completely editable. Quiz answer keys are included for all quizzes and are also editable.
The warm-ups for every unit are formatted for student notebooks.
FAQs:
Who is this curriculum for?
I wrote this consumer math curriculum for high school students not taking precalculus or calculus and who may have mild to moderate disabilities in math and/or reading. These are the students I taught when teaching consumer math and who I feel will benefit most from this curriculum.
Can it work for younger students?
If your students have already been introduced to percents, this consumer math curriculum may work for them. However, I feel that high school students will be more invested in learning the material as it answers the questions they currently have about their personal finances.
What makes this curriculum different?
When I taught consumer math, I spent a lot of time searching for materials. I built this curriculum to be what I wished I had as a consumer math teacher— a textbook with matching notebook printables and all answer keys. It will also be updated yearly (the income tax unit). Re-downloads are free.
Do you have a printout that I can give to my admin for approval?
Yes, you can find a printout here for your administrator.
Will the curriculum be sent in the mail?
This curriculum is a set of digital downloadable files. Nothing will be sent in the mail.
Do you have a sample of the curriculum?
You can find a preview of the curriculum here in my Drive.
Is it for a semester or for the year?
This curriculum does not contain activities outside of the student notebook sheets and warm-ups, so can possibly be completed in a single semester. For teachers who would like to supplement with additional activities, a big bundle of consumer math activities is available.
How many licenses do I need?
The curriculum is licensed for 1 single teacher to use with his or her students year after year.
I homeschool. Will this work for me?
Yes. You may not need the projector notes because they are meant to project onto a screen in a classroom, but all other included materials will work.
Is it available on TPT?
No, the consumer math curriculum is only available on my website.
Do you have a list of standards?
This curriculum covers the following National Standards for Personal Financial Education:
Earning Income: wages and salary, gross pay, exact net pay, approximating net pay, pay schedules, tips, earning interest, retirement savings, 401(K) employer matching, filing income taxes, tax deductions, wage theft
Spending: budgeting, keeping a register, comparing unit prices, sales tax, discounts, coupons
Saving: savings, checking, money market accounts, CDs, simple interest, compound interest, pre- and post-tax retirement accounts
Investing: risk vs. reward, stock market, bonds, retirement accounts, diversifying
Credit: credit card interest, credit card choices, credit score, credit report, minimum payments, APRs, down payments, car loans, mortgages, amortization schedules, student loan interest, student loan choices, deferment, forbearance, capitalizing interest
Will the curriculum be updated?
Yes, this curriculum will be updated every year to reflect changes to the way we file income taxes. When the curriculum is ready to be re-downloaded, you will receive an email and will be able to re-download the curriculum from your account. This is free to do.
Do you accept school purchase orders?
Yes, purchase order information can be found here.
With everything you need in one place, this consumer math curriculum will make teaching the course easy for you and enjoyable for your students. Consumer math is such an important and fun course to teach, and I hope that your students thoroughly enjoy building their financial literacy with you! Please send me an email to shana@scaffoldedmath.com if you have any questions.
The Scaffolded Consumer Math Curriculum is available for download here.
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In this post I want to share some of the teaching ideas and materials that I used in my small group special education algebra 2 class. Every student had an IEP and most were in 11th grade. Some were seniors, but most seniors in small group math took consumer math. I'll also link towards the end some of the cheat sheets I made for our inclusion algebra 2 class that got a bit farther in the curriculum than we did in small group.
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