Back to School
Back to School Financial Literacy — Lessons, Printables & First-Day Activities
Everything you need for the first week of a money class: icebreakers that get students talking about money without asking about their own, back-to-school spending lessons, a free diagnostic that tells you which topics your class actually needs, and the printables to put up before anyone walks in.
What This Page Is For
Plan the first week, then plan the year
A personal finance course starts at a disadvantage no other subject has. On day one you know almost nothing about what your students already believe about money — and the quickest questions for finding out are the ones that ask a teenager to describe their own household in public.
This page collects the Money Instructor resources built for that first week — the ones that open a money conversation safely, the two seasonal lessons on back-to-school spending, the free instrument that tells you where to start, and the classroom printables worth putting up before students arrive. Some are free, some are included with a membership, and every card below says which.
For Teachers
How to open a money class
Start with what your class argues about, not what it knows
A quiz on day one tells you what students can recall. It does not tell you what they think is obvious, what they think is unfair, or where half the room will disagree with the other half — and those are the things that decide how a lesson lands in November. Opinion and trade-off activities surface that in one period, and they give every student something to say before anyone has been asked to be right.
Keep the first week off your students’ own household finances
The most natural opening question in this subject — what did your family spend on school supplies this year? — is also the one most likely to single out the student who cannot answer it comfortably. Ask what someone would do and why, using a hypothetical person, and you get the same discussion with none of the disclosure. Offer a standing option to pass or to answer as a made-up person, and say so out loud before the first question.
Find out what they already know, then pick an order
Once the room is talking, a short diagnostic earns the period it costs. The free Course Diagnostic below breaks its result out unit by unit rather than returning a single number, so what comes back is not a grade for the class but a running order for the term.
Set the room up once
Word walls, posters and a classroom economy are all easier to set up in the first week than in the fourth. If you are going to run a classroom economy at all, the jobs, the pay and the class store are much easier to introduce as “how this room works” than as a change of rules mid-term.
Teaching Guide · Free
How to Teach the First Week of a Personal Finance Class
Why the usual opening move in a new course — a diagnostic on day one — is the wrong one in this subject, a table pairing the risky warm-up questions with safer substitutes, a short list to run through before any content is taught, and what to do with the papers once the diagnostic comes back. About a five-minute read.
Lessons, Printables & Activities
Back-to-school financial literacy resources
Grouped by the job each one does in the first week. Grade bands and access are listed on every card.
First Days & Icebreakers
Financial Literacy Icebreakers & First-Day Activities
Twelve activities that ask students what they would do and why — never what their family has. Includes a Day 0 course opener, discussion prompts, scenario cards and exit tickets.
Grades 6–12 & Adult Ed · Printable pack · Free sampler / Full Membership
Course Diagnostic & Placement Guide
Twenty-four multiple-choice questions, about thirty minutes, taken before you teach anything. It reports by unit rather than as one score, and the free scoring guide turns a set of papers into a teaching order.
Covers all ten units · About 30 minutes · Free
How to Teach the First Week of a Personal Finance Class
The planning guide behind this page — why a money class cannot open with a diagnostic, which opening questions to swap out and what to ask instead, and how to turn one set of papers into a teaching order.
For teachers · About a 5-minute read · FreeBack-to-School Spending Lessons
Facilitation note
Both lessons below open by inviting students to talk about their own back-to-school shopping. That warm-up works well in some rooms and singles people out in others, and you will not always know which room you have in the first week.
If in doubt, run the same discussion about a hypothetical student with a set budget instead — the arithmetic and the trade-offs are identical, and nobody has to disclose what their family actually spent. Offer the option to pass either way.
Budgeting for School Supplies
Build a school-supply budget, compare prices, and decide what is worth buying and what can wait. Free video lesson and lesson plan, plus a printable 10-question quiz and answer key.
Grades 5–12 · Video Lesson · 45–60 minutes · Free lesson / quiz with Full Membership
Back-to-School Shopping on a Budget
Shopping for clothes and supplies against a fixed budget — needs, wants, and the trade-offs in between. Free video lesson and lesson plan, plus a printable 10-question quiz and answer key.
Grades 6–12 + Adult · Video Lesson · 30–45 minutes · Free lesson / quiz with Full MembershipSet Up Your Classroom & Your Year
Classroom Economy
Classroom jobs, a paycheck and a class store, introduced as how the room works. Free lessons and tools, plus a starter kit — easiest to launch in week one.
Adaptable K–12 · Free lessons & tools
Financial Literacy Curriculum for Teachers
Ten five-day units with free pacing guides and a suggested teaching order — what to do with the rest of the year once the first week has told you where to start.
Ten 5-day units · Free pacing guides / Full MembershipFor Elementary Classrooms
Financial Literacy Poster Pack + Money Word Wall
Eight illustrated money posters and a 44-card word wall to put up before students arrive. Free sample of two posters and eight cards, or the full pack with a membership.
Grades 1–6 · Printable · Free sample / Full Membership
Back to School Money Word Problems
Generate back-to-school money word problems — supply lists, totals and change — with a fresh version and answer key every time you print.
Grades 2–5 · Worksheet Generator · Full Members
Money Coloring Pages, Vol. 6: Seasonal & Holiday Money
Eight seasonal money coloring pages, one of them a back-to-school shopping list students can color and then total up.
Grades PreK–5 · Coloring Pages · Full MembershipMoney Instructor Membership
Unlock every printable and worksheet generator
A full membership unlocks the complete icebreaker pack, the full poster and word wall set, every worksheet generator linked above, and the whole ten-unit curriculum.
Set up before day one
Money Instructor Classroom for Teachers — create the class and print sign-in slips before the first period, so students can sign in on day one.
Keep it going after week one