Fieldwork: Group 3 Direct

This semester, I was blessed to work with an amazing group of ladies while creating lesson plans for a 2nd grade class at Bishop Dunn Memorial School.  Our topic was to teach the students all about the bank.  At this age, many kids have no idea about the concept of money and why you should save it.  It was our job to teach them its' importance!
We started the lesson by asking the class simple questions about the bank.  These questions included

• Has anyone ever been to a bank? 
• What is the bank like inside? 
• Does anyone know why people go to the bank? 
• Does anyone save their money in a piggy bank? 

This was a great start to our conversation.  Many students have been in the bank with a parent but didn't really know the specifics.  A lot of students knew the bank best for their free lollipops they gave out at the front desk.

To really help the information stick, we introduced Spongebob and Patrick. Every kid at this age LOVES these two characters so they were extremely excited about this.  The students were going to follow Spongebob and Patrick throughout their journey while they learned about the bank.  This was a great way to incorporate the examples throughout the lesson with things the students could relate to.  When a vocabulary word was given, there would be an example following the word that related to Spongebob and Patrick.  For example: Deposit: When Spongebob gets paid by the Krusty Krab, he brings his money to the bank and makes a deposit.  This worked so perfectly with this age group of students.  They loved the examples and were really able to develop a good understanding for the concept.   

We included very important terms throughout our lesson that are commonly heard in a bank.  We created kid-friendly definitions for the students to really master the concept.  Our vocabulary words consisted of: 

• Deposit: A Deposit is when you bring money to the bank and keep it there.  Spongebob gets paid by the Krusty Krab, he brings his money to the bank and makes a deposit. 
• A withdrawal is when you take money out of the bank.  Patrick wants to buy a present for Spongebob, but needs to take money out of the bank first.  This is called a withdrawal. 
• Spending: when you take money out of the bank and use it to pay for goods and/or services.  Plankton wants to know the secret formula of the Krabby Patty, so he has been spending all of his money at the Krusty Krab, eating Krabby Patties. 
• Saving: when you keep money inside the bank and don't use it.  Spongebob is saving his money up for a new spatula, so he has not been using his money. 
• Loan: money from the bank the you have to pay back after a certain amount of time.  Spongebob wanted to learn how to ride a boat since he was little but he knew he had to take out a loan to pay for boating school, because he didn't have enough money to pay for it on his own. 
• Taxes: money that the government takes from people.  The government needs to take taxes to keep running.  When Spongebob gets his paycheck from the Krusty Krab, he gets taxes taken out of each check. These taxes help Bikini Bottom stay fresh and clean! 
• Interest: a charge for borrowing money. 

Throughout these vocabulary words, we had brain breaks! These brain breaks included two questions that covered the words that were just taught.  This worked great for a check for understanding.  The students picked up on the material fast.  We also had two guided practice activities.  The first guided practice was a matching activity.  The slide had 4 vocabulary words across from 4 images that represented the word.  The students came up to the board and drew the line to the correct answer.  The students did well with this! Then we had a "What should Spongebob do!" The slide had 3 images on it including Spongebob's house, Spongebob's Spatula, and Plankton carrying a Krabby Patty.  The students had to tell us what method the images represented.  To buy his pineapple house, he had to borrow a loan from the bank.  To buy his brand new spatula, Spongebob had to save his money.  For Plankton to buy his Krabby Patty, he had to spend his money.  This was a fun way to bring it all together. After the final check, the students had to complete a fill in the blank worksheet for their independent practice.  Overall, this lesson was VERY successful.