Are you smarter than a fifth grader?
http://www.michronicleonline.com/articlelive/articles/2480/1/Are-you-smarter-than-a-fifth-grader/Page1.html
Mary Healy Zaleski
By Mary Healy Zaleski
Published on 03/12/2008
When was the last time your kids retained 83 percent of anything you told them? I don’t know about you, but I have to work on that one. So, I was surprised — no, shocked — to learn that the fifth grade students in the Fifth Third Young Bankers Club program retain 83 percent of what they learn in the program. A closer look at the program, its curriculum and its volunteers showed me how it’s done.
FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS who participated in the Young Bankers Club learned the importance of banking and money management.
When was the last time your kids retained 83 percent of anything you told them? I don’t know about you, but I have to work on that one. So, I was surprised — no, shocked — to learn that the fifth grade students in the Fifth Third Young Bankers Club program retain 83 percent of what they learn in the program. A closer look at the program, its curriculum and its volunteers showed me how it’s done.
The formula is easy enough: take a subject that is near and dear to kids’ hearts these days (money), subtract the pressures of tests and grades, and then multiply that by a healthy dose of fun. There’s a winning combination.
Not only do these fifth grade students in nine schools throughout southeast Michigan retain what they learn, they also influence everyone they come in contact with from parents and siblings to peers, mentors and their teachers.
The Young Bankers Club is a proprietary financial literacy program that is now in its fourth year and has graduated more than 500 area students since 2004. In nine weeks, these students learn the basics of banking and budgeting and are introduced to the stock market in a fun and engaging way in the classroom. The program meets state and local educational requirements for math and social studies, so the school principals are happy, too.
Lesson one introduces the students to the stock market. Nike, Kellogg, Sears and Gap, some of the many brand names that the students see and hear every day, are introduced to them on the stock pages of USA Today. They purchase a stock and track their purchase for the duration of the program, learning fundamentals such as how to read the stock pages in the newspaper and calculate stock prices.
Lesson two encourages strong budgeting and money management skills. The students, after having an opportunity to “shop ‘til they drop” in an exercise where they go on a shopping spree, must then prioritize their spending or give up some things in order to make essential purchases. This lesson helps the students understand opportunity costs, budgeting and financial responsibility and it prepares them for the program’s field trip to Rock Financial Junior Achievement’s Finance Park, an interactive financial literacy facility in downtown Detroit. At the end of the program, Fifth Third Bank gives the students a certificate of completion and celebrates the students’ accomplishments with a catered reception.
The students are not the only ones who benefit from the program. The volunteer mentors who teach the program find it is a very rewarding and invaluable experience.
“When I first became a mentor in the Young Bankers Club program, I knew it would be a great experience. What I underestimated, though, was how much I would learn and be moved by the process,” said Angela Hudson, CRA officer at Fifth Third Bank. “When I saw how the kids made their decisions and how they struggled to make ends meet with their fictitious funds, it really made an impact on me personally. These kids were acting more grown up than some grown-ups I know.”
But that’s okay. Kids have been teaching us things for a long time. We just weren’t retaining as much as we should have been.
When was the last time your kids retained 83 percent of anything you told them? I don’t know about you, but I have to work on that one. So, I was surprised — no, shocked — to learn that the fifth grade students in the Fifth Third Young Bankers Club program retain 83 percent of what they learn in the program. A closer look at the program, its curriculum and its volunteers showed me how it’s done. Fifth Third Young Bankers Club
FIFTH GRADE STUDENTS who participated in the Young Bankers Club learned the importance of banking and money management.
When was the last time your kids retained 83 percent of anything you told them? I don’t know about you, but I have to work on that one. So, I was surprised — no, shocked — to learn that the fifth grade students in the Fifth Third Young Bankers Club program retain 83 percent of what they learn in the program. A closer look at the program, its curriculum and its volunteers showed me how it’s done.
The formula is easy enough: take a subject that is near and dear to kids’ hearts these days (money), subtract the pressures of tests and grades, and then multiply that by a healthy dose of fun. There’s a winning combination.
Not only do these fifth grade students in nine schools throughout southeast Michigan retain what they learn, they also influence everyone they come in contact with from parents and siblings to peers, mentors and their teachers.
The Young Bankers Club is a proprietary financial literacy program that is now in its fourth year and has graduated more than 500 area students since 2004. In nine weeks, these students learn the basics of banking and budgeting and are introduced to the stock market in a fun and engaging way in the classroom. The program meets state and local educational requirements for math and social studies, so the school principals are happy, too.
Lesson one introduces the students to the stock market. Nike, Kellogg, Sears and Gap, some of the many brand names that the students see and hear every day, are introduced to them on the stock pages of USA Today. They purchase a stock and track their purchase for the duration of the program, learning fundamentals such as how to read the stock pages in the newspaper and calculate stock prices.
Lesson two encourages strong budgeting and money management skills. The students, after having an opportunity to “shop ‘til they drop” in an exercise where they go on a shopping spree, must then prioritize their spending or give up some things in order to make essential purchases. This lesson helps the students understand opportunity costs, budgeting and financial responsibility and it prepares them for the program’s field trip to Rock Financial Junior Achievement’s Finance Park, an interactive financial literacy facility in downtown Detroit. At the end of the program, Fifth Third Bank gives the students a certificate of completion and celebrates the students’ accomplishments with a catered reception.
The students are not the only ones who benefit from the program. The volunteer mentors who teach the program find it is a very rewarding and invaluable experience.
“When I first became a mentor in the Young Bankers Club program, I knew it would be a great experience. What I underestimated, though, was how much I would learn and be moved by the process,” said Angela Hudson, CRA officer at Fifth Third Bank. “When I saw how the kids made their decisions and how they struggled to make ends meet with their fictitious funds, it really made an impact on me personally. These kids were acting more grown up than some grown-ups I know.”
But that’s okay. Kids have been teaching us things for a long time. We just weren’t retaining as much as we should have been.