Teaching Children to Save

Cornerstone Bank and the Wheeler Central 3rd grade class joined efforts to take part in National Teach Children to Save Day on April 21st, 2009. Ann Beckman of Cornerstone Bank met with the third graders to build a “money tree”. We have all heard the term, “money does not grow on trees”, but for the third graders it did! The money tree helped the students learn about income, expenses, and that money needs to be taken care of in order to grow. The students discussed the various aspects of saving and where to get money, such as an allowance, gifts, and payment for work. They then added leaves to the money tree as they thought of ways to earn money and removed leaves when they came up with reasons to spend money. In the end they realized that they can not spend money that they don’t have. The objective for the day was to be able to define income and list several income sources, explain why people spend money, and describe ways to keep money safe. The ABA Education Foundation established National Teach Children to Save Day to spotlight the importance of teaching our nation’s youth about saving money. This event occurs every April when bankers make presentations to students in grades K-12 about budgeting, saving, recognizing needs and wants and how interest makes money grow.  Photo submitted