Personal Finance Looping Cards: Spiraling Reality into the Classroom

In this personal finance lesson, students will use looping cards to apply personal finance
terms and concepts to real world situations.

Warm-up/Pre-assessment Activity

Distribute Activity Sheet – Vocabulary to students. In small groups, have the students discuss the
listed terms on the Activity Sheet. Suggested questions for discussion include: Have the
students previously heard of the terms? What do these terms mean? After a few
minutes of small group discussion, ask for feedback from each group as to how many of
these terms they understand and give examples of evidence of their understanding.
During this warm up activity, students should complete the definition column of the
activity sheet.

Modeling
Explain and demonstrate the procedure for the Looping Card activity.
1. Distribute one looping card to each student or pair of students (20 cards total).
2. Explain that at the top of each card, a student has the answer to the question at
the bottom of another student’s card. Student 1 will have to find the student will
the answer to their scenario (student 2). Student 1 will also have to find the
student who has the question to their answer (Student 3).

Group Activity
Students will complete the Looping Card Activity by walking around the room and
finding students with the match to the scenario statement and to the answer statement
on their own card. When students find a match to their card, they should stay with that
student. As more matches are created, students will form a single large circle. Once the
circle is formed and all cards are correctly matched, the teacher will facilitate a class
discussion on the scenarios and answers.

Individual Activity
After class discussion of the scenarios, students will find pictures or examples of the
terms for the 3rd column on the Activity Sheet – Vocabulary

Assessment
Students will answer the question:

What is the most important thing that you learned today about your personal finances?

Students will respond via personal whiteboards, Pear Deck, Formative, Jamboard, or
any other method the teacher selects.
Students will then share their responses with the class, at which point all students will
review all the ideas and identify similarities, differences, and surprises.

Extension
Students will complete the Six Degrees of Separation  activity. The students will use the
ovals to connect the information in the rectangles. Answers will vary, and should be
accepted as long as students can justify their reasoning. Example: Recession connects
to Housing Market Down via people are losing jobs (unemployment increases) and are
not confident in buying in home right now.

Sources:
“Six Degrees of Separation.” Law Related Education. https://texaslre.org/

ACTIVITY HANDOUT VOCABULARY

Six Degrees of Separation (extension)

ACTIVITY – LOOPING CARDS