Pictures

Teaching Junior Achievement in a 1st grade classroom at Lake Orienta Elementary.

Teaching the difference between "needs" and "wants".

The students had to act out one of the jobs on the board and the other students raised their hands to guess which job was being acted out.

The students received money for completing their "job" and for guessing the job correctly. The students were given fake $5 bills; each student ended up with $15 by the end of the lesson.

After earning money for completing their jobs, the students were given the opportunity to spend their money on a "need" (pencil-$5), "want" (necklace-$5), or they could save it. The end of this lesson brought everything back together: they completed a job to earn money and had the option to decide how to spend their money. At the end of the lesson, I had no more necklaces left, which shows how most students spent their money! To my surprise, many students also bought pencils and donated them to the teacher. Some students even chose to save their money.