CommonWealth One Designs Successful Financial Education Program for Second Graders at Mount Vernon Community School

CommonWealth One Federal Credit Union is committed to student financial education and literacy within the Alexandria City Public Schools system. The CommonWealth One business development team developed a program for second grader students at the Mount Vernon Community School during the 2010-2011 school year. The goal was to teach proper money management skills with real life scenarios, educational presentations and more to 98 second grade students.

A proposal for funding the program was written by the CommonWealth One business development team, a Mount Vernon’s second grade teacher and a student parent. This proposal won the Alexandria City Public School Teacher’s Dream Fund Grant for $1,000, which is designed to encourage innovative teaching practices and out-of-the-box thinking among educators. The City of Alexandria Dollar Wi$e Committee matched the grant with another $1,000 due to the fact that this program was so creative and innovative.

At the beginning of the program, the students each received $20 and CommonWealth One opened new savings accounts by funding the initial deposit of $5 for each student and provided each student with a piggy bank to start saving. The students had to distribute their money into savings, spending and giving categories.

Students based their financial decisions upon what they learned from a classroom presentation series from Common Wealth One and volunteers from the Dollar Wi$e Committee. These classes met many of the required standards of learning (SOL) for the second grade economics unit and taught students the concepts of Basic Savings (needs versus wants), Budgeting (Income versus Expenses), Basic Credit and Basic Investment.

The students also participated in a “Kids Marketplace” activity, sponsored by the Virginia Cooperative Extension and CommonWealth One. The “Kids Marketplace” activity is a hands-on, educational tool designed to introduce students to financial choices, help them understand the differences between needs and wants and experience the financial obligations that adults deal with everyday.

At the end of the program, the money from the piggy banks was collected. The money allocated to the “Spend” category went to the student’s personal spending. The funds designated as “Give” were donated to the Animal Welfare League of Alexandria. And as a final activity, the second graders went on a field trip to CommonWealth One where they deposited their savings into their savings accounts and toured the CommonWealth One headquarters building.

Contact Information

Ashley Baldeon

Marketing Manager

CommonWealth One Federal Credit Union

Contact via E-mail