The Cooperative Bank of Cape Cod is celebrating “Teach Children to Save” with savings education online. Established by the American Bankers Association Foundation in 1997, Teach Children to Save and the Foundation’s other financial education initiatives have helped reached 10.5 million young people through the commitment of more than 260,000 banker volunteers. Today we’re going to learn about how money works! You can follow along by helping put the story together (download the story cards below).
From Mom’s Work to Your School Lunch
- A busy mom goes to work each week. When the mom gets “paid”, the company deposits money in her “checking account” at her “bank” using “direct deposit.” With direct deposit, the money goes from the company’s bank account to the mom’s electronically. It is invisible and happens through computers!
- Mom checks her checking account “balance” online to make sure her “pay” was “deposited.” Your balance tells you how much you have in your account. When more money is deposited, the balance goes up or increases.
- Rick tells his mom that he needs lunch money for school. Rick’s mom writes a “check” made out to the school cafeteria. A check isn’t real money like coins and bills, but it still has value.
- The lunch money is deposited into Rick’s school cafeteria account. Rick goes to the cafeteria, puts in his lunch number, and receives his lunch.
Money passes hands in many ways — some you can see, like cash and coins, and others you don’t, like credit cards, debit cards, and shopping online. One of the jobs of a bank is to make sure your money is secure when the bank has it, but also when it is moved from one place to another. This is done by making sure account balances are correct and all money is deposited to the right accounts.
Bonus!
Here’s a word search with the banking terms we learned today:
