Type: Primary School

Recommended for grade 0 (preparatory)

Teamwork, responsibility towards resources and saving money are values that children need to learn in their early school years. The Ourselves module develops basic concepts of personal economics in the youngest of schoolchildren.

PROGRAM OBJECTIVE

Part of JA's Life Skills Development national program, the Ourselves module aims to develop the first concepts of personal economics among students in preparatory or first grade: "the world of work", teamwork, earning money, saving, purchasing decisions.

EDUCATIONAL CONTENT

The Ourselves module provides classroom activities in the form of an optional or extracurricular subject, using a kit of educational materials which includes:

• teacher’s guide;
• student’s workbook;
• auxiliary materials.

There are five topics in the module, which students work through under the guidance of their teachers and volunteers from the banking sector.

SKILLS DEVELOPED

• Active listening • Activity matching • Abstract and factual thinking • Interpreting information • Teamwork • Accountability for actions • Planning activities

ACTIVITY LIST

1. Radu's Garden
   The importance of cooperation in relation to results is essential from primary school onwards, as students experience situations where they depend on each other for success while working at school, with peers, or at home, with family and friends.
2. Aunt Mary's farm
   Learners understand the concept of work in relation to earning goods or money.
3. At the hospital
   Students understand the concept of work in relation to the different skills they need when working and to the rewards of work (money and/or the gratification of helping others).
4. School administrator
   Students understand the importance of school resources, teamwork, responsibility and saving in making school an enjoyable environment.
5. The playground
   Achievement often depends on teamwork and decision making, and students understand how working together and a positive attitude to work can bring them great satisfaction.

„The program was a unique experience – both for the children and the parents. Kids learned that money is a material resource gained in the process of work, that money is reinvested or used for living expenses, and that money should not be wasted, but saved. We used all the attractive and inspiring materials included in the program." – Aurelia Berusca, teacher, Nicolae Titulescu School No. 3, Bucharest.