Kids learn money skills through Junior Achievement

In third grade, Caedon Van Dyke and Kobi Martin know just what they would buy if they had the money.
Kobi would spend his money on an old-fashioned John Deere tractor, and Caedon would pay for a Steiger tractor like the kind his grandpa collects.
The two are among Flandreau Elementary students who are learning about different ways to pay for things thanks to Junior Achievement, a new program for the school’s third graders. For five weeks, volunteer teachers and community members Sadie Haugen and Bart Sample are teaching the children about economics on a level that makes sense to children. The opportunity is being paid for by the Flandreau Parent Teacher Association and by Dusty’s Customs, a local welding and automotive business owned by Dusty Lau, who has a student in third grade.
Lau, who came to class, said he is helping sponsor the program because when he was in school, someone helped him look at what he wanted to do in the future. He appreciated that and likes to pay back and help kids in return.
The Junior Achievement lessons meet some of the social studies standards for the curriculum and give students a chance to learn more things about their community, said teacher Abby Hawks.

When the students meet today, they will find out what it takes to be entrepreneurs by going through the steps of opening a restaurant.
“I think it’s important to talk to kids about what they want to do in their future and what skills they need to do the jobs they want to do,” said Haugen, who pitched the idea to bring Junior Achievement to Flandreau. “I feel really strongly that’s an important conversation to have with kids.”
As an employee of Premier Bankcard, she has been volunteering to teach Junior Achievement in classrooms in Sioux Falls for 15 years. Some young students know quite a bit about money while others know very little, she said.
There are four things you can do with money, she recently told the class – earn, save, spend and donate.
She went on to talk about five types of currency – money, credit cards, debit cards, checks and electronic transfers. One student accurately described how a debit card works by sending a signal to your bank and giving you money out of your account. The lesson included knowing when to use different types of payments and expecting that there would be extra charges from the bank if they didn’t pay their credit card bill fast enough.
The class also learned how to write a check, something they might use for offering for church or to pay lunch money at school, she said.
She played an economic version of Simon Says with the students and each child got to decide on one thing to buy and how they would pay for it.
For Caedon and Kobi and their dreams of owning tractors, they chose cash.