Monopoly Money Manager

Grade: 11 Subject: Mathematics, 20-3 Duration: ~1 week (or as teacher sees fit)
Overview of lesson:

In this week-long unit plan, students will practice the skills of money management through a monopoly
themed, inquiry-based, real-world scenario. They will begin with a discussion about money
management, and then by practicing the social emotional skills required to play a board game with their
classmates (Fair play, Strategy?). Students will not finish the game, they will be strategically stopped
when the teacher sees that they all have enough money for the next activity, and that they all have
property to add to the budget they will create.
-On the second day, students will discuss budgeting and create their own hypothetical budget based on
the money they earned playing in the previous lesson. They will incorporate technology by using
Google spreadsheets and creating pie charts to demonstrate their work. --On the third day, students will
talk about the importance of owning property and all that comes along with it. They will analyze the
properties of Monopoly (ex. Park Place, Baltic Avenue) to decide what they value and what they desire
for their futures. Then they will use their Monopoly money to put a down payment on the property of
their choice. This will involve the calculation of fractions and percent, as well as the decision-making
skills to budget this purchase. The repercussions of this purchase will be observed in the next activity.
-On the fourth day, students will face the realities of life, by analyzing the price of luxuries (nail
appointments, social apps, Xbox games), and deciding what they can fit into their budgets.
-Finally, on the fifth day, students will present their budgets to the class and explain if they were able to
balance it or not. Those who balanced will go to “college” (be rewarded with a cheque that represents
salary increase), those who busted will go to “jail” (be forced to answer word problems relating to hard
labor jobs in order to receive a loan from the bank).

If the teacher feels comfortable, this week can be summed up with another social lesson. Students can
play the game again, this time starting with unequal amounts of money (depending on how well they
did in the weeks activities). Students can play the game normally, but now with the realization of the
inequality that exists in the working world (some people start off with more money from their parents,
gender/ethnicity biases, etc.).

Program of studies (Goals and Objectives (Maximum 3 each) Be attentive to the terminology of the
Program of Study you are using.)

GLOs/GLEs SLOs/SLEs
Number
Develop Number Sense and critical thinking skills
-Solve problems that involve personal budgets.
[CN, PS, R, T] [ICT: C6–4.2, C6–4.4] 
 -Demonstrate an understanding of credit options,
including: 
• credit cards 
• loans. [CN, ME, PS, R] [ICT: F2–4.7] 
-Analyze puzzles and games that involve
numerical reasoning, using problem-solving
strategies. [C, CN, PS, R] 

Critical and Lesson Guiding Questions

(These guide the lesson, can be used for formative assessment and are lead-ins for pedagogical
discussion with students) A lesson can have several guiding questions.
What will we learn today? One sentence objective that can be written on the board

How does one responsibly use a debit card?

What does it mean to ‘overdraw’ on a bank account? 
How can one track their purchases to avoid overdrawing on an account?
What are the necessary and luxury expenses available to the working world?

Learning objectives Teaching Strategies

Students will… -Inquiry based learning

-Discuss money management as a class -Project-based learning
-Play Monopoly in small groups -Discussion
-Track their progress in the game -Play-based learning
-Design a hypothetical budget -Observation / gentle facilitation
-Analyze properties -Direct instruction
-Practice making a down payment on a house -Real world skills
-Discuss necessity v. luxury
-Practice purchasing and budgeting luxury
expenses
-Present their work to the class
-Be rewarded with more money, or face the
consequence of finishing some math word
problems

Differentiation Accommodation Modification

(Example an alternative way for (Example: If a student has a (Example: Student has been
a student to receive information hearing impediment) identified with a learning
or engage with a lesson.) challenge such as dyslexia)

Technology integration
(Tools like speech to text, text to
audio)

Assessment

Formative (Example: Observation/Anecdotal, Student/Teacher conferencing, check list etc..)

Participation in discussions / games / activities

Observation of student work
Completion of budget spreadsheet, pie chart, down payment, other purchases

Summative

Final presentation of the week’s work, whether the balanced or busted (students who busted, but can
still explain mathematical procedures and understanding of concepts will not be penalized in their final
grade)

Preparation

-Figure out how much Monopoly money students will need to prepare a budget (make sure everyone
has roughly the same amount, at least 500.00 to begin with)
-Prepare images of properties, and a table of luxuries for students to be enticed by

Material and equipment (Art supplies, manipulatives, smartboard, online whiteboard etc…)

 Game of monopoly 
 Tracking sheet
 Pricing legend 
 Word problems worksheet
 Google spreadsheets (budget template, create pie charts)
 Chrome books/computers to access google spreadsheets

Lesson Procedure

Introduction (10 min.) (Description of Hook/Attention Grabber; Expectations for Learning and
Behavior; Transition to Body, etc.)

Day 1:
Discussion to activate prior knowledge surrounding money management
-How many of you have a debit card?
-Do you know what overdrawing your bank account means? 
-If so, how many of you track your purchases so you avoid overdrawing your account?
-What are some expenses you could have in the working world?

Playing and tracking success in board game: Monopoly

-Students will use a tracking sheet to document how they did, which properties they bought, and if they
went into overdraft. This is very important, as they will use this information to write a hypothetical
budget for themselves in the next activity. 

-Think about how students would budget the money they are left with when the game is stopped

-Homework/ Personal research: go home and ask guardians how they budget, how much things like
rent, utilities, food for a month, income taxes, etc. cost

Body (5-10 min.)

(Descriptive and clearly organized steps/scaffolding and transitions in lesson. Indicate timing of each
section. Identify teaching strategies, organization of class etc. How and when are you using formative
assessment in your lesson?)

Day 2:

-Discussion about personal research conducted the night prior

-Presentation of real-world cost of necessities by the teacher

Create a budget
-Students will use the money they have left from the game of monopoly to write out a balanced budget.
-They will use a legend of prices for necessities (food, rent, utilities) prepared by the teacher.
-Students will use Google spreadsheets to create a pie chart to help visualize their thinking
-Completion of pie charts will be their exit slip to class*

Day 3

Discussion
-Did students find budgeting and graphing difficult?

What is your dream home?

-What does it include?
-Why is this important to you?
-Do you need this type of house or want it

Down payment
-Students will decide on the type of home they would like to have, by researching the properties of
monopoly (Park Place, Baltic Avenue) and discuss affordability. They will learn about down payments
and use this opportunity to practice calculating percentages of large numbers. Properties will be offered
along with their associating pricing, taxes, and down payment. Students will practice taking out a
mortgage and paying interest. They will make the final decision about what type of property they will
fit into their budget proposed in yesterday’s lesson.

Day 4

Discussion
-Did you go over budget yesterday?
-Why did you choose the property you did?
-Did you consider saving money for college or other expenses?

Overdraft
-Students will be presented with enticing objects, they will use their predetermined budgets to decide if
they can afford any of the luxuries of life. They will learn a lesson about reality when they realize what
they can and can't afford, and what will happen if they cannot. Students who go overboard, will be sent
to jail. “Jail” where there will be a worksheet full of word problems that relate to the working world.
They will be required to finish these problems to earn their way out of jail. Students who save money
for college will be rewarded with more money from the bank (representing bursaries and income
increase).

Closure (2 min.)
(Consolidation Learning; Indicate clean up protocol, material management etc.
Transition to Next Lesson. How do you plan to prepare students for the next period?
Are they changing classes? Is another teacher coming in to the room.)

Day 5

Discussion
-How do students feel about being sent to “jail” or “college”?

Present their budget plan

-At the end of the week, students will be asked to present their plans and decide if they were successful
or not at balancing a budget. They will describe to their teacher, what exactly they spent their money
on, and if they think it was worth it.

Reflection : How did it go? What should you change? What did you forget?
Teaching copy (5 important points, important transitions,