How One Raleigh Teacher Starts Kids Early on the Road to Building Financial Confidence

No matter what subject we’re teaching children, we always strive to make the knowledge stick. It’s not easy and that lesson extends to the way we teach financial literacy. Linda P. Robinson, Ph.D., an Advanced Learning Teacher at Fox Road Elementary IB PYP Magnet School in Raleigh, knows these critical skills aren’t taught in a one-off lesson or a single class unit. She sees financial literacy as a way of thinking, with a foundation built from a young age and nurtured as students learn to read, process and understand the world around them.

Dr. Linda Robinson with 2023 Stock Market Game winners from
Fox Road Elementary IB PYP Magnet School

“In our Title I elementary school with a high population of families of low wealth and from more than 50 countries,” she says, “it is critical that students have an understanding of financial literacy that provides them with the skills, vocabulary, and confidence to handle their own future economic needs.”

For Dr. Robinson’s classes, the integration starts early. She embeds economic principles into ELA and math instruction for grades 1 through 5. When first graders explore stories like City Mouse, Country Mouse, Robinson uses it as a springboard to discuss the financial tradeoffs of living in different locales. By second grade, her students are launching their own non-profits. Third graders simulate participation in the global economy through Kiva micro-loan projects, while fourth graders begin analyzing how world events influence the value of foreign currency.

By the time her students reach fifth grade, they are ready for something bigger. Through the North Carolina Council on Economic Education, Robinson’s students use the Stock Market Game™ to manage simulated investment portfolios in real time. They track performance, make decisions and get a sense of how markets behave.

“Not only does the game create a real-time simulation of developing portfolios and buying and selling various types of investments,” Robinson says, “it also provides teachers with stellar professional development to support the teaching of these concepts. My students have been transformed by the learning, but also by realizing that they can be part of complex financial workings in the world and develop economic security that benefits both themselves and their families.”

It’s hard to overestimate the impact of students being able to see themselves in systems that can often feel distant or out of reach, Robinson says. That impact thankfully seems to last. “NCCEE has really enhanced my teaching and my students’ experiences as learners. I keep up with my students who are now in college, and the ones who got to go to the stock market recognition banquet talk about that as a pivotal moment in their lives.”

It’s tempting to think of financial literacy as something that should start in high school, college, or after obtaining a first job. But Linda Robinson’s model reminds us that important foundations are built early and tended over time. The results can be transformative as students develop the confidence to deftly navigate financial choices and create a more promising future for themselves.