Year 5 & 6 Financial Matters Incursion

When Jake came to teach us about financial maths, we were all assuming that it was going to be about very boring things, such as investing in time shares and investing in an account. But we were pleasantly surprised because by the end of the lesson, we learnt that money, transactions, and investments aren't always boring. In this reflection you will be able to read what we have learnt and it shows how prepared we are for the future .

Jake talked about how different cultures and countries control and use their money. For example, in Germany they use the phrase ‘Geld stinkt nicht’ which means ‘money doesn’t stink’. They use this phrase because they still use a lot of coins, and prefer cash over cards. Germans believe that by seeing and touching the money, it makes it more real and easier to control. 

After that, Jake let us role play through games to give us a better understanding of how to handle a real scenario that involves investing. We learnt that it is not a joke; money should be spent wisely and taken seriously. However, he made it sound funny since he acted like year 6 students, not as an adult. Jake made it really easy to understand because he put it in terms that related to our daily lives. 

On the second day that he came, we reviewed an acronym called HEARD.

H - Hear, don’t just talk,

E - Express your wants and needs,

A - Ask questions,

R - Respect the other person,

D - Disagree if you don’t want to spend or lend the money. (Respectfully)

This acronym shows us how to approach people investing in our company. 

We also learnt about Needs and wants. This theory explains that "needs" are things you must have to survive, such as food and a house. "Wants" are things that are fun to have, but not essential, such as toys or sweets. You can use this strategy at the store by sorting items into both categories, and deciphering if it’s important to buy or to wait for later and possibly purchase it then.

These two days really gave us some insight on investments and money. Jake helped us to prepare for the future and to not make stupid or consequential decisions. Both days were fun and everyone found it beneficial.

Naomi, Jayla and Maya

6MP

For two sessions we had an incursion. This incursion was about financial matters, meaning we learnt how to save and spend money properly. We had also learnt about needs and wants, and what to spend your money on, like for example our needs are pretty much crucial stuff or items that we need almost everyday. While on the other hand, wants is practically what you want, like electronics and toys or even real cars. We then looked at saving the money you earnt to maybe spend in the future. We then went in partners to react to a scene about saving to buy something which we had previously learnt in the classroom.

We had to save money for a new snack called “super snack multipack” that we had seen tons of ads for and it even had a catchy dance, and when we had just gone to the store one of the students in the pair would have to beg the other to buy the supersnack multipack. But then the other student would have to feel stressed because other imaginary people in the shop were acting weirdly, looking at them. In the end they had got the snack. This was a good example about how you address your wants. In the scene we had acted, one of the students had gone on the floor and begged, which then made the other student stressed, so we had learnt to calmly ask with a please of course, so that situation wouldn't have happened. The following session which happened a week later on Tuesday, we had a game about what you desire, basically would you rather. So the touchscreen would say a question for example would you have savory food or sweet food and so on. After that we were then asked to move back to our original spot where we had started, for some there were huge differences, others little. 

In conclusion, what you have just read was my experience of our wonderful incursion which everyone enjoyed, with a good lesson or two. Hope you enjoyed reading this and have a good day.

Adrian 

5LB

This financial incursion taught us a lot, it taught us to make decisions and to save. Jake was the man that led the 2 sessions we had. He was very funny but he also taught us precious things we need in life. 

In the first session we got taught how to work for money and how to give money. We got into pairs and one of us had to be Blake and the other had to be Li, a pair of good friends. The Li’s had to do chores while Blakes were meeting other Blakes. For the hard work of the Li’s, they got an extra $5 with their $3 at the start. 

In the second session we had to make hard decisions, for example savoury or sweet. First we made sides a yes side a no side and maybe was in the middle. We had to make very easy and hard decisions and we had to give a reason why we chose yes, no or maybe. We also played a game about decisions. We had to take a step to the left/backwards for something, a step to the right/forward for something and see if we got back where we started. Most people got close, some didn’t and some did, like me.

We had some fun learning and playing games. These sessions were a valuable and fun experience for us because we learnt and had a lot of fun.

Isha 

5LK 

During the period we had working on the financial Matters incursion, I was always looking forward to it. The person who taught us about Financial Matters always made every incursion fun, exciting and interesting. He taught us ways to use money and how to earn it with games and he would ask us questions to keep us engaged. We learnt how sometimes you need to not always give money away and how to use money wisely like our wants and needs. He told us how businesses can try to get us to engage with them to get money and if you’re going to buy something ask yourself some questions on why you need it. He taught us that we can say no. For example, we split the classroom in three areas, Yes, Maybe and No. He would ask us financial questions and we would place ourselves in our answers, he would then ask us why we chose that answer. It taught us to realise that sometimes you need to question yourself like what we will benefit from it. Overall, I personally learnt a lot from the incursion, it taught me to use my money wisely and save up for important things rather than my wants.

Amelia

5SZ 

During the financial incursion we were learning about money and we were talking about money. The person who taught us about money was Jake, a very nice guy who always joked with us. On the first session, Tuesday he was teaching us how to use our money. He had lots of games and one of the examples is, in this game where there were two kids and we had to find a partner. When we found the partner he gave us names Blake and Li. They went around and were doing chores and Blake was standing around doing nothing. Then after he got twenty dollars. They went on their way to the park and to the shops. Li was the only one with the money and on the way to the park he was singing an ad, Super snack multipack,.Then when they got to the shop Blake wanted the super snack multipack but it was 20 dollars and Li wanted to buy something else. And then Blake was on his knees begging for the snack and so Li bought and then they went to the park. But after that Jake told us that Li had to buy something for his little cousin. But when Blake was on his knees begging he forgot about that. Then he told us an acronym about conversations H.E.A.R.D The H standard for Hear don't just talk. The E standard for express yourself. The A standard for Ask.The R standard for Respect. The D standard for disagree if needed.

In the second session we learned about choices and so he asked us different questions and one of them was asked questions like if you would clean someone's toilet for free 10 dollars, 20 dollars and 50 dollars.He also had this game and he showed us about game subscription and how it would take your money unless you unsubscribe. Overall this incursion was probability the best incursion due to the nice teacher and the fun money games so I say thank you to Jake and everything you did for the incursion.”

Jacob 

5SZ