Lesson
Protecting Yourself From Risk
Summary
We can't know for sure when something bad will happen, but we can always be ready for it. Explore how emergency funds and insurance work together to protect us from life's unexpected surprises.
Warm-Up: Staying Safe & Prepared
- Ask students to brainstorm things we do or buy to stay safe or ready for an emergency
- Chart responses on the board (helmets, seatbelts, first aid kits, etc.)
Instruction
- Define risk as the chance something could go wrong
- Introduce emergency funds and insurance as two ways we prepare for risk
Share: Pay For Protection Simulation
- Distribute 3 tokens each to 10 students to do the simulation
- Discuss as a class whether it was worth it to pay into the pot
Activity: Insurance Reading Challenge
- Complete page 7 in the workbook
- Circle around to answer any lingering questions
Wrap-Up & Assessment
- TRUE/FALSE: Risk is only for people who do dangerous stuff.
- TRUE/FALSE: Insurance only costs you when you need the money.
| Est. Time | Activity | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 4 min | Warm-Up: Staying Safe & Prepared |
|
| 10 min | Instruction |
|
| 8 min | Share: Pay For Protection Simulation |
|
| 5 min | Activity: Insurance Reading Challenge |
|
| 3 min | Wrap-Up & Assessment |
|
Lesson Prep
Elementary Personal Finance Workbook
Offline activities covering financial vocabulary, budgeting, and saving.
Class Presentation
Includes a 15-slide deck with teacher notes. Present from Banzai, download a PDF, or copy it to Google Slides.
Presentations, Ready to Go
- Built-in PresentationPresent full screen, straight from Banzai
- Copy to Google SlidesMake an editable copy for your class
- Download or PrintSave as a PDF or print
- Teacher NotesSlide-by-slide guidance, printable as one handout
Unit 2: Banks, Credit, and Insurance
First Lessons in Credit
Credit isn't free money — it's a promise with a price tag attached. This lesson introduces 3rd-5th graders to how borrowing works, why interest exists, and how trustworthiness shapes a person's ability to borrow, using a lending activity and real-world reasoning.
Protecting Yourself From Risk
We can't know for sure when something bad will happen, but we can always be ready for it. Explore how emergency funds and insurance work together to protect us from life's unexpected surprises.
Capstone: Lemonade Tycoon
A whole unit's worth of money lessons means nothing if students can't apply it under pressure. This capstone lesson reviews entrepreneurship, opportunity cost, wants versus needs, saving, and credit before sending students into Lemonade Tycoon to run their own business and prove what they've learned.
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