Join us for a day of sharing and learning about Financial Literacy in the classroom! Get new materials and get the inside scoop of what teachers are doing in Iowa.
Who: Brownie, Junior, and Cadette Girl Scouts
What: Earn a financial literacy & special event badge
Brownies: Money Manager
Juniors: Savvy Shopper
Cadettes: Financing my Dreams
When: Saturday, April 6th, 2019
Brownies & Juniors: 12:30pm—2:00pm (start at 12:15pm)
Cadettes: 2:30pm—4:00pm (Start at 2:45pm)
Where: Valley Junction Community Center (Dining Room)
217 5th St., West Des Moines, IA 50265
Why: What better way to celebrate Money Smart Week 2019 than to earn your
financial literacy badge with new friends! Join us for a free workshop with area
professionals to learn more about managing money.
RSVP by March 29
by contacting Lindsey Taylor, Triangle Financial
Services, at lstaylor@hirep.net or 515-282-8962.
Space is limited to 60 scouts per session.
A fantastic part of Money Smart Week that is coming up in April is the Poster Contest sponsored by Community Bankers of Iowa. The contest is for 2nd-6th grade students. It is fun for the creative kids to try to make some money with their art. Please go to this website for all the details.
http://www.cbiaonline.org/msw-poster-contest.html
Check out other Money Smart Week activities by going to the website:
Join us for the 2018 Money Smart Week (MSW) BIKE BASH on Saturday, April 28, 2018, at 11 a.m. This family-friendly bike ride combines bicycling with financial literacy and offers a chance to win one of five $250 college savings plan deposit and other great prizes!
The bike ride will begin at Mullets in downtown Des Moines at 11 a.m. Participants are encouraged to arrive early to play a financial literacy game to be entered for a chance to win a college savings plan deposit. Participants can also play the game and enter to win during the packet and T-Shirt pickup (details below).
During the BIKE BASH, there will be three route options all on trails:
Penny Pinchers (Short Route): Approx. 5 miles
Savvy Spenders (Medium Route): Approx. 10-12 miles
Super Savers (Long Route): Approx. 25 miles
Route maps will be available prior to the event, at Mullets.
Packet and T-Shirt Pickup will take place on Friday, April 27 from 4 to 6 p.m. at Bike World West in West Des Moines.
The event is FREE, but registration is required. For more information, contest rules and to register, click here.
The Iowa Council on Economic Education is facilitating two state finals events – the Iowa Personal Finance Challenge on April 10 at the Federal Reserve Bank in West Des Moines, and the Iowa Economics Challenge at the Iowa State University Extension office in Altoona on April 17.
The Personal Finance Challenge will consist of student teams across Iowa creating presentations on how families can address and manage finances while facing financial adversity. A panel of judges will determine the state champion, runner up , and third place finishers.
The Economics Challenge will consist of three multiple choice assessment rounds for advanced placement and traditional economics students. The top two teams in each division will then compete in a quiz bowl to determine the state champions.
Last year was the first year of these events in Iowa and they were a great success. This year over 2,500 students throughout our state have participated in the preliminary round and the Iowa Council on Economic Education is excited to bring students from across the state to Des Moines for these championship events.
Volunteers are needed to help judge the Personal Finance Challenge as well as administer and score the assessments in the Economics Challenge. If you are available and willing to help, please contact Bob Mantell at bob.mantell@tsinstitute.org.
Money Smart Cache! is now open for high school teachers to use in the classroom.
Money Smart Cache! is an online game students can play on any mobile device or computer. During the game, student maneuver Ben Franklin through 21st century financial hurdles and get him to the “portal” to answer the quiz questions correctly and help get him back to his own time period.
Money Smart Cache! addresses seven basic topics that students should understand to be financially literate – credit scores, identity theft, car loans, student loans, debit vs. credit, paychecks and budgeting.
To participate, teachers simply sign up to receive a code for their students to use. Students are able to play as many times as they wish, and teachers have access to a guidebook that provides teaching hints. To sign up, click here.
Money Smart Cache! is open the entire month of April and includes a national prize of $250 for one winning student and $250 for his/her teacher.
For more information, click here.
The Iowa Money Smart Kid essay contest deadline has been extended. Iowa students now have until Friday, March 23, 2018, to enter the essay contest sponsored by the Iowa Bankers Association.
Along with the extended deadline comes an increase in the number of awards offered. Five new awards have been added for contest runner-ups, so now the top ten finalists will be recognized. Award levels now include the following:
Eligible students must be in grades 7-11 and can enter the contest by writing an essay addressing the following:
Please write a brief newspaper article describing the potential devastating effects of a natural disaster (fire, flood, hurricane, etc.) on a family’s financial situation. Please select only one type of natural disaster for the focus of your article. Be sure to include tips and resources for readers to help prepare them for a potential future unexpected crisis.
All essays must be 400 words or fewer and are due by March 23, 2018. Click here for the Money Smart Kid application.
Each year, during Money Smart Week (MSW), the Iowa Bankers Association sponsors the Money Smart Kid Essay contest in partnership with the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago. Essays for the 2018 Money Smart Kid Essay Contest are due Friday, March 16, 2018.
Students who participate in the contest are asked to answer a financial question and relate it back to their life. This year’s, students are asked to address the following:
Please write a brief newspaper article describing the potential devastating effects of a natural disaster (fire, flood, hurricane, etc.) on a family’s financial situation. Please select only one type of natural disaster for the focus of your article. Be sure to include tips and resources for readers to help prepare them for a potential future unexpected crisis.
One student will be named this year’s Money Smart Kid and will receive $1,000 to put toward their college education. To participate, students must be in grades 7-11 and must reside the Money Smart Week Iowa or Quad City region.
To learn more about the MSW essay contest and to download the application, click here.
Join the Money Smart Week Team for the CFPD’s Five Principles for Effective Financial Education webinar on Thursday, August 17 from 1 – 2 p.m. CST.
The webinar will include information on CFPD’s five principles that can be put into practice through financial education aimed at adults. These principles include the following:
The above principles are built on research-based insights about how people make financial decisions, on feedback from financial education practitioners and on what the Money Smart Week Team has learned about consumers’ own experience in the financial marketplace.
To register for the webinar, click here.
Caleb Anderson from Luther College was the winner of a $1000 prize to go directly toward tuition (sponsored by Iowa Jump$tart Coalition)! Congratulations!
“GeoCache for College Cash” is a Money Smart Week Iowa program that takes place at several college campuses across the state of Iowa in April. About 1,000 students played on Iowa college campuses during the 2016 Money Smart Week. The contest consists of seven posters, each focused on one personal finance topic and each displaying a unique QR code. Students read the posters, use a smart phone/tablet to scan the QR codes, and access quiz questions (multiple-choice). Answers are recorded for each player, logged via a player provided email.
Iowa Jump$tart Coalition 