[Updated 8/4/23]

NGPF’s Middle School Course can help you bring personal finance education to your students. And it isn’t just for middle school students; it can be a great way to scaffold content for your high school students, too! Below are five ways to make sure you’re getting the most out of the curriculum, plus some bonus pro tips! 

1: Use the whole course OR select units

The Middle School Course follows a specific scope and sequence but you can rearrange the units to an order that makes sense for you and your students! 

Don’t have enough time to do the whole course? Pick and choose select units to cover! 

PRO TIP: We recommend keeping Unit 1: Money in Our Lives as your intro unit. It has only three lessons and has students examine their relationship with money and reflect on their financial goals in a fun and engaging way! 

2: Administer course assessments 

The Middle School Course offers a variety of assessments, including a: 

• Diagnostic exam 
• Unit exam for units 2-9
• Final exam 

Each assessment is available as a Google Doc and a Google Form to make grading easier! 

3: Review vocabulary with NGPF Quizlets 

Each of the units in the course has its own Quizlet collection to help students learn and review core personal finance vocabulary. You can find the Quizlets in the Unit Plan for each unit. 

PRO TIP: Check out NGPF’s high school focused Quizlets and the Personal Finance Dictionary which offers terms and definitions in both English and Spanish! 

4: Engage students with Nearpod 

If you teach in a hybrid or virtual environment, or you’re just looking for ways to vary up your implementation strategies, look no further than the ready-made Nearpod decks NGPF offers for the course! Nearpod decks are available for ALL of the Middle School Course lessons. Find them on the Middle School Course page!  

5: Scaffold content with your high school students

The Middle School Course can be a great way to scaffold content for your high school students, too! You might find that some of the middle school course lessons are a great way to introduce tougher personal finance topics like investing, credit, etc. before diving into the high school material.  

Plus, the Middle School Course lessons are a great resource for students with IEPs or 504s! 

BONUS (#6): Supplement the course with NGPF’s high school curriculum 

Want to dive deeper into a specific content area or even introduce something completely new that’s not in the Middle School Course scope and sequence? Simply pull from NGPF’s high school curriculum, including: 

• FinCap Fridays
• Questions of the Day
• Mini-Units
• MATH Collection
• High school courses: Semester Course, Trimester Course, and Full Year Course

Not sure which course to use? Refer to NGPF’s Course Comparison Chart! 

About the Author

Sonia Dalal

Sonia has always been passionate about instruction and improving students' learning experiences. She's come a long way since her days as a first grader, when she would "teach" music and read to her very attentive stuffed animals after school. Since then, she has taught students as a K-12 tutor, worked in several EdTech startups in the Bay Area, and completed her Ed.M in Education from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. She is passionate about bringing the high quality personal finance content and instruction she wished she'd received in school to the next generation of students and educators. When she isn't crafting lesson guides or working with teachers, Sonia loves to spend her time singing, being outdoors, and adventuring with family and friends!

More posts by Sonia