Teach Saving and Budgeting with “A Chair for My Mother”

In the story, A Chair for My Mother, a little girl and her family save money in a jar to buy a chair after their furniture is destroyed in a fire. In this lesson, students will learn that characters in the book are human resources who save part of the income they earn. Students will identify other human resources and state how the mental and physical work of those human resources allows them to earn income. Finally, students name strategies to reach a savings goal.

In the story, A Chair for My Mother, a little girl and her family save money in a jar to buy a chair after their furniture is destroyed in a fire. In this lesson, students will learn that characters in the book are human resources who save part of the income they earn. Students will identify other human resources and state how the mental and physical work of those human resources allows them to earn income. Finally, students name strategies to reach a savings goal.

We would like to thank the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis for allowing us to reprint this lesson. Visit Econ Lowdown ^TM , the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis’ website of award-winning free classroom resources for use by pre-K through college educators who teach economics, personal finance, money, banking and the Federal Reserve. For an interactive whiteboard (SMART/Notebook or ActivInspire/flipchart) lesson please visit: https://www.stlouisfed.org/education/a-chair-for-my-mother .