Curriculum and Workshops

Virtual Economics
Economics and the Environment
Thinking Economics
Financial Fitness for Life
Learning, Earning and Investing
Financial Fitness for Kids
Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education
Outdoor Classroom Grant
Additional Curricula and Workshops

Virtual Economics ®: Version 3.0 - Hot off the Presses!

Virtual Economics®: Version 3.0, sponsored by State Farm Insurance, makes its debut at the 2005 NCEE Annual Conference in San Antonio Oct 4-8, 2005. Council, as well as Center staff from the UIC Center for Economic Education, will take part in the Virtual Economics Train-the-Trainer Workshops during the conference, to enable the Council network to offer Virtual Economics workshops for teachers this coming school year.

Virtual Economics CD-ROM is designed for K-12 teachers as a resource tool for the social studies curriculum and for the integration of economics within the math, language arts, and science curriculum. This CD uses state-of-the-art technology bringing the most current information to the teacher via the internet. The resource is a comprehensive library of 1,200 printable economic lessons, each user-friendly and accessible by searching for concept, grade level, curriculum piece, or subject area. Lessons have been correlated to state content standards, including Illinois State Goal 15. To learn more about Virtual Economics, visit the NCEE store.

If you are interested in attending a workshop that can be tailored to highlight certain grade levels (primary through senior high school) or to target subject/curriculum teams using the NEW Virtual Economics, please contact ICEE. We're prepared to deliver quality professional development supported by a rich supply of materials that includes Virtual Economics.

Economics and the Environment: EcoDetectives

NCEE enthusiastically released Economics and the Environment: EcoDetectives early in 2005. This curriculum set of 15 lessons is intended for use in middle school and high school courses or for units in environmental education. The curriculum will continue to make important contributions to the field, helping today's young people gain the insights and skills they need to address environmental issues effectively in their role as citizens.

With Economics and the Environment: EcoDetectives, teachers are provided tools designed to meet challenges and to move beyond the high interest and strong feelings often associated with addressing environmental issues. Using lesson applications, students gain a well-informed approach to reasoning through environmental problems by applying economic principles. For More information, visit the NCEE store.

Thinking Economics ®: Version 3.0* 

NCEE has recently acquired the exclusive licensing and distribution rights to Thinking Economics®, a comprehensive, innovative, and technology based primary source high school economics curriculum. The materials are effective for a variety of high school classrooms and with a diversity of students and learning styles.

NCEE has developed a new informational website for Thinking Economics . We invite teachers to explore this site and learn more about this exciting resource!

*For those of you attending the NCEE/NAEE/GATE Annual Conference October 5-8 in San Antonio, we will be offering both a half day pre conference session (designed for Council and Center representatives) and a two hour teacher workshop to give you a more comprehensive orientation.

The Financial Fitness for Life ® Personal Finance Curriculum Series

In this, the third year of a three year grant from the Bank of America Foundation, NCEE is once again offering teacher training opportunities through ICEE Centers using the Financial Fitness for Life (FFFL) curriculum.

Teacher training workshops featuring the FFFL curriculum series target teachers of K-12 children. Teacher participants receive a set of the FFFL Teacher's Package containing a grade-appropriate Teacher's Guide, Student Activity Workbook, Parent Guide, an accompanying CD-ROM, and a letter of permission to reprint materials for classroom use.

Parent Workshops target parents of K-12 children, with each participant receiving a copy of a grade-appropriate Parent Guide and companion CD-ROM. The Parent Guide is designed to complement the lessons contained within the FFFL teacher and student guides, and are divided into grades K-5 and grades 6-12. This is an excellent opportunity for teachers to have their lessons on personal finance and economics reinforced at home.

The FFFL curriculum is offered for four convenient grade bands:

• lower elementary (Grades K-2)
• upper elementary (3-5)
• middle school (6-8)
• high school (9-12)

ICEE and its Centers offer more than one workshop at different grade levels. For more information on upcoming workshops listed here or on the calendar page, please contact the Center for Economic Education for your school.

Learning, Earning, and Investing

Learning, Earning, and Investing (LEI), sponsored by The Moody's Foundation, is a brand-new curriculum packed with 16 middle school and 7 high school activity-based lessons that cover all aspects of saving, investing, and money management. LEI helps you channel the excitement of your Stock Market Game or classroom simulation into a comprehensive investor education curriculum. Visit their free companion website today!

The Center at UIUC has secured funding for workshops to be completed this fall. For information and to register for one of these engaging professional development training workshops, contact Angela Lyons at the UIUC Center.

Financial Fitness For Kids

Financial Fitness for Kids is a financial literacy project for Chicago Public Schools that has been developed to integrate financial education across the curriculum to reinforce reading and math skills; complement the reading and math curriculum; create a sequence for financial literacy that provides progressive and continuing knowledge for students; and help children become knowledgeable consumers and savvy savers and investors.

The initiative is sponsored by the City Treasurer's Office, City of Chicago and will involve 17 schools, each representing a different area of the school district. The schools' teachers participate for three years with two optional tracks: Kindergarten (first year), 1st grade (second year), 2nd grade (third year) -OR- 3rd grade (first year), 4th grade (second year), 5th grade (third year).

The comprehensive Financial Fitness For Life (FFFL) K-5 curriculum materials will provide the core of the program. Financial support is provided by Chicago area financial institutions, including: Albany Bank, Ariel Capital Management, Attucks Asset Management, Bank of America, Bank One Management Corp., Cabrera Capital Markets, Dearborn Partners, Harris Investment Management, J.P. Morgan Chase Foundation, Morgan Stanley Investment Management, National City Bank, and New Amsterdam Partners.

Key partners with the Office of the City Treasurer in this program include the Illinois Council on Economic Education, University of Illinois at Chicago Center for Economic Education and the Chicago Public Schools.

Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education

The Consortium for Entrepreneurship Education, an organization recognized as the national leader in advocating entrepreneurship education, hosts a web page that is designed for teachers, instructors, program developers and others who help students of all ages find their own entrepreneurial opportunities.

The site offers what the creators refer to as a "Toolkit" for the National Content Standards for Entrepreneurship Education, and is designed to give readers the Standards and Performance Indicators framework necessary for developing curriculum for entrepreneurship programs as a lifelong learning process. The Toolkit also contains background information on Entrepreneurship Education and the Lifelong Learning Model for Entrepreneurship Education, sample applications of the Standards, and information about the research used to develop the Standards.

Outdoor Classroom Grant Opportunity! 

Lowe's Charitable and Educational Foundation, International Paper and the International Paper Foundation, and National Geographic Explorer classroom magazine have announced an Outdoor Classroom Grant Program to fund outdoor learning environments for K-12 public schools around the United States. The program only considers outdoor classroom proposals. All K-12 public schools in the United States (excluding Puerto Rico) are welcome to apply. Grants will be reviewed three times a year, with a rolling deadline. For complete program information and application procedures, please visit the Lowe's Web site .

Additional Curricula and Workshops