Lesson plan · Money Fundamentals · Lesson 2
Checking Accounts
Your everyday money hub: how checking works, debit vs. credit, and the fees to avoid.
- 45 minutes
- Grades 9–12
- Beginner
- Activity: pairs
Objectives
Students will be able to:
- Describe how money moves into and out of a checking account
- Explain the difference between debit and credit
- Keep a running account register and spot when an overdraft would happen
Materials
- Slide deck and a projector
- Worksheet (one per student)
- The lesson's interactive (projected, or on student devices)
- Exit ticket slips (bottom of the worksheet)
Standards
- National Standards for Personal Financial Education (2021)
- SpendingSaving
- Texas TEKS §113.76 Personal Financial Literacy and Economics
- (6) The student understands how to set personal spending goals.
- (8) The student understands the importance of saving and investing in creating wealth and building assets.
Topic-level alignment by FLC. How we map standards
Key vocabulary
- Debit card
- A card that spends money you already have in your checking account. A credit card, by contrast, borrows money you'll have to pay back.
Background reading
The official sources this lesson is based on.
- Bank accounts and services (opens in a new tab) · consumerfinance.gov
- Deposit Insurance (opens in a new tab) · fdic.gov
- Share Insurance Coverage (opens in a new tab) · ncua.gov
45-minute agenda
0–5 min
Warm-up
Post: “Your checking account shows $120. A $60 phone bill is scheduled to come out tomorrow. How much can you safely spend today? Explain.”
5–12 min
Direct instruction
Present the lesson slides. Make sure students leave with these points:
- Checking is for everyday spending, not for growing money.
- Debit spends your money; credit borrows money.
- Watch for monthly, overdraft, and ATM fees — many accounts have none.
- Subtract upcoming bills before deciding what you can spend.
- Insured deposits are protected up to $250,000 per depositor, per institution, per ownership category.
Use the “See it” slide (How money moves through checking) to make the idea visual.
12–17 min
Worked example
Walk through “Jordan and the overdraft” on the slides. Pause before the result and ask students to predict it.
17–22 min
Live demo
Project track a month in checking from the slides. Change one input at a time and have students call out what they think will happen.
22–32 min
Register Race
Format: pairs · 10 minutes
- Give pairs a starting balance of $180 and this list, in order: (1) groceries −$42 debit, (2) phone bill −$65 autopay, (3) ATM withdrawal −$20 plus a $3 out-of-network fee, (4) concert ticket −$89 debit, (5) paycheck +$210 direct deposit, (6) gas −$35 debit.
- Pairs record each line in a register with a running balance.
- Pairs circle the first transaction that would overdraw the account and write one habit that would have prevented it.
- Compare answers with another pair.
What to look for: Running balance: $138, $73, $50, −$39, $171, $136. The concert ticket (#4) overdraws the account by $39 because it posts before the paycheck. Checking upcoming bills and payday first prevents it.
32–37 min
Check for understanding
Use the question slides — or run them as a Four Corners game. Questions:
- What's the smartest way to think about this?
- A debit card spends money you already have, while a credit card spends money you're borrowing.
- Which account costs you less, and by how much per year?
37–42 min
Discussion
- Why might a bank offer a free checking account? How does the bank still make money?
- What alerts or habits would help someone avoid overdrafts?
42–45 min
Exit ticket
Prompt: Name one fee a checking account can charge and one way to avoid it.
Differentiation
Common misconception
“If my card goes through, I have the money.” Overdraft coverage can approve a purchase you can't afford — and then charge a fee for it.
Support
Hand out a register with the starting balance and the first two lines already filled in.
Extension
Compare two real checking accounts (monthly fee, overdraft policy, ATM network) and recommend one for a high school student, with reasons.
Homework or make-up work
Students can complete the full interactive lesson — including its knowledge check — at learnwithflc.org/courses/money-fundamentals/checking-accounts. No account needed; progress saves on their device.