Sample Lesson Plan

The following is a sample lesson plan for teaching and understanding basic investing and financial concepts. This lesson plan is appropriate for all grades, but should be adapted for each classroom.

This lesson plan may be used by anyone, without any prior stock market or investment knowledge. The time involved will vary greatly depending on how much time you wish to spend on this material, as well as the age level of your students. We recommend continuing this exercise throughout an entire school year, or for at least 3 months, since this will encourage students’ interest in current events while they learn important skills.
The objectives include learning and understanding basic investing principles, current events, how the economy works and money management skills, and at the same time improving students’ basic math and reading comprehension and writing skills.

Here are the steps for your own League:

LESSON 1: Introductory Information

Students will learn what a stock is, and be able to look up basic stock market information. You can utilize such resources at quotes, research, markets, stock listings, learn about investing, and definitions.

LESSON 2: Introducing League Play

These are only suggested guidelines. League Play may either be done in groups or individually. Please feel free to adjust and improvise as you see appropriate:

Each group (or individual) begins with $100,000. With this money, the group (or individual) must spend at least $10,000 on stocks (including commissions). The remainder may be kept in the individual’s cash account.
Each group should invest in at least 5 stocks. You may set a minimum of 3 stocks, and a maximum of 15 stocks. If you are working with a younger group, you may want to set the number to 3 stocks for each group.
Each group should keep a journal of their activities, thoughts, and reasons for each buy and sell. A transaction history of all buys and sells will be kept online, along with the current portfolio's market value (plus the fantasy cash in the cash account).
The time line for this activity may be from 1 month to multiple months, depending on how much time you wish to spend on this subject. We suggest continuing this activity throughout the entire school year, since it will help reinforce longer-term investment skills. In addition, this will keep students interested in current economic events while reinforcing fundamental skills.
On the last day (as determined by the instructor) students will report on their portfolio's value and what they learned during the activity.

LESSON 3: Selecting Companies To Invest In

If this is a group activity, the students should get together in their groups.

For choosing stocks, we recommend that students choose companies with products or services they are familiar with. This may include companies that their families or friends work for, or are familiar with. This will help make the learning process more interesting and understandable. In addition, some basic "fundamental analysis" may be performed. You may start this lesson by asking students what companies they are familiar with and writing the answers on the board. Then students may choose from those companies or other companies they think of. For younger students, you may want to suggest companies and let the students choose. For older students, you may require additional fundamental analysis, such as PE analysis, or making sure they create a diversified portfolio. In addition, students should write their reasoning and analysis in their journal.

LESSON 4: Purchasing (or Selling) Stocks

Students should log into their accounts and begin buying for their account. To start, click the “Place a Trade” link.

LESSON 5: Monitoring The Portfolio

Weekly, or daily, students should track their investments. You can have each student create weekly performance reports, and include each stock price and portfolio performance, any news items related to each stock, and/or any economic items related to the portfolio and the stock market. Was there any correlation between the news and the stock or portfolio?

Continuation of Lessons:

Lessons 3-5 should continue until the end of the League game. Review is incorporated at the close of the lesson in the form of group discussions, having students sate in their own words what they have learned, how the information can be applied in the “real world” and an analysis of the performance of their portfolio.

Other Ideas:

Once you have learned about stocks, go on to learn basic finance and economic principles. This will provide the foundation for understanding stocks, business, and the economy.
Have an investment advisor visit the class for question and answers.
Have students do a research report on some aspect of the stock market. For example, on the stock market crash of the 1920s, the history of the New York Stock exchange, etc.