Unit 1, Day 1: Needs, Wants, and Trade-offs

Lesson 1 of 6 in Unit 1, Your Money Plan

School-year day: Day 1 of 180
Time: 20-minute core + 30-minute extension (50 minutes in all)

Teacher Talk with MystrS. Checked October 27, 2026 (Pacific time). Tags: Teacher Talk, Finance, Unit 1, Day 1, Needs, Wants, Opportunity Cost, High School, MystrS

Goal: Students sort everyday choices into needs and wants, name the trade off (opportunity cost) of one choice, and explain why a written money plan starts with those words.

Materials:

Printed card sort: 12 spending items on slips (rent or housing share, groceries, phone plan, streaming, sneakers, bus pass, school lunch, concert ticket, medicine, game download, haircut, savings transfer). One set per pair.
Chart paper or board with three columns: Need, Want, Depends.
Word bank card (need, want, trade off / opportunity cost, budget). English learner support.
Sentence frames: "This is a need because ___." / "If I choose ___, I give up ___." IEP and ELL support.
Optional: /finance/budgeting-why-it-matters/ open on one shared device for the close.
No device option: card sort and board only.

Core (20 min)

Hook (3 min). Ask: "If you had $20 this week, what would you spend it on first?" Take three answers. Do not grade the answers. Say: "Today we name needs, wants, and what you give up when you pick one."
Define (4 min). On the board write: Need = something you must have to live and work (housing, food, medicine, basic transport). Want = something nice to have that you can put off. Trade off (opportunity cost) = the next best thing you give up when you choose. Keep definitions short. Read them once aloud.
Card sort (8 min). Pairs sort the 12 slips into Need, Want, or Depends. Walk the room. Push "Depends" items: a phone can be a need for work or school safety and a want for the newest model. Invite two pairs to move one sticky and say why. Point out that pairs may sort the same item differently because people's preferences differ, and that is fine.
Trade off line (3 min). Each student writes one sentence: "If I choose ___, I give up ___." Collect or exit ticket.
Close (2 min). Point to why a budget starts here: you cannot plan money until you know what must be paid first. Optional one shared screen: the opening of Budgeting: why it matters.

Extension (up to 30 min)

Persona sort (10 min). Hand out the Day 3 persona preview (Jordan, age 17, part time job). Students mark which of Jordan's listed costs are needs vs wants. No real family data.
Family Table Talk pointer (5 min). Show Budget plan and account alerts. Students write one question they could ask a trusted adult at home this week. Do not require an answer back.
Gallery walk (10 min). Groups post one "Depends" item and walk to add sticky notes that change the answer (job, health, distance to school).

Check for understanding:
Exit ticket (one index card or half sheet):

Write one need and one want from today's sort.
In one sentence, what is a trade off (opportunity cost)?

Quick look: need/want are labeled correctly; trade off sentence names something given up.

Standards (2021 National Standards for Personal Financial Education, Jump$tart/CEE):

Spending 4-1; Spending 4-3; Spending 12-2; Spending 12-1a.