Grades 3–5Ages 8–11 · Unit 2.3 · The Saving System
Set a SMART goal: a free saving worksheet for grades 3–5.
“I want to save money” and “I will save $35 by October 15 by putting aside $5 every Saturday” are the same wish. Only one of them happens. This sheet walks a child through all five letters of SMART and then makes them do the division that turns the goal into a date.
No account. No email. Nothing collected about your child.
What is on the page
- The five SMART letters, each with a plain-English prompt
- A column to write your own goal against each one
- Goal amount, weekly saving, weeks needed and finish date
- An answer page with the test for a goal that works
What it teaches
- Turning a wish into a plan with a number and a date
- Dividing to find how long a goal will take
- Checking whether a plan is actually achievable
How to run it
Read their five answers back as one sentence. If it sounds like the second example on the sheet, it works. If it sounds like the first, what is usually missing is Measurable or Time-bound.
The other free worksheets
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Three Jars, Not Two
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Every Coin Has a Value
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My Saving Goal
Name what you are saving for, what it costs, and when you want it by.
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50 / 30 / 20
A first budget: split $10, $20 and $50 across needs, wants and saving.
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Sort the Earner
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The Four Players
Match five everyday events to households, businesses, banks or government.
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Unit Price Math
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The Time Value of Patience
Sai saves for ten years and stops. Macon saves for forty. Who has more at 65?
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Emergency Fund First
Size an emergency fund from your own costs, and say why it comes before investing.
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The Score That Follows You
The five things that build a credit score — and what a low one costs on one car loan.
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Where Did $177 Go?
Miller earned $1,200 and was paid $1,023. Build the pay stub and find the $177.
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The Personal Budget
Build a budget on your own numbers, then say where 50/30/20 breaks.
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Principal, Interest, Rate
Define the six words on every loan document, and say which raise what you repay.
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Sticker, Gift, Net
Two schools, two sticker prices. Subtract gift aid and find out which really costs less.
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Four Ways to Get Paid
Employee, entrepreneur, investor, hybrid — what each one trades, and its ceiling and floor.
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The Credit Card Trap
A $4,100 balance at 24.9% APR, and four ways to pay it down.
Get this one ›See all four free financial literacy worksheets, read what third grade learns about money, or start with our guide to financial literacy for kids.
Where it comes from
Unit 2.3 · The Saving System of a 266-lesson curriculum.
This sheet is one activity, unchanged, from Financial Foundations™. Teachers can run a free five-week pilot with one class. Families can take the Family Edition home.