In case you did not know, April marks Financial Literacy Month! With the staggering cost of continuing education as well as the unstable job market, it is even more important to make sure students are prepared to handle their own finances. In order to provide some new resources this month, here are a few images of old currency from the Bank of North America collection. This collection spans over two hundred years and will be the focus of an upcoming Unit Plan on teaching financial literacy and economic history.

Check out this note for twenty shillings, or one pound, and an example of Continental currency used during the Revolutionary War. Based on these pictures, the design of the Continental currency was very similar to the shilling - dispite the political rift between Britian and the U.S.

Currency is as an excellent teaching tool when learning about how to handle money properly and the fractions involved with money. Since some of the denominations shown here are no longer part of our standard currency, these examples may lead to discussions of how and why things have changed. Students should pay attention to how each bank printed its own money, unlike the standardized dollar you see today, and why this would cause problems for travelers. You can see an example with the three dollar bill below.

To see more about the conservation of this collection please visit our other blog, Fondly Pennsylvania. Also, for more lesson plans related to economic history, check out our Progressive Era Political Cartoons - and stay tuned for another financial literacy lesson plan.