Savings Account Unit
The resources below are part of the Savings Account Unit which you can find here.
Get the full classroom-ready unit
Savings Account Activities
Everything on this site is the free companion to the complete printable and digital unit for middle & high school.
- ✓Real-world activities with full answer keys
- ✓Simple & compound interest, bank statements, deposit and withdrawal slips
- ✓Editable PowerPoint & Google Slides
- ✓Full unit or single lessons
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Free companion site
Savings Account Unit
This is the free companion site for the Savings Account Activities unit. The video your packet asks you to watch is here, along with working simple and compound interest calculators built for the questions in the project.
Work through the sections in order, or jump to the one your teacher assigned. Everything here is free to use with your students.
Dollars and Sense video
Simple interest calculator
Compound interest calculator
02Calculate
Simple Interest Calculator
Simple interest is calculated only on the money you originally put in. The formula is I = P × R × T, where I is the interest, P is the principal (the amount deposited or borrowed), R is the interest rate as a decimal, and T is the time in years.
Enter your numbers below. The calculator shows the interest, the total balance, and the formula with your numbers filled in — so you can check your own work rather than just copy an answer.
Simple Interest
I = P × R × T
$
%
(results appear below)
Interest earned
--
Total balance
--
The work, step by step
--
--
Watch out for fees and credits. Some of the banks in your packet charge an annual fee or give a sign-up credit. This calculator does not know about those — work out the interest here, then add or subtract the fee yourself. That step is part of the question.
03Calculate
Compound Interest Calculator
Compound interest pays you interest on your interest. The formula is A = P(1 + r/n)nt, where A is the ending amount, P is the principal, r is the interest rate as a decimal, n is how many times per year the interest is calculated, and t is the number of years.
Pick how often the interest compounds, enter your numbers, and the calculator shows the ending balance, the interest earned, and the formula with your numbers substituted in. The year-by-year table underneath answers the questions that ask what the balance is after one year, two years, and three years.
Compound Interest
A = P(1 + r/n)nt
$
%
(results appear below)
Ending balance
--
Interest earned
--
The work, step by step
--
--
--
Balance at the end of each year
| Year | Balance | Interest so far |
|---|
Compare it against simple interest. Run the same principal, rate, and number of years through the simple interest calculator above, then compare the two totals. The gap between them is compounding, and it grows the longer the money stays in.
01Watch
Dollars and Sense
Becky-Sue wants a guitar, an amp, and a few hundred dollars of electronics, and she wants them now. The banker in this Schoolhouse Rock short explains the two directions interest runs: the bank pays you for money you leave with it, and charges you for money you borrow from it. That single idea is the foundation of the whole unit.
Packet: Dollars and Sense Activity — 4 questions
Show the song lyrics
Becky-Sue
[Becky-Sue:]
You know, I love country music
And I practice daily on my out of tune cocamamie ukulele
But my daily ukulele playing ain't going to get me far
I need a guitar, an amp, and some quadraphonics
And several hundred dollars worth of electronics
If I'm ever going to get to be a country western star!
Got to get me some dollars and sense
Dollars and sense
Them green-back bills with the pictures of the Presidents
[Banker:]
Now, I hear you squawking, Miss Becky-Sue
Why don't you drop by the bank and I'll explain to you
How you can make more dollars if you use a little common sense
Chill out, young lady, no need to fret
Although you can't afford to buy that new equipment yet
You got a couple hundred bucks saved up in your birthday stash
Why not deposit them dollars in the bank instead?
Then at the end of the year you'll come out way ahead
Because the bank will pay you money in exchange for the use of your cash!
And that's called interest; you're making money that way
And you can buy that gear about a year from today
[Becky-Sue:]
Saving sounds mighty nifty, Mister Banker Dude
You know I'd like to be thrifty, but I ain't in the mood I'm inspired and I'm writing me a brand new country song
I got a lot of country western in my blood
Like Reba and Loretta and Wynonna Judd
Got to get me that equipment
And I ain't about to wait too long!
[Becky Sue & Banker:]
Got to get me some dollars and sense
Dollars and sense
Them green-back bills with the pictures of the Presidents
[Becky-Sue:]
So please, Mister Banker, won't you tell me how
I can get my mitts on some money right now?
Because waiting for my dollars really doesn't seem to make much sense
[Banker:]
Why sure, Becky-Sue, I can give you a hand
I can lend you the money, but you must understand
When you borrow from the bank
Then you got to pay it back on time
And when you're done paying back every dollar that's due
You will find you paid them back a little extra too
For every dollar you borrow
You got to pay the bank a dollar and a dime!
Again that's interest, and it's just a fee
You pay to use the money that you borrow from me
[Becky Sue & Banker:]
We're talking about dollars and sense, dollars and sense
Them green-back bills with the pictures of the Presidents
Since life is one experience that spares us no expense
Got to use them dollars with a little bit of common sense
We got to use them dollars with a little bit of common sense
Are you sure Dolly Parton started this way?
Question 2 is the one worth slowing down for. Becky-Sue could put her birthday money in the bank, but ask yourself how much interest a couple hundred dollars actually earns in a year, and whether that gets her anywhere near the price of an amp. The math you do in the next two sections will make the answer obvious.