By Jonathan Bach, author and illustrator of Clarence Gets a Bargain · Updated October 2026
You do need the book. Every lesson starts with a read-aloud, and the activities point back to real pages. One copy for the teacher does the job; read it aloud or put it under the document camera. Want to try it before you buy it? The first five pages are free.
Start with the 15-minute Needs First sorting game for grades 1–3. It includes eight prompts, an answer guide, discussion questions and an exit ticket. Read it aloud or print it; no login, email or purchase required.
The four-week unit below is a separate, book-based option.
Clarence earns a robot with chores and good grades. Then Mom lists what the house actually pays for. Kids open with a thumbs-up, thumbs-down vote on six items (the phone argument is worth letting run), then sort ten cards into needs and wants in pairs. Each pair defends the one card they almost moved.
Exit ticket: draw one need and one want. Label both.
Hold up a Sunday flyer and ask what it’s for. Most kids say recycling. So did Clarence. Pairs hunt one item through real store flyers and the class picks the best price. Then coupon math:
The aisle-five chapter. Clearance means the store needs the shelf space. It doesn’t mean broken. Pairs inspect two classroom “robots,” one at $10 and one marked down to $8 with a clearance sticker, list the differences, and decide which one to buy with $10 of play money. Then they get the coupon Clarence had in his pocket.
Wrap the book, give the post-assessment, then play Guess the Price with three real grocery items (closest guess wins; the highest guess has to explain themselves). Every kid leaves with a Wyze Shopper Certificate and one money habit to try at home: read a sale ad with the family, ask about a coupon at checkout, find a clearance sticker.
That’s the prep. If you want even less, the zero-prep version runs straight off the page.
Yes. Each lesson carries separate notes for grades 1–2 and grades 3–5. First graders sort, vote, and argue about the phone. Third graders do the percent math. The book reads at an estimated Lexile AD 620L, guided reading L–N, and it’s a read-aloud anyway.
| Week | Jump$tart 2021 | CEE | Common Core |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Spending; Saving | Standard 2 (Buying), Standard 3 (Saving) | SL.1.1–SL.5.1; RI.1.1, RI.2.1, RI.3.1 |
| 2 | Spending | Standard 2 (Buying Goods and Services) | 2.MD.C.8; 3.NBT.A.2; 4.NF.B.6; RI.1.7, RI.2.7, RI.3.7 |
| 3 | Spending | Standard 2 (Buying Goods and Services) | 2.MD.C.8; 4.NF.B.6; 5.NBT.B.7; RI.3.1, RI.4.1; L.3.5 |
| 4 | Saving; Spending | Standard 3 (Saving) | SL.1.1–SL.5.1; W.3.1–W.5.1 |
FDIC Money Smart alignment and the full 23-row crosswalk, with source links a grant reviewer can check, are in the Standards Alignment Chart. Want to filter by framework? Use the interactive matrix.
Because six-year-olds don’t remember worksheets. They remember the kid who wanted the robot. Every concept in this unit happens to Clarence first, on a real shopping trip, in order: the ad, the comparison, the markdown, the coupon, the tax. The lesson just slows the story down long enough to do the math.
And it’s the spending half of money, which most picture books skip. Here’s why that half comes first.
Yes. Print them, copy them, share them inside your school. No login, no email list.
Yes, one copy. It’s $19.99, and schools can pay by PO. If the budget is the problem, Grant-in-a-Box has DonorsChoose and PTA requests already written.
Four lessons, four weeks. It fits.
Each lesson ends with a take-home prompt, and The Money Talk and the Family Activity Sheet give parents something to do at the store.
In person or virtual. The Aisle Five Assembly.
Open the lesson plans · all six toolkit files · buy the book ($19.99)
Classroom sets and district orders: orders@clarencegetsabargain.com
Clarence Gets a Bargain by Jonathan Bach. ISBN 979-8-234-07638-0. 36 pages, ages 6–10, grades 1–5. Standards codes are quoted from the lesson plans as written; check the alignment chart for the source frameworks.