Wisepockets World

Jenny Guerra
Econ 3052
4/6/05
Economics on the Web

The website that I chose to explore and critique is www.wisepockets.com. This website has a homepage called Wisepockets World. Wisepocket is a koala bear that knows a lot about money. He has many friends that need help with money. This website is aimed at children in grades 3-6, and parents and teachers of those children. This website has three different parts to it. It contains a section for the kids called Clubhouse, a section for the parents called Treehouse, and a section for the teachers called Schoolhouse. The Clubhouse is where the children can go and play. The clubhouse has two main parts to it. There is a section where the children can meet Wisepockets’ friends. He has many friends. His friends are Heather, Will, Tim, Vicki, Arlo (Vicki’s dog), Miss Ellie (a retired banker), Mr. Fuentes (a neighbor), and Money Mouse (Wisepockets best friend). They need a lot of help with their money. There is a second section that is called the library. The library is where Wisepockets and Money Mouse help the kids with their money problems. The children can learn about how Heather wants to have a birthday party, but doesn t have any money. They can learn about how Will learns to save money for a telescope, how Tim learns to save money, and how Vicki learns to become a responsible borrower. At the end of each story there is a quiz and an activity that the children can print out. This is not only a site for children, there is also a section for adults.

The Tree house is a section made for adults. This section tells adults how to explain money to their children. It shows parents how to explain income, spending, saving, and credit to their children. The Tree house gives examples and stories on how to show your children how to use money responsibly. I think that this is a very important section to have in here. I assumed that the website would only have things for kids and students. I did not know that it would include parents, but I think that it is a good idea. In addition to the section for parents, there is also a section for teachers.

The Schoolhouse is a section that teachers can visit to get ideas on how to integrate economics into the grade school classroom. There are plenty of lesson plans geared to students in grade 3-6. There are over 10 lesson plans on this website. Each lesson plan contains a lesson description, a personal finance concepts lists, cross-cultural connections, instructional objectives, detailed procedure steps, activity sheets and visuals, assessment techniques, and extension recommendations. I think that this section is critical for teachers who want to integrate economics into the grade school classroom.

Overall, on a scale of 1-10, I would rate this website a 9. It has very colorful and friendly images for the children, which will help them understand and have fun with the concept of economics. It is equipped with stories that help feed their imagination about money and how to make and save money. Not only does it entertain the children, but it gives their parents a chance to realize how important it is to teach their kids about economics at a young age. I think that the most critical part of the website is the part for the teachers. Children are in school for most of the day and that is where they learn almost everything. I think it is very important to integrate economics into the grade school classroom, so I was glad to see so much information for teachers.