Name: ______________________ Date: __________ Partner: ______________________
The account holder, the bank, the soccer league, and every number here are made up for class. Fees are typical Long Island bank fees for 2026 [update].
Part A: The seven ways to pay (fill in as the slides go by)
| Way to pay | Where does the money come from? | What record does it leave? | One risk | One fee to watch for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | ||||
| Check | ||||
| Debit card | ||||
| Credit card | ||||
| Prepaid card | ||||
| Phone or app payment | ||||
| Bank transfer (direct deposit, wire, app to bank) |
Part B: Write the check
The job: Sam Okafor is paying the fall registration fee for the Long Island Youth Soccer League. The fee is $85.00. Today is October 3, 2026. This is check number 101.
The six parts of a check (copy from the demo): 1 ____________ 2 ____________ 3 ____________ 4 ____________ 5 ____________ 6 ____________
The blank check
| SAM OKAFOR | 101 | |
| 18 Bayview Lane | ||
| Islip, NY 11751 | (1) Date: ______________________ | |
| (2) Pay to the order of: ________________________________________ | (3) $ ______________ | |
| (4) ______________________________________________________ dollars | ||
| HARBOR COMMUNITY BANK | ||
| (5) Memo: ______________________ | (6) Signature: ______________________ | |
| 021000000 0000004471 0101 |
Number words you may need: one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, sixty, seventy, eighty, ninety. Cents are written as a fraction of 100: "and 00/100," "and 50/100."
Part C: The register
Every dollar that moves gets a line, the day it moves. Payments are subtracted. Deposits are added. Carry the balance to the cent. The first two lines are done for you.
Starting balance: $250.00
| Date | Check # or type | Description | Payment (minus) | Deposit (plus) | Balance |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10/1 | Direct deposit | Paycheck, Harbor Bagel Shop | $340.06 | $590.06 | |
| 10/2 | Debit | Groceries, supermarket | $42.18 | $547.88 | |
| 10/3 | 101 | Long Island Youth Soccer League, fall registration | $ | $ | |
| 10/5 | ATM | Cash withdrawal, out-of-network ATM | $40.00 | $ | |
| 10/5 | Fee | Out-of-network ATM fee [update] | $3.00 | $ | |
| 10/7 | App transfer | Paid a friend back for pizza | $12.50 | $ | |
| 10/9 | Debit, autopay | Phone plan [update] | $35.00 | $ | |
| 10/12 | Deposit | Birthday cash | $50.00 | $ | |
| 10/14 | Debit | Movie ticket [update] | $17.00 | $ | |
| 10/15 | Debit | Monthly bus pass [update] | $60.00 | $ | |
| 10/16 | Direct deposit | Paycheck, Harbor Bagel Shop | $340.06 | $ |
Final balance in the register: $__________ My partner's final balance: $__________ Same? yes / no
If different, find the line where you split: line ______
(Grade 6: post through the 10/9 phone plan line and stop.)
Part D: When is each way safest?
Pick the safest way to pay and name one risk it avoids.
| Situation | Safest way | The risk it avoids |
|---|---|---|
| Pay a friend back $12.50 | ||
| Pay rent, $2,200 [update], to a landlord | ||
| Buy a $40 item online from a site you have never heard of | ||
| Carry money on a school trip to the city |
(Grade 6: do the first and third rows.)
Grade 8 stretch: reconcile
The bank's app shows a balance of $770.44 on 10/16. Your register says something else. Explain the difference in one sentence.
Overdraft: suppose the 10/15 bus pass had been charged on 10/11, before the birthday deposit on 10/12. Would the account have gone below zero? What would a $35 overdraft fee [update] have done to the balance?
Exit card (3-2-1)
3 ways to pay that come out of a checking account: ________________, ________________, ________________
2 fees I learned about today: ________________, ________________
1 sentence: why does anyone still write a check? _________________________________________________
Teacher key
Part A (expected answers, accept equivalents):
| Way | Money from | Record | Risk | Fee |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Cash | your pocket | none, unless you ask for a receipt | lost or stolen is gone | none (ATM fee to get it) |
| Check | your checking account | the check itself and the register; the bank statement | it can bounce if the balance is too low; slow | overdraft fee, about $35 |
| Debit | your checking account, right now | bank statement | a stolen card or number drains the account | out-of-network ATM fee, about $3 plus the other bank's fee |
| Credit | the bank's money, borrowed | monthly statement | interest if you do not pay in full; debt | interest, late fee, annual fee on some cards |
| Prepaid | money loaded in advance | the card balance | lost is gone; not linked to you | fee to load, fee to check the balance, monthly fee on some |
| Phone or app | a linked card or bank account | the app history | sending to the wrong person is final; scam requests | instant transfer fee on some apps (about 1.5 to 3 percent) |
| Bank transfer | one account to another | bank statement | a wire cannot be reversed | wire fee $15 to $30; some apps charge to move money to a bank the same day |
Part B: six parts: date, payee (pay to the order of), amount in numbers, amount in words, memo, signature. Filled check: October 3, 2026; Long Island Youth Soccer League; $85.00; Eighty-five and 00/100 dollars; fall registration; Sam Okafor.
Part C balances: 10/3 $462.88; 10/5 ATM $422.88; 10/5 fee $419.88; 10/7 $407.38; 10/9 $372.38; 10/12 $422.38; 10/14 $405.38; 10/15 $345.38; 10/16 $685.44. Final: $685.44. Grade 6 stops at $372.38.
Part D: friend: app payment or cash (avoids a bounced check and a fee; both are fast); rent: check or bank transfer (leaves a record with the payee's name and the date; a landlord dispute needs proof); online from an unknown site: credit card (fraud protection; you can dispute the charge, and it is the bank's money at risk, not yours; a prepaid card is an acceptable second answer); school trip: prepaid card or a small amount of cash (if it is lost, the loss is capped; do not carry a debit card linked to the whole account).
Grade 8 stretch: $770.44 minus $685.44 = $85.00, which is check 101; the app does not show it because the check has not cleared. Overdraft: after 10/9 the balance is $372.38; a $60 bus pass on 10/11 leaves $312.38, so no, the account stays above zero. (The point of the question is to make them check; a student who says "yes" did not carry the balance.) If they change the setup to a $400 charge, the balance would go to negative $27.62 and the $35 fee would make it negative $62.62.
Exit: check, debit, bank transfer (also direct deposit, ATM); any two fees from the table; a check leaves a paper record with a name and date, some payees only take checks, and it costs nothing to send in the mail.