A series of six engaging themes help kindergarten through fifth grade students apply basic economic concepts to their life experiences.

The Junior Achievement Elementary School Program includes six grade-specific themes for kindergarten through fifth grade students. Junior Achievement's program teaches elementary school students the basic concepts of business and economics and shows children how education is relevant to the workplace. The sequential activities build on studies from each preceding grade and prepare students for secondary school and lifelong learning.

The six program themes also teach students that people assume roles as individuals, consumers, and workers in an expanding cultural environment that extends from the self and family to global relations.

Junior Achievement's Elementary School Program includes:

Ourselves -

uses compelling stories read aloud by the volunteer, along with hands-on activities to demonstrate helping, working, earning, and saving. Five required, volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for kindergarten.

Detailed Program Summary

Our Families -

emphasizes the roles people play in the local economy and engages students with activities about needs, wants, jobs, tools and skills, and interdependence. Five required, volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for first grade.

Detailed Program Summary

Our Community -

explores the interdependent roles of workers in a community, the work they perform, and how communities work. Five required, volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for second grade.

Detailed Program Summary

Our City -

studies careers, the skills people need to work in specific careers, and how businesses contribute to a city. Five required, volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for third grade.

Detailed Program Summary

Our Region -

introduces the relationship between the natural, human, and capital resources found in different regions and explores regional businesses that produce goods and services for consumers. Five required, volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for fourth grade.

Detailed Program Summary

Our Nation -

provides practical information about businesses' need for individuals who can meet the demands of the job market, including high-growth, high-demand jobs. Further, it introduces the concept of globalization of business as it relates to production materials and the need for students to be entrepreneurial in their thinking to meet the requirements of high-growth, high-demand careers worldwide. Five required, volunteer-led sessions. Recommended for fifth grade.

Detailed Program Summary

All JA programs are designed to support the skills and competencies identified by the Partnership for 21st Century Skills. These programs also augment school-based, work-based, and connecting activities for communities with school-to-work initiatives

Scope and Sequence -

 The gradually increasing complexity and sequence of JA programs at the elementary school level is evident in the following chart.

Scope and Sequence