Unit 4 - Designing Budgets

Sep 24, 2026

Unit 4: Designing Budgets MEL4E provides a structured lesson sequence for building budgeting concepts through discretionary vs. non-discretionary spending, fixed vs. variable expenses, and practical budget design. Students expand a bulletin board of expenses, classify items using graphic organizers, analyze must/could scenarios with case studies, and consolidate understanding through Frayer models. Lessons progress to designing and modifying budget templates, estimating accommodation affordability, preparing monthly budgets with or without technology, adjusting for life changes, and completing a career-based culminating task with net income estimates and rationale-driven monthly budgeting.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryPresentations

FormatPDF

Pages57

Reading Time20 min

AccessFree to download

Lesson Outline

Day 1: I Must Pay, I Could Pay

Day 2: What Do You Think: Must or Could?

Day 3: What is a Budget?

Day 4: More on Budgets

Day 5: Paying for Accommodation

Day 6: Preparing Budgets

Day 7: That Changes It

Day 8-12: Career Search Culminating Task for Units 2, 3, 4

Unit 4: Designing Budgets MEL4E Lesson Outline | BIG PICTURE
Students will:
• Refer to and expand on the bulletin board/word wall developed in unit 3 to support the concepts ofthis unit.
• Identify the difference between discretionary and non-discretionary spending
• Design and adjust budgets | | | | | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Day | Lesson Title | Math Learning Goals | Expectations | | 1 | I Must Pay, I Could Pay
(lesson included) | • Establish a definition of discretionary and non-discretionary spending using the items on the bulletin board as a starting point.
• Expand the bulletin board to include expenses not related to accommodations and classify these as discretionary and nondiscretionary.
• Create a graphic organizer to classify discretionary and nondiscretionary expenses as fixed or variable expenses. | PF 2.1, PF 2.2 | | 2 | What Do You Think: Must or Could?(lesson included) | • Analyze case studies to determine which items are contextually discretionary vs. non-discretionary.
• Defend their understanding of the terms to prove or refute generalizations. | PF. 2.1 , PF2 .2 | | 3 | What is a Budget?(lesson included) | • Prepare a placemat on the concept of budget.
• Consolidate with a class Frayer Model of a budget.
• Brainstorm connections between the graphic organizer (Day 1) and the Frayer model.
• Design a budget template. | PF. 2.3 , PF2 .4 | | 4 | More on Budgets (lesson included) | • Analyse (e.g. use case studies, Jigsaw groupings) a variety of budgets set in context in various phases of a person’s life, (e.g. single, married, with children, retired) and various sources/levels of income (e.g. employment, welfare, unemployment)
• Modify budget template based on analysis. | PF. 2.3 , PF2 .4 | | 5 | Paying for Accommodation (lesson included) | • Identify and describe the factors to be considered in determining the affordability of accommodation in the local community.
• Discuss the need to consider a monthly payment for owning that includes mortgage payment, property taxes, and house insurance.
• Estimate monthly payments by type of owned accommodation within the local community (Refer to data on the bulletin board.) .
• Discuss the proportion of the monthly budget that should be allocated to accommodation. | PF. 2.5 | | 6 | Preparing Budgets (lesson included) | • Prepare monthly budgets based on given case studies with and without technology.
• Explore the proportions of each item in the budget. | PF. 2.4 | | 7 | That Changes It (lesson included) | • Adjust monthly budgets based on changes of circumstance for the case studies with and without technology. | PF. 2.6 | | 8-
12 | Career Search Culminating Task for Units 2,3,4 (included) | • Investigate a career of choice.
• Estimate likely net income from the career based on tax and other deductions.
• Develop a detailed monthly budget with rationale. (may be able to connect to Unit 1 for part of the rationale.) | | | Unit 4: Day 1 : I Must Pay, I Could Pay | | | | MEL4E | | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | | Minds On: 15 | | Learning Goals:
Students will:
• Establish a definition of discretionary and non-discretionary spending using the items on the bulletin board and their own placemats as a starting point.
• Expand the bulletin board to include expenses not related to accommodationsand classify these as discretionary and non-discretionary.
• Create a graphic organizer to classify discretionary and non-discretionary expenses as fixed or variable expenses. | | Materials
• BLM 4.1.1
• BLM 4.1.2
• Graph paper | | Action: 50 | | | | | | Consolidate: 10 | | | | | | Total=75 min | | | | | | Assessment
Opportunities | | | | | | | Minds On | Small Group 􀀡 Discussion
Place expenses from the Unit 3 bulletin board on recipe cards for students to manipulate. Ask students to classify the costs into two categories. Set a timeframe for their discussion ([e.g. in 5 y

FAQs

How do students define discretionary and non-discretionary spending in Unit 4?

Students establish definitions using items from the Unit 3 bulletin board, then expand the bulletin board with additional expenses and classify them as discretionary or non-discretionary.

What is the purpose of the Day 1 graphic organizer?

It helps students classify discretionary and non-discretionary expenses as fixed or variable costs, supporting later budgeting decisions.

What does the Unit 4 career culminating task require?

Students investigate a chosen career, estimate likely net income after tax and deductions, and develop a detailed monthly budget with a rationale.

Sep 24, 2026

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