Free for Ontario teachers
Your first paycheque, your first budget, your first business.
A 40-minute paper activity that connects what a job pays, what life costs, what training costs and what it takes to earn money running your own small business. Supplemental to the province's official financial literacy modules.
Where it fits
A supplement, not a substitute
Starting in 2026-27, students who began Grade 9 in 2025-26 or later must meet a financial literacy requirement through Grade 10 Career Studies, with provincial learning modules and a 70% assessment. This activity is not that module and does not satisfy that requirement. It is a practical warm-up or follow-up that makes the ideas concrete. The official requirements are on ontario.ca. Your school and board decide how it fits your course.
The activity
Four parts, 40 minutes
All numbers are made up for the exercise. Students use paper and a calculator.
1. Gross versus net (10 min)
Imagine a part-time job paying $17 an hour for 15 hours a week. Gross pay is the full amount. Net pay is what is left after the deductions on the pay stub, such as income tax, CPP and EI. Students work out the gross for a week, then use an assumed take-home of 85% of gross (an exercise figure, not a real payroll calculation) to find the net. Discuss: why is the number on the job ad not the number in the bank?
2. A first budget (10 min)
Pairs build a one-month budget for a young person living at home with a part-time job: phone, transit or gas, food out, savings, one thing they want. Ask: what is fixed, what is flexible, and what is the first thing to cut if pay drops?
3. What a pathway costs (10 min)
Students pick a career from the Career Studies work and write down, with sources, what the training costs and how long it takes: apprenticeship, college, university or going straight to work. Discuss: what does earning while learning change?
4. Your first business (10 min)
Same pair, new problem: they sell something for $10 that costs $4 to make. Customer pays $10. Work out profit per sale, then how many sales cover a $60 startup cost, and how many cover paying themselves $17 an hour for two hours. Ask: what costs did we forget?
Reflection
Three questions to end on
- What surprised you about the difference between gross and net?
- Which pathway looked cheapest, and which looked best once you counted what you earn along the way?
- What is one thing you would want to find out before choosing a path?
Keep completed sheets in your classroom. Please do not photograph or upload them. All figures are invented for the activity, and nothing here is tax, legal or financial advice. Free to copy for classroom use. Back to schools.