Last modified: Wednesday, September 5, 2007 1:01 AM EDT Creativity rewarded in financial lessons This is another in a series of Sun Chronicle editorials on the subject of financial literacy. Three Massachusetts teachers are among 113 educators just named to receive grants through the nation's largest virtual bank, Ing Direct, to teach money management concepts to children. We encourage educators in the greater Attleboro area to incorporate these ideas along with their own this year when introducing financial literacy. This subject matter is being incorporated volunatrily and by mandate into more and more schools systems as adult personal finance woes - from scams to subprime foreclosures to staggering credit card debt - accelerate. Parents and teachers are being exhorted by any number of financial industry chiefs to consistently address this subject with children from the very early years until graduation from high school. "The basics of 'Personal Finance 101' are eluding many of us," Dara Duguay, director of Citigroup's Office of Financial Education, commented in the June issue of State Legislatures magazine. "That is not surprising since learning about money is more often taught through the trial and error method than through formal education." Ing Direct awarded $100,000 through its Planet Orange Financial Literacy Awards, to implement projects that will help young students learn money management concepts - earning, saving and investing. Massachusetts winners are Gayl Pizza ($650) of Arlington Elementary in Lawrence, whose class activities will include having students compute their way to the right balance in a "checkbook challenge" and build their own stock report portfolios, Carrie Fitzgerald ($1,000) of KIPP Academy Lynn in Lynn, who will have her students choose a career and develop a life skills plan that focuses on the cost of living and other expenses, and James McGuiness ($800) of Marguerite. E. Small school in West Yarmouth, who will implement a six-week unit of study in the fifth grade focused on investing. To compete for grant money during the 2008-2009 school year, K-8 teachers can apply between Oct. 15, 2007, and Jan. 31, 2008. Winners will be announced in April 2008 during Financial Literacy Month. This year's Planet Orange grant winners represent 28 states and range from kindergarten through 8th grade teachers.The list is at http://www.sweepsplanners.com/orangekids/winners.asp. The programs include an entrepreneurial farmers' market to enhance the business acumen of fifth graders in Rogers, Ark.; a mini-community developed and managed by kindergarten through fifth grade students in Alpharetta, Ga; financing and cultivating a school garden by eighth graders in Redlands, Calif.; a family finance night for first graders and their parents in Garden City, Kan.; and analyzing the financial aspects found within literature by seventh graders in Dover, Del. Will there be a winner here next April in our corner of Massachusetts? With the likelihood of three new casinos on the horizon, some savvy classroom teacher could develop a lesson plan asking: Which is the best bet for investment of your funds - the blackjack table, the stock market, the savings account or the mattress? When you decide, let us know.