Our Classroom Economy Real Life Skills Without Leaving Our Room!

In our room we have a classroom economy – not a token economy, but a classroom management system that models and teaches real life skills. Students come to ‘work’ each day and view their school work and activities as their ‘job’. The teacher issues checks to the students to compensate them for their ‘work’ and students learn how to save money, pay bills, spend ‘Castle Cash’, pay taxes, and keep track of their money earned and spent.

1st Semester

Credits and Debits Account Book

On the first day of school, students are given a Credit and Debit Notebook. It is a simple mini-steno book (at least 4" x 6") with a new Credit and Debit Log glued into the book for each pay period (2 weeks). I am the only one who adds tallies to the log during the school year.

Throughout each pay period students can earn credits or debits for any number of behaviors/things. Along with items that I have included as credits and debits (fines and fees) the class brainstorms desired behaviors or achievements that are worthy of additional payment and undesirable behaviors that warrant fines/fees. These behaviors are posted in the classroom for easy reference. Below are some examples of behaviors that I warrant worthy of credits and/or debits:

Credits	Debits
Meeting monthly reading goals	Missing assignments
Encouraging another student(s)	Put-downs
Parent signatures in HCS planner	Improper grammar usage (after lessons taught)
Extra credit (above and beyond work expectations)	Bathroom Fines (restroom use after time was given)
Getting caught doing any behavior from our Code of Chivalry Rules	Wandering Fine
Parent signature on graded assignments	Lost Fines (losing money, pencils, books, etc)
Receiving unsolicited compliments from other staff members
Bringing back important papers on time
*Anytime: When they least expect it*

*Basically, a student will never know when he or she may receive a credit. As a result, the student should be acting on their best behavior always for me, for himself/herself, but ultimately for Jesus!

At the end of each pay period, students add up their credits and their debits to calculate their pay check.

Chores

At the beginning of the school year, the class brainstorms chores/positions needed for our ‘royal’ classroom. The students vote and attach daily or weekly salaries to these positions based on its importance and/or amount of work required.

Pay Day

One pay period lasts 2 weeks. Pay Day is Fridays. At the end of each pay period students calculate what they have earned after balancing their Credit and Debit Log. Each student is required to have their calculations checked by the Steward (or a peer if the Steward is busy). I then write paychecks to all students that reflect the amount that they have earned for the pay period.

Savings Account Passbooks

At the end of the first pay period of the year, I give the students a savings account passbook and an envelope to keep their money in. I teach the students the value of saving their money and how to use their accounts. Students can earn 10% interest a month for the money that is in their savings account! Good savings habits begin at an early age.

Rental Bills

To get a feel for how income and expenses work, students ‘rent their space’. Once a month, before the Auction is held, I hand out bills and the bankers collect the fees and check off who has paid. I make sure that I’ve given the students enough chances to earn money to pay their bills. The bills are for:

• Desk Rental
• Desk Chair Rental
• “Locker” Area Rental (Coat rack area)

Auction

At the end of each quarter I hold an auction so the students can spend their “Castle Cash”. Items in the auction come from garage sales, parent and student donations, and special ‘in-house’ classroom incentives (IE. Sit with a friend, Have lunch with the teacher, Odd-Number Homework only, and etc.). Students can only participate in the Auction if their work is finished for the present week, and if they’ve paid their rental bills.

2^nd Semester

Depending on the strengths and needs of each class, I will begin to introduce new economic concepts to the class keeping the model from first semester. As each skill is mastered we’ll move onto the next skill.

Checkbooks

Students who have mastered the proper usage of their Savings Account Passbooks will be allowed to open a checking account. They will learn how to manage their checking account, write checks, make deposits, and balance their checkbook. They will also be allowed to write checks for their monthly rental bills.

April 15 – Tax Day!

On April 15^th I have students add up all their cash, money in savings and checking. I have them pay income taxes.

Store Economy

When the class has mastered the mini-economy concepts we will move into learning and implementing major economic concepts with a class store. The class store will teach economic lessons that include decision-making, opportunity cost, supply and demand, and inflation.

Thank you to Mrs. Renz and Mrs. Newingham for their willingness to share their Classroom Economies on the Web! Without their help, I would not have been able to pull this off.

Mrs. Renz’s Banking Unit:

http://www.redmond.k12.or.us/mccall/renz/ask.htm#bank

Mrs. Beth Newingham’s Classroom Economy

http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bnewingham/myweb3/index.htm

Passbook Instructions (doc file)
The Savings Account Passbook Student Instructions

Salary & Payroll for HCS Students (doc file)
How much each chore/job earns in 1 week

HCS Student Rent Charges (doc file)
Monthly charges incurred by HCS 4th Kingdom Students

doc file: You need the Microsoft Word program, a free Microsoft Word viewer, or a program that can import Word files in order to view this file. To learn more about the free Microsoft Word Viewer, visit the Microsoft Word website.

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