My classroom economy is an in-depth but fun way for my students to learn many money-related concepts
in my class. I also use it as my classroom discipline plan that enables me to give conduct grades and reduce the amount
of discipline issues in my class. How does it work? Keep on reading and you will find out.
Each week I give my students a debit and credit sheet that they tape on their desks. The sheet is
divided into columns of 1s, 5s and 10s. To begin the two-week pay period, we pick for jobs in my class. Each job gets
paid a different amount of money in the form of credits, which I mark on the students' debit and credit sheets. Some
students will not have a job for one week; if this is the case they will have a job the following week. There are many
other ways student can earn credits, I have made a page devoted on how to earn credits and debits, just click the appropriate
link on the left of this page.
At the end of the two-week pay period, which ends on Fridays, students will turn in their debit
and credit sheets to me. I will then go through and record the amount of debits each student has received and add
up his/her credits. The resulting number is how much he/she will get paid. As an example, if a student has
earned 32 credits for the pay period, but also has 8 debits, 32 - 8 would equal his paycheck of $24.00. I then write the
student a payroll check which he will cash at our classroom bank, The Bank of Melhiser. The bankers are chosen
earlier in the week when we choose for jobs. The bankers will stamp the check paid and pay them in Mel Money, which
can be see at the top of this page.
The students can then use their Mel Money later in the day at the Mel Mart. This is our classroom
store of products I supply. In the past, some parents have donated products to the Mel Mart.
Students can also save their Mel Money and choose to either use it to eat lunch with me or skip
a homework night (once per nine weeks). I will provide them Subway if they choose lunch with me.
I have found this is a fantastic way to both motivate my students as well as teach them life, money
and economic skills. The kids love it and enjoy "earning" their Mel Money and products they can buy. I also use
it to determine their conduct grades. There is a link on the left-hand side of this page explaining how I use students debits
to determine their conduct grades.
