Does anyone use money as a classroom managment system? I had a teacher that used funny money and the students were given 5 dollars to start and money could be taken away or students could earn more money. But I wanted to see if there were any other ways in it used. Thanks!
I'm going to try a new system this year involving money. I plan on handing out laminated paper pennies whenever the children do something well (and whenever they speak French because I teach immersion). Since I teach grade 1, I'm going to encourage them to save up their pennies to trade for dimes. Once a week, they'll be able to buy prizes from the treasure box. I think that in the beginning I'll be giving out loads of pennies, and slowly back off. I don't like taking money away, so I'm going to try to avoid that. I am not sure how it's going to work, but I'm excited to try it.
Money I love the idea with the pennies and dimes and what not! My 5th grade teacher use would use "checks," each day the students would have $5,000 put into there account, and that could add up as far as the student wanted it to. When you had enough money in your account you could "write a check" and buy something out of the classroom store, it had alot of stuff from little erasers all the way up to Pop, Candy and Chips. But there was also a catch, whenever you did something that you werent suppose to you had to write a check to the teacher for the amount that you lost, if i remember right talking out of turn was 1,000 and so on and so forth. We all had an account balance book that she made on the computer and printed out for us to keep track of our own balances, she also created checks and we used them to write out our checks weither we were buying something or paying back the teacher. She had typed out cost sheets that listed all the costs for doing "bad" things... This can be adjusted as much as liked for each teacher, after all all teachers are different! It was alot of fun, and i remember it wasnt so much buying things that was fun but the fact that we got to write checks! What more could you ask for... right? Hope this helps!
Cheques are a great way of doing this for the upper grades. I love the fact that a reward system can teach and reinforce so many topics. I remember watching a video in University that talked about the fact that many children don't understand the concept of cheques and bank cards because they don't use them. Therefore, they don't understand that, to take money out of the bank, money has to be put in. This is a great way to teach the concept!
Checks Yea it worked great, too bad we couldn't do bank cards it would be so much easier! Haha... its also a great way like u sait to teach responsibility, to bad it didnt teach me about credit cards, but what can i say... im a college student... I know not a good excuse...
I did something like what herins is planning (paying with coins) with my Kindergartners at the end of the school year for about three or four years. I ran out of time this year. The excitement over buying was awesome. We did an auction after a week of earning. (some kids have been to real auctions.. their parents are farmers) They did learn a lot about money, too. Some things you may want to think about too: 1. Stress the importance of keeping the coins in a safe place. Each child in my room had an envelope with his or her name on it to put the coins in when they were "paid" at the end of the day. Perhaps you could have them make their own wallet. 2. I only used this for about two weeks at the end of the school year. If you are selling as in a store you may want to have inflated prices, so that kids will be encouraged to "save" for something they may want. 3. Think about how to deal with conflicts such as " I wanted to buy that" OR "Here, (exclusive good favored friend of mine) you can have all of my coins too." AND "Why don't you give me all of your coins (because I know you like me and want to continue to be my friend)" That may not happen at all, but you should consider ways to keep this from happening. You may want to make it a rule that you can only spend money that you have earned and make sure there are many items that are very similar. Perhaps you can try to make it possible that even the really low earners have some hope of buying something. I used photocopied coins so the kids could write their names on the paper square that the coin was printed on, in the event there was a dispute or question as to who earned the coin. I worked with a 5th grade teacher who used checks with her students. This method for older students doesnt have to deal with some of the problems of a "cash" classroom. Each student had a checkbook ledger. Students received a "paycheck" for doing their job (the classroom was set up as a business community) the check was entered into their individual checkbook accounts. Students were "paid" for various desireable behaviors as well, I think. They were to debit their account for infractions such as missing homework, forgot to write name on paper, etc. The person who had the homework job (or the teacher?) had preprinted notices for this debit and would staple them to the assignment or hand them directly to the student. All year, students could also buy real pencils , erasers, and pens. If they misplaced theirs, one could be purchased from his or her account funds by writing a check. The banker took care of debiting the account at the bank with check from the student, the student had to enter the debit on his or her checkbook ledger. This teacher periodically asked the staff to donate rummage sale type goods...anything from lamps, to games to pictures or posters... and had a big sale a couple times a year. The teacher used the checkbook ledger as part of the math grade. Some other jobs in the classroom (besides banker)were: mayor storekeeper paper collector Sounds complex, but I was impressed with the level of responsibility the kids showed concerning maintaining their accounts and doing their jobs... including doing homework.
I am teaching fourth grade and am using money. I will pay each student for every day they come to school. ($5) Then they will earn a pay check for their jobs every two weeks. They will have to pay for behavior infractions, failure to do homework, failure to read on nightly contract, failure to have agenda book signed, and a monthly rental on their desk. The students will be able to bank their funds every other Friday, other than that they are responsible for their cash. If they loose it, it will not be replaced! If they are absent from school for any reason, they are not payed! At the end of the quarter they will be able to exchange their funds for small items or privelages. I am going to prepare "wallets" for them to store their funds in. I plan on tying in the requirements of making change and the economic concepts that are required at this grade level to help make the point. For example, what is the opportunity cost for not doing your homework for two weeks?
I used that idea in my portfolio I gave everychild who completed thier homework and turned in before class started $20. And At the end of the week they could shop in the class store. The needed to have a bank book completed also to be able to shop. If a child midbehaved or forgot their supplies they would owe me money back and I could give out extra money if they were behaving well or did an Extention paper. Havent had my own class to try it out on yet but hopefully it will work!!!
I am wondering what you are using for your fun money. Is it real looking paper money, plastic money, bills or coins, or is it self made money. I am looking for money that is easy if I wish to make it and inexpensive if I wish to buy it.
If you make your own, you can follow the format of real money, but instead use your name or class number on it such as 'United Class of Mrs. Smith' or 'Room 202 Currency'. The portrait could be of the person the school is named after. If you stamp them as you give them out, you avoid students making copies. Anyway, those are my ideas.
We're going to use a money system, and the money will be printed on bright colored paper cut into different shapes. For example, 5 dollars would be a purple triangle. 1 dollar would be a blue circle, and 10 dollars would be an orange square. They will have the name of the currency and their worth printed on them.
I don't give the students money. Got really tired of them "losing" it or someone "taking" it. I got a great idea from another teacher. Each student has a page in a 3 ring binder. The page has boxes for Monday-Friday for 2 weeks. One of my jobs is at the end of each day 2 students (I called them payroll last year with my baseball theme) mark on each students' sheet how much money they recieve for that day. Then at the end of the week they tally the total up. When it is time for store or auction my payroll students write out a check for how much each student has earned. The students then get to shop at the store. They have a sheet where they write the total on the check and then subtract the price of the items they are buying. Great way to practice subtraction with money. It takes the hassle away from me and my students fight over who gets to do payroll.
I have heard about teachers who make fake money that says "gotcha", but I want to use this to teach the children about money. I will photocopy money templates onto orange paper for the pennies, blue or white paper for the dimes and yellow paper for the loonies (1$). Jeanie, I had planned on laminating the money and reusing it, but it might be smart to have the children write their name on it. You brought up many great points. I definitely will have inflated prices, especially in the beginning. I want to be throwing them money whenever they speak French, so a sticker will go for 5 cents. I had thought about theft, and bullying, but I hadn't thought about sharing (what does that say about me!) I will definitely discuss keeping our own money and rewarding ourselves. Thank you for your suggestions. I'm happy to hear from someone who has had success with this.
Perhaps with laminated money, they could write their initials on it with a vis-a vis marker before they put it away. Then they could be easily swiped with a damp paper towel for reuse. A little messy on the fingers, possibly. Just another thought, since you are actually teaching about money, I think I would try to choose colors similar to the color of the coin. A light tan for the penny, white or light grey for the dime, and yellow would probably be okay for the loonies. Are you doing front and back on one coin, or just photo-copying random fronts and backs? I found a site this summer that has excellent over- sized clip art style (black and white) replicas of coins. www.MoneyInstructor.com. You can print out the original sheet for free, other worksheets require a membership. I did not get the membership, but I was tempted.
Does anyone tie in the money with economic terms? I was going to use the paper money, but the more that I hear the more I am leaning to just a ledger book idea. My purpose, however, was to tie into economics. Has anyone else tried this?
Yes, but I don't use money and economics for rewards. I teach 4th grade and we tie science and math together in a special project. The children work in teams to come up with an invention. They have to brainstorm 5 ideas on paper, then choose 3, and finally one invention they like best. They write about why they picked that choice including terms like supply and demand. Next, I open the "teacher Home Depot" which I am the owner and we begin to supply the store with cardboard, string, tape, styroform etc. A group of students then help to "price" each craft supply. Then each team is also working on designing their invention. They are set up as: President, Accountant, Designer, Material Handler etc. Some children have two jobs. Each team get $200 play money. The Material Handler has to come up with a list of supplies with estimated cost to help build the invention. The team has to have a list of supplies, a design, and written description before they can actual build. Then after getting their patent approved by the teacher, they can begin to purchase. They must have a purchase order approved by their team President and Accountant. The Accountant must log in the bookkeeping of how much is spent etc. It gets real interesting as the "Teacher Home Depot" runs out of supplies and they have to wait or as I change prices higher or lower depending on supply and demand. Sometimes once a supply is out, I see them begin to barter. That always gets them thinking about how to make more money or get more supplies. I also talk about terms like bankrupt, loans, etc. Then as they build their invention we get into terms like: workers compensations, earnings, losses, overtime, etc. When we are done we have all our work set up in the classroom: this includes their invention, journal writings, poster, etc. The children share with other classes what they did. It is always a big hit! Hope that helps you with some ideas!
