http://hill.troy.k12.mi.us/staff/bne...ni-ecomony.htm Has anyone ever used this with their students? I'm thinking of maybe doing something like this next year, but am not really sure how to go about setting up. Pros? Cons? Things I should take into consideration?
Ooh! I haven't used it but a teacher I mentored this year did. She has her kids save a percentage of their earnings and at the end of the year, she found a business to match their savings and donate it to charity. It was really exciting for her students. How cool is that?
I LOVE the idea of trying the economy system into benefiting a charity. I'll have to see if there is a way I can easily tie that in if I choose to do this.
I do a version of it called Dolphin Dollars (I have an underwater theme in my room.) The kids have a half sheet of paper taped to their desk, and they get credits and debits throughout the week ($1 and $5 tallies) for good behavior, taking an AR test, inturrupting, etc. On Monday's they add up their credits and subtract their debits and I give them money for their "wallet." Once a month we do prizes, but for me prizes are things I don't have to buy (lunch with teacher, pick a card from Homeworkopoly, sit at teacher's desk, piece of candy, indoor recess with a friend, etc.) Many of the teachers at my school just take away recess and I think this is the worst idea ever as third graders (as well as all students) really need to run and play. This program works GREAT for the kids!
I have used it for the past four years in our multi-age room (grades 1-4) and I love it. Each week I sell "pencil sharpening" passes and "drink and drain" passes. If students choose to buy a pass, they can simply go without asking --- if no one else is out of the room. They put their pass on a hook by the door so it's obvious if someone is in the restroom. They can sharpen pencils at will with a pencil pass otherwise they do it on "their" time during recess. If they choose not to buy the pass, each time they need to sharpen or drink and drain costs them. It doesn't take long before they figure out the pass is the way to go and for some odd reason they don't seem to sharpen their pencils nearly as much -- even with the pass. I also sell one "homework pass" and "gum pass" for an exorbitant amount each week. We hold two annual auctions ... one at Christmas so that students can buy gifts for friends and family and one at the end of the year. I spend the summer garage saling for nice items for the auctions. I also have a warehouse full of stuff that didn't sell when I had a Christmas store and I am slowly getting rid of stuff. We also have a couple of parents that hit up businesses for us. I have always printed money to match my theme, but this year my teaching partner and I are doing a medieval theme so we are buying coins since there wasn't paper money during that time. Kids seem to respond really well to this. Once in a while we have a student that doesn't have the money to pay for a fine. Then they have to go see the principal for a loan. She makes them bring in a toy for collateral and she draws up loan papers and charges interest. She is a huge fan of this program.
I have a classroom economy. My kids have a binder and keep their money in a zipper pouch. I give singles for caught being good, etc. I pay my weekly table helpers, and daily helpers a salary. Then I have tubs for items that are 25, 50, 75, 100. The things inside are dollar store treasures (HSM pencils and erasers, homework passes, etc.) The most popular thing is a lunch ticket, being able to eat dinner in the classroom with a friend. It's a great way to teach opprotunity cost!
I've done the whole economy thing as well. Though I actually bought a ton of coins and bills that I use as the bank. I found that it taught my students to exchange money (something they were totally lacking). Typically by January (mid year) I stopped using the actualy coinage and they kept track of what they earned and spent and we antied up on Friday prior to Friday Fun (that was when I would open the student store- I had some treasures, new pencils and other supplies, but lots of freebies such as lunch with teacher, etc)
