I am a very low maintenance teacher (and proud of it).  I am a big believer in time management, and only spending my time on things that are going to positively effect my students’ learning.  For a few years I tried the Economy Reward System in my classroom…What’s that, you ask? Well…An Economy Reward System works just like a real economy.  Students earn money (fake of course) and spend money they earn.

I began doing this with actual play money (a BIG hit with the kiddos but not very effective when it comes to time management).  Plus, I found that as I moved to teaching 5th grade, I had the problem of students “losing” their money.  After a year or two, I moved on to check books, which after much trial and error is now my preferred method.

So here is what I do…
At the beginning of the year, I set up a reward system where students can earn money for
1. Completing their homework daily ($2.00)
2. Having good behavior ($0.50)
3. Having Excellent Behavior ($1.00)
4. Completing their daily job (different for each student) ($5.00 per week)
5. Returning their Friday Folder and All Papers ($2.00)
**and Anything Else you Want to Reinforce

Students spend their money on…
1. Rent for the desk ($1.00 per day)
2. Rent for their chair ($1.00 per day)
3. School supplies such as pencils/pens/erasers/etc… (various prices)
4. Rewards from our class store (Includes: homework passes, lunch w/ friends passes, lunch w/ teacher passes, computer time pass, and various toys.

I have a chart where my student of the week keeps track of everyone’s daily behavior letter (E,S,N or U) and daily homework.  Each student has a checkbook where I can add money each Friday (sometimes every other Friday).  It takes me about 20 minutes to add up the totals (take away rent) and add the money to the checkbooks. As the year progresses, I have a few reliable students help me with this process.

I open my class store two days a week.  Students decide what they want to spend their money on, subtract the amount from their total in their checkbook, and I sign off on their purchase (of course checking their math).

 

I have found that this system helps my students…
**Improve their behavior and complete their homework
**Learn how to budget/save their money
**Understand the general idea of an Economy
**Practice adding and subtracting

Click HERE to get a copy of my Check Book

I print them front and back on card stock.  Each student has a pocket on the wall where these are kept.

Well, this is my version of an Economy Reward System.  I am always changing and tweaking it as needed.