Classroom Money

Reward System in the Classroom?

I encourage teachers to have a monetary reward system in their classroom. Teachers get a pay check every month, why shouldn't their students, even if it is mock bucks. You can easily find money at the Dollar stores but it is often costly due to the size of our classes. I found it easier to become my own treasury and create the money value that was appropriate for the grades I was teaching.

One day I was teaching base 10 math and it dawned on me that my monetary system should be the same. If you want to save time, you can purchase the classroom money I created from my TpT Store. Just click on this link.

Note: I learned early on to let parents know that you are running an economic system in the classroom. Give them the choice to opt out for their child. This will save you many headaches with parents complaining that you are being punitive.

The steps to creating a Class Economy:

Post job titles (see a suggested list below)
For the high paying jobs, the students must give a speech. Some years I then select the people and other times I have let my students vote.
All other jobs can be randomly assigned or you can have students submit a job application.

5. Student earn a daily income beyond their job title. My students earned a $100 every day they showed up on time. You could also include homework.

6. Weekly bonuses could include turning in forms, having an administrator/another teacher compliment a child or the whole class.

7. I would also get my money out and purposefully hand money to students that are modeling appropriate behavior (usually the student sitting next to someone who's behavior I want changed) and then acknowledging the student who modified their behavior. I explicitly state why I am handing a student the money. "Thank you Ray for putting down your pencil and focusing on me while I give directions." The money flows pretty freely during the first few weeks of school.

8. All students get the first month free rent. After that they must rent their desk. Upper grades were charged $2000 per month. Lower grades were charged $200 per month. If the students did not have enough money for rent, they must get a second job. I let the student come up with the suggestion for how they would like to earn enough money to pay the rent. Parents always are amused when their child comes home complaining that they had to get a second job to pay the rent!

9. The last component that I implement are taxes. There were always the safety taxes like rocking in your chair and holding the scissors, when walking, with the sharp end pointing up. The students understood these very easily. About a month into the school year I would implement the taxes for the things that annoy you. They are different for every teacher. We talk about our pet peeves and I would point out mine. I let the students know that I would tax for these behaviors like not putting their name on the paper. I always had a chart of my pet peeves posted.

New Students: Every time we a new student arrives, we review our economic system. To be fair, we average the richest student's cash on hand with anyone who volunteers how much money they have and this becomes the new students cash on hand.

Suggested Classroom Job Titles

The paychecks are based on 3rd through 5th grade. (Lower grades were modified down a place value)

High Paying Jobs:

Classroom Governor ($500 per week) - 1 person who helps the teacher during safety drills, monitors student behaviors and helps calm students who are experiencing anger. They shall serve as an advocate for all students and ensure that all class projects and activities are aligned with the class overall learning goals.
Classroom Lt. Governor ($400 per week) - 1 person who supports the Governor. They assume responsibilities for the absence of the Governor and/or peer mediators. Ensures that all class members are completing their job tasks.
Peer Mediators ($300 per week) - 2 people who help resolve conflict. Peer Mediators are not allowed to give advice. They must remain non-judgmental. They assist the disputants by listening to them carefully during mediation. The mediators ask many questions after each disputant has told his or her side of the story.

All of the following jobs are paid $200 per week:

Attendance Attaché – 3 people who track the daily attendance, tardiness and monitor desk tidiness.
Athletic Directors – 3 people who will lead the students through the exercises for Physical Education.
Banker – 2 people that help run Classroom Bank. They collect the monthly rent and outstanding taxes. They distribute the monthly income and bonuses. They verify that the monthly bank statements are accurate.
Bathroom CFO – 1 person who will take the bathroom passes during the acceptable times for restroom use.
Distribution Managers – 2 people who will distribute papers for the teacher.
Door Major – a person who unlocks the door for the class and greets their classmates each morning.
Electrician - makes sure lights are turned on in the morning and off when leaving the classroom.
Greeters – 2 people that will greet visitors to our classroom and quietly answer any questions the visitor might have or point out key learning that is in the room.
General Nurse - 1 person who hands out band-aids and escorts students to the Nurse.
Librarians – 3 people that ensure that students check-out and return books to their proper location in our classroom library. They return borrowed books to the school library.
Pencil Pirate – a person who sharpens and distributes pencils
Phone Monitors – 2 people who answer the phone when the teacher is not available.
Sanitation Engineer – a person who passes out the mini-trash buckets and makes sure everyone in the classroom is cleaning up after themselves. Hand-out the table wipes when the desks need to be cleaned. Hands out the scissors.
Substitute - completes the job of any absent student, except Governor and Peer Mediators.
Technology Leaders – 2 people who monitor the technology and makes sure that all of the technology is properly put away and plugged in at the end of the day.

Sample Parent Letter

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