Class Money/ Store

I want to start by saying that I fully acknowledge that this is a somewhat controversial classroom practice. I am a huge fan of it, but if you feel strong personal convictions against it, then don't do it. My reasons for doing it are explained at the end of this post.

I have a classroom economy. I print up money for my class, and they earn money for certain things, and they lose money for other things, and they can go shopping with whatever profit they have every other week in our little class store.

My class earns money for the following:
- Homework. I pay 1 class dollar for each paper turned in, with a 3 dollar bonus if you turned in all of your papers for the week. This I do because I am not allowed to give a grade for homework, and I wanted them to have an incentive to do it.
- Working hard/ independently. During reading groups, my class aide watches the rest of the class while they do their seat work. I have some kids who buckle down and do it quietly, and others who goof around, or talk to their neighbors instead of working. To try to encourage most of the class to be in the first category, we randomly will pay for this good behavior.
- Good line behavior. Similar to the working hard reason, we want the kids to be good in line, so exceptional line behavior sometimes gives them a class dollar.
- Prizes for games. Educational games are a big part of my classroom, and part of the fun in playing is that some games earn prizes.(See Scattergories) The easiest and cheapest prize for me to give is class dollars.
- Good behavior during a certain event/ day. Some times of the year I use this more than others, such as the last week before Christmas break. On these crazier days I offer a big prize (5 or 10 class dollars) for whoever does the best all day long. I only give out one or two prizes, but I have 90% of my class under control on days that some teachers would just give up.

I am sure there are others, but those are the main ones.

The students can lose class dollars for the following offenses:
- Losing their place. During class reading, such as science or history, it is important that every child is following along while I or another student reads. So, I will occasionally pull class cards during the story, and if they know the next word on the page, I keep going, no consequence needed. If they don't know the next word, they pay me a dollar. Truthfully, most of the time, the threat is enough that I don't get any money by the end of the period.
- Bathroom use at an inappropriate time. The two inappropriate times are right after lunch and right after snack. Other times, they can go, and I just don't like it, but these two times, there is no excuse, they should have gone during their break. So they are charged.
- Bad line behavior. Just as you can earn money for being good in line, you can also lose it for being bad in line. Enough said.
- Forgetting materials. Mainly forgetting their reading book, which is brought home for homework and supposed to be back the next day for reading time.

I know there are more times that I charge fines, but I can't recall them at the moment, but you can decide what is worth a fine in your class.

The class store is mainly supplied by parent donations. I have been fortunate enough that I haven't had to buy things for the store for a long time. When I did, I would usually go to the 99 cent store, and buy party favor sets. This way I get 5 or 6 little items for a dollar. Garage sales usually have used toys pretty cheap as well. Every so often I also hold a garage sale in class, where every student brings their own toys from home that they want to sell, and then they can use that money to buy other toys that other kids brought. They are really happy after one of these days, the only problem is that the money doesn't come back to me (it is just exchanged between kids). I also sell things that are free to me but expensive to the kids, such as a lunch with me, or one seat work paper they don't have to do, etc.

I would like to take a minute to explain my rationale for this class system, and also explain why I don't consider it bribery.

It is not considered bribery when you get paid for your job. If you work hard, you generally earn more, if you are lazy, you earn less. You then exchange your money for other goods and services. That is all I am doing in my classroom. Some people say that kids just should be good and do their homework, etc. without any reward. I agree... but I am also practical, and I know that the majority of kids will not just be good. In the same way, there are amazing people out there who spend most of their time volunteering and helping people without any reward. I admire those people, but that is not the majority of people either. For those teachers who are able to get homework turned in, supplies always ready, and your classroom runs smoothly without any reward system, I applaud you. But for me, this method works, and my kids do great with my system in place.

Oh, and I should also mention that I rarely have cases where I always give class dollars. I want the kids to know that they will sometimes be rewarded for their actions, but not to expect it. I have long held the policy that if you ask for a reward, you don't get it.

My own personal opinion is that having class money and a class store is an easy, all inclusive system of class management that continues to prove successful in my class.