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Add any links to resources you find useful for implementing your classroom economy, such as paper items, digital resources, posters, etc.

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Add any resource links/books you find that could be beneficial for other teachers who are starting or already have a classroom economy.

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Here is a bundle with several paper resources included.  See link for full description.

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This is the entire classroom economy that I personally use with my grade level. We use it as a behavior incentive that correlates with financial literacy, math and economic objectives. Only the Excel documents are editable, however I will make adjustments for whatever you need if you message me wi...

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Posts job titles with job expectations that you use in the middle school classroom. Try not to repeat one already done by someone else!

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Blog post withe her top 10 jobs

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Classroom jobs are pretty commonplace in elementary classrooms - but can they work in middle school when you have multiple classes every day? YES!

I have used jobs in my 6th and 7th grade classes for a few years now, so in this post I will share the 10 jobs I use and the system I use to keep the jobs running smoothly. Coming soon will be posts about the banking system I use and how they are able to spend the money they earn!

Why Use Classroom Jobs?

First of all, why should you use jobs in your classroom?

It teaches students responsibility.

It helps students take ownership of the classroom and feel like they are an important part of the classroom community.

It saves you time! You can have them do many of the important but time-consuming small tasks you find yourself doing every day.

The 10 Jobs I Use

I use ten different jobs in my classroom:

1. Teacher's Assistant: passes out and collects papers, takes things to the office, and does any other special tasks that I need completed

2. Whiteboard Inspector: erases the whiteboards after we are done using them (students love this one!)

3. Pencil Manager: in charge of maintaining the class supply of pencils and making sure they are sharpened (I use this pencil management system)

4. Supply Manager: keeps our community supplies organized, gives out new dry erase markers to students whose markers have dried up

5. Banker: opens the bank once a week - students who have received checks bring them to the banker to deposit them in the bank (read this post to learn more about the bank)

6. Merchant: opens and runs the class store once a week (more about this in a future post as well)

7. Secretary: fills out absent sheets for any students who are absent

8. Photographer: takes pictures with the class camera (an old iPhone) during class activities

9. Classroom Inspector: makes sure the classroom is cleaned up at the end of class

10. Substitute: fills in for any students with a job who are absent

Each class has its own set of jobs - so there will be 10 students with a job in each class. This is necessary because most of the jobs need to be completed during each class, not just once a day.

Applying For Jobs

In order to get a job, students must fill out a job application. They list their top three choices, explain why they would be a good fit for those jobs, and sign their names at the bottom. I then go through the applications and choose the 10 students from each class who will get a job.

I keep a job tracking chart with the students' names going down the left side and the job names going across the top. I keep track of which student has had each job and when. I use this as I am going through applications so that I can make sure that every student has a chance to get a job and to try out different jobs.

Since only 10 students can have a job at a time, many students will not get a job each month. I tell them that if they don't get a job this time, they will be more likely to get a job next time. It also depends on which jobs they apply for - some jobs are a lot more popular than others.

It takes some time to go through all the applications, but I only do it once a month. Once I have chosen the students, they keep their jobs for that entire month. You could even have them keep the job for an entire grading period.

I make the applications available the last week of each month. It is completely optional. I typically give out applications on Tuesday and make them due on Thursday. Then I post the new jobs on the last Friday of the month and try to provide time for job training on that day. The students who had the jobs that month train the new people.

Keeping Students Accountable

After using jobs for a couple of years, I found that there were always a few students who applied and got a job but then didn't follow through with their job responsibilities. However, this was hard for me to keep track of with so many students.

To address this issue, this past year I introduced the idea of job accountability sheets. I created a sheet for each job that lists exactly what the student should be doing each day of the week. Students check off the tasks as they complete them and turn them in at the end of the week to get their paychecks.

Since implementing this, I only give paychecks to students who have turned in their accountability sheets. This has worked out well and has definitely increased the percentage of students who are taking their jobs seriously!

Despite the work to get the jobs set up, having classroom jobs last year ended up saving me a lot of time in the long run! I used to spend a lot of time just trying to keep track of absent students, and having the secretary take on that duty has been a huge sanity-saver. The best advice I can give for coming up with jobs is think about tasks that you are constantly doing in the classroom - what responsibilities can you pass on to your students?

Are You Ready to Give Jobs a Try?

If you'd like to implement a job system that is easy to maintain, increases student responsibility and ownership in the classroom, and frees up some of your time, I highly recommend giving this system a try!

If you want to use the resources I've described in this post to set up your own system, try my Classroom Jobs for Middle School Starter Pack! It includes both editable and ready-to-print versions of the following resources:

"Help Wanted" display

Job Application

Job Tracking Chart

Job List to post the new jobs

Job Accountability Sheets

Employee of the Month Certificate

Next up, I'll be talking about how I compensate my students for doing their jobs and how the bank works, so stay tuned!

More in the classroom economy series:

Part 2: How to Set Up a Bank for Your Classroom Economy

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How To Use Classroom Jobs in Middle School " Math With Meaning

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Classroom jobs are pretty commonplace in elementary classrooms - but can they work in middle school when you have multiple classes every day? YES! I have used jobs in my 6th and 7th grade classes for a few years now, so in this post I will share the 10 jobs I use and the system I use to keep the jobs running smoothly.

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Posts job titles with job expectations that you use in the middle school classroom. Try not to repeat one already done by someone else!

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Share tips and tricks for getting a system up and running!

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Last week I started my classroom economy series with a post about my classroom jobs, and I'm back today to tell you about my banking system!

My classroom economy is based on checkbooks. I wanted to make it as realistic as possible, so I called a local bank and asked them to donate checkbook registers and covers to my class. I explained a little about what I was going to use them for, and they were happy to do so. They've donated them 3 years in a row now!

Setting Up the Checkbooks

In the first few weeks of school, we set up our checkbooks. Each student receives a cover and a register (donated from the bank). They also get 4 sheets of blank checks (12 checks total) that they cut out and staple together. These go in the bottom part of the checkbook cover in place of real checks.

To make this process as simple as possible, here are the steps I use with my students (writing directions for middle schoolers is an art form, is it not? 😂).

We usually have a day of benchmark testing at the beginning of the year, so I give the students this handout ahead of time to work on after they finish their testing. If you want to copy my directions template, click here!

When they bring their stack of checks to me, I staple them together with a check-sized piece of cardstock on the back (this slides into the checkbook to keep the checks in place). I then put their checks into the bottom part of the checkbook cover and a transaction register into the top part of the cover (the registers and covers are donated from a local bank), and they are good to go!

We also take a few days at the beginning of the year to learn how to use checkbook registers and write checks. I love this activity from Lindsay Perro!

Earning Money

As I talked about in my last post, some (but not all) of my students have a job at any given time. The students get paid weekly for their jobs. Each of my jobs pays a weekly salary of $20. Each Friday after school, I put paychecks in the students' mail folders so that they get them on Monday. I wrote out and laminated all of the checks at the beginning of the year, and I reuse them each week.

To make this process go quickly, I only write out the paychecks once at the beginning of the year and then I reuse them all year long! I write "Math Student" and the school year for the date so that they can be used with all students. I have laminated them in the past, and I have also used some without laminating - as long as you print them on cardstock, they should hold up just fine either way! I have even reused them from one year to the next by putting a white label over the year and writing in the next year.

In my economy, jobs are the main way for students to earn money. I also give out money for mastering skills on Khan Academy ($1 per skill mastered), and I sometimes reward good behavior or test scores with money. The possibilities are endless - you can write out checks for anything you want to reward in your own classroom!

I do not fine students or take money from them for any reason, but that's something you could incorporate into your own system, too, if you'd like.

The Bank

In the past, I had a bank binder that had a paper balance sheet for each student. This past year, I decided to try an online bank. It was awesome, and I will be using it again this year!

After doing some research, I decided to use mykidsbank.org. It is free and has a ton of different options! I set up a separate bank for each of my 4 classes and added each of my students. It is really easy to make deposits and withdrawals from student account! Each student also gets their own login that they can use to see their bank balance at any time.

One really nice feature is that you can add bank tellers so that your student banker (one of my class jobs) can log in and complete all their transactions! Each month when there was a new banker, I could easily go in and edit the banker's name and change the password (I used a different password each month).

There are lots of other features I haven't used yet, such as the ability to print out banknotes, which you could hand out instead of bothering with writing out checks. You can also set accounts to earn interest, which would work nicely if you teach a math lesson on interest! There's even an option to add automatic deposits, which would make things really simple, but I like giving a student the experience of making deposits and withdrawals!

If you don't have the option of using an online bank or just want to keep things paper-based, you can download a bank balance sheet template for free here! I copied one for each student, and kept them in a binder separated by class period. The banker would pull out the binder each week to enter deposits and withdrawals manually.

Bank Days

When the students come in on Monday, they check their mail folders and get their paychecks (if they have a job). They write it into the transaction register in their checkbook, and then put it somewhere safe. They are responsible for keeping them safe until Bank Day on Thursday. If a check is lost, it will not be replaced.

Every Thursday, the banker (one of my class jobs) opens up the bank at some point during class (usually during independent work time). When the students come in on Thursdays, those who need to visit the bank that day write their names in a list on the front whiteboard.

When the banker opens the bank, he or she calls over each student from the list one at a time. The student gives the banker his/her checks, and the banker makes a deposit into the student's account. The students are required to show the banker their checkbook registers to make sure that their balances match what it says on the bank balance. The banker keeps all of the checks and gives them to me (or puts them on my desk) when everyone is done depositing checks.

I have never had any issues, but you want to make sure you choose trustworthy students to be the banker. I usually monitor them during their first week as banker, but they catch on quickly and can run everything by themselves before too long.

The other key part of the banker's job is to enter withdrawals from the bank account of each student who makes a purchase in the class store. After collecting all the checks students wrote to pay for their items, I give the checks to the banker to enter into the bank as withdrawals at some point before the next bank day.

Now that the paychecks have been deposited into the bank, the students are ready to make purchases! The class store opens on Fridays, and I will cover that in the third and final part of this series coming very soon!

Other posts in the classroom economy series:

Part 1: How To Use Classroom Jobs in Middle School

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How To Set Up a Bank for Your Classroom Economy " Math With Meaning

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Last week I started my classroom economy series with a post about my classroom jobs, and I'm back today to tell you about my banking system! My classroom economy is based on checkbooks. I wanted to make it as realistic as possible, so I called a local bank and asked them to donate checkbook registers and covers to my class.

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Digital bank for classroom economy

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Es un sistema simple sobre la economía de la clase basándose en la idea que los estudiantes necesitan ganar "dólares" de la clase para que puedan alquilar sus propios escritorios. Al llevar los escenarios del mundo real a la clase, los estudiantes ven el impacto de sus decisiones en ahorrar, gastar, y presupuestar.

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A resource for a digital bank, includes a parent portal, and has lessons available.

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for Primary, Intermediate, and Secondary Schools
used by over 180,000 students in Australasia

Banqer is a financial education platform that provides a hands on environment for you
and your students to engage with financial concepts in a safe and fun way

Banqer High

500 Year 10 students learn the consequences of financial decision-making... the fun way.

Westlake Boys High School uses Banqer High to bring the 'real' to financial literacy

Read more

Banqer High

Joy and Financial Literacy in the Same Sentence

Albany Junior High School (AJHS) on Auckland's North Shore has in the region of 1,200 students in years 7 to 10. Opened in 2005, AJHS was the first purpose-built modern learning environment school.

Read more

Nicki Fielder
Year 3 - 8 teacher, Apiti School

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for Primary, Intermediate, and Secondary Schools used by over 180,000 students in Australasia Banqer is a financial education platform that provides a hands on environment for you and your students to engage with financial concepts in a safe and fun way Banqer High Westlake Boys High School uses Banqer High to bring the 'real' to financial literacy Read more Banqer High Albany Junior High School (AJHS) on Auckland's North Shore has in the region of 1,200 students in years 7 to 10.

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This two-page document lists 16 classroom jobs with columns for responsibilities and qualifications. It is left in Excel format so you can customize it anyway you'd like.

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Generic Classroom Job Chart ready to be printed, laminated, and cut out. You just need a 20 X 30 board and Velcro to attach student names (for rotating jobs). Includes four documents: 1. Layout of how the assembled job chart will look like. 2. Colored Job Chart Labels with description 3.

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CAMT 2019: Classroom Economy System—Incorporating the Financial Literacy TEKS