Classroom Economy (with printables!)

I've been in my classroom each day this week - pretty soon I'll have some pictures to share with you!

In the meantime, I know I've been alluding to the classroom economy system I want to implement this year, so I'm finally getting around to posting about it! (Stay tuned at the end for some freebies!)

I'd seen various formats for classroom economies posted on the internet and around pinterest, so I combined  a lot of the ideas I liked into my own classroom economy system!

(I haven't tried implementing this yet, so all of this thinking is how I *hope* it will run!!)

COMPONENT ONE: CLASSROOM JOBS AND RESPONSIBILITIES

First step will be showing the list of jobs and responsibilities and explaining each one, so that the students will have an idea of the jobs that exist, and what will be required.  I am a strong believer in every student having a job for which they are responsible in the classroom.

After that, students will complete a job application for their first, second, and third choice jobs.

I'll collect the job applications, and assign jobs. Students will be responsible for knowing when and how to perform their jobs, and how much "pay" they earn each day.

COMPONENT TWO: ECONOMY AND "PAY" SYSTEM

Students will receive "earnings" each day based on 3 categories: behavior, classroom job performance, and homework completion.
Behavior: I have integrated the clip chart system with this economy structure - students gain/lose earnings based on the color where they finish their day.  For more about the clip chart system, see here.  
Classroom job performance: each job receives a specific amount of "pay" each day.  If students complete their jobs, they earn their wages.  If not, then they do not earn their wages.  I'm hoping this will help motivate the students and keep them accountable for performing their jobs!
Homework completion: If students complete their homework, they earn $1 per assignment.  If they don't, they lose $1 per assignment.

Students will keep track of their monetary earnings in a personal ledger:

At the end of each day, they will total up their earnings and/or losses with a "banker" (one of the classroom jobs).  At the end of the week they will "pay rent" for their property (desk and chair) and have the opportunity to spend their earnings. (I've tried to make sure that even the lowest-paying jobs, combined with good behavior and homework habits, will allow students to have AT LEAST enough to pay rent and to start saving up for some of the rewards!! - hopefully this will hold true, otherwise I may have to adjust a bit!)  If students don't have enough money to pay rent, they can borrow a loan from the bank:

I printed some of these out and laminated them. :)

As students save up money, they can purchase privileges, or they can purchase property!

I already have to change this a bit, as I've learned my school has a strict no-food-in-the-classroom policy.  No candy option for me anymore! :)

I've tried to make the rewards enticing enough that hopefully they will want to save up to get the good ones, and hopefully it won't take too long or happen too frequently!

Or, as an alternative, students can opt to purchase their property (desk and chair) AND/OR others' property!

For example, if Sally purchases her own property, she will no longer have to pay rent.  If Sally purchases Billy's property, then Billy has to pay his rent to Sally!  Depending on how this idea goes over, I may have to instate a rule that if you can afford to buy your own property, you get dibs on it...or something like that, just so there aren't too many arguments and/or tyrant property owners! :)

WHEW! I think that's everything! Now for some FREEBIES!! :D I've included some of the above documents, in case this classroom economy system appeals to you!

information sheet

job application

list of jobs and responsibilities

weekly ledger

rewards and prices

record of property purchases and bank loans

I'd love to hear if any of you choose to implement this in your classrooms, and how it goes! :)