It's All About the Money

Howdy from a Texas gal excited for the opportunity to share with you on this AMAZING blog! I am a passionate person who finds her greatest joy in teaching. I hope I can teach you something today or at least give you the extra boost you've been needing to start your own financial literacy program in your class!

Money. 

Is it the root of all evil or the savior of the civilized world? Regardless of how we interpret the theory of this evolved bartering system, there is no arguing the fact that money is an integral part of our everyday lives, and that learning how to make it, manage it, and invest it should be an essential part of our education system. Let’s face it, we see example after example of people who manage to make a fortune, only to end up ruined after a few years. Or, we see examples of people who grind away year after year, only to live paycheck to paycheck and never get ahead.

Not every one of our students will become doctors, lawyers, or engineers. In fact, not all of our students will even go to college. But one thing they will all definitely encounter as they progress in life is the need to manage money. I believe that this is the single most important way we as teachers can make an impact on our students’ lives.

So how can we make a difference?    

By integrating financial literacy into our classrooms!

Yes! I know our days are filled with PLC meetings, paper work, ARDs, test prep, and the like. There is little time for a bathroom break or a decent lunch, much less, time to fit in an extra program. But I will tell you from experience, there is NOTHING more rewarding than knowing that you have possibly altered the trajectory of a life by simply dedicating a few moments of your day to helping students discover what it means to become financially successful.

 In the next sections of this blog post, I’m going to share with you how I’ve found success in my own financial literacy program and then I’ll lay out a week-by-week schedule to help you run your classroom economy without getting overwhelmed in the process! You can use all your own thoughts and materials or you can check out everything I use in my classroom in my EDU-ENTERPRISES Financial Literacy Program at my TpT store.  DISCLAIMER: There is no clear right way or wrong way to invest in your students, and these are just the ways I’ve found that work for me.

My students must EARN every dollar they get! They can sometimes receive “bonuses” by going above and beyond in their work or actions, (Great for classroom management!) but the majority of their income—well at least before they begin investing- comes from their job. In my class, I limit the number of jobs available. This forces the students to become competitive in their application process and ensures them that if they fail to complete the job to the boss’ (MY) expectations, there will be someone waiting to snatch up their position. As the year progresses, students can make more money by investing into businesses, but more on that later.

In the beginning of the year, I always pay my students with some sort of paper currency. Here's a link to my FREE printable currency. Some kids hold on to it tightly, while others’ cash goes missing either to loss, bad trades, or (SADLY) theft. I don’t feel bad for them though. I secretly hope some of these misfortunes occur among the students so that they create real understanding of the importance of keeping their money safe. Some of these students find a sudden interest in opening a bank account. I offer my students two banking plan options: one with a monthly fee and one with a minimum balance, and I use a simple excel spreadsheet to keep track of their accounts. I also print debit cards (I don’t use credit because my students are a little younger) and require the students to have their debit card before completing any transactions.

In keeping to the real-life focus of my program, I require my students to pay monthly expenses such as a desk rental fee, and I never just give them replacement supplies for free. It’s no fun for the students to see their money go, but that’s life!

Some students find their true money-making abilities in entrepreneurship. Three times a year, I open up the classroom as a Market. Half the students are producers and half are consumers. I walk the producers through the process of planning, marketing, and running a successful business. It’s amazing how the students develop business sense so organically. One market day, a sweet little girl decided to provide brown paper sacks to her customers when they purchased her bracelets. The other businesses had not had the same foresight as she had.  As the customers loaded up on all their new purchases, they quickly realized that it was difficult to handle all their loot.  Before long, I heard a boy say that he was going to buy a bracelet just to get the brown paper bag. By the end of the sale, the little girl was out of bracelets and every single customer had a brown paper sack. Not surprisingly, when the next Market Day rolled around, almost every producer offered some sort of bag to their customers. An important lesson was learned by all of the students, and no direct teaching was required.

Follow my Market Days Pinterest Board for ideas for your students!

I share my pins with my students to help inspire them!

Implementing a quality financial literacy plan takes all year, but it doesn’t have to take all day.  In just a few minutes a week, your class can become a thriving economy.  Here’s a week-by-week schedule that can help you from getting overwhelmed in the process:

Before you get started, you will need to:

• Think about what class jobs you’d like.
• Think about what expenses your students will have to pay each month.
• Decide which currencies you’d like to have in your classroom. Think about creating a spreadsheet in excel to use as your classroom bank or research other digital products that you can use. There are many cool resources available at low or no cost.  If your students have easy access to electronic devices, check out Bankaroo- it’s free! I’ve personally spoken with the owner of the application and am very excited to help educators discover this product. You’ll also need to decide when your bank will be open. It can be a small amount of time each day or each week.
• Decide how many Market Day experiences you’d like to have during the year.  I usually do three sales per year so that the students have the opportunity to see their businesses grow as they use what they’ve learned to tweak their business practices. You can split your class into two groups and allow them to take turns being producers and consumers at the market day.

Still feeling overwhelmed? Check out my
EDU-ENTERPRISES
Financial Literacy Program.
It has everything you need so you'll be ready to go! 

Implementing Your Program Week by Week

Week	Making Money	Managing Money	Investing Money
FIRST QUARTER
1	Introduce your class jobs and begin accepting applications.
2	Select your new employees.	Introduce bank accounts and begin accepting applications.
5	Begin accepting new job applications.	Have students pay their bills.
6	PAY DAY! Announce employee of the month! Select your new employees.
7			Introduce Market Day. Allow students to begin planning their business relationships and business plans.
8		Prepare consumers for market day by teaching them about writing checks, using debit cards, and keeping track of expenses.
9			Hold your first market day!
SECOND QUARTER
Week	Making Money	Managing Money	Investing Money
10	Begin accepting new job applications.	Have students pay their bills.	Have students reflect on what went well and what went poorly with their business.
11	PAY DAY! Announce employee of the month! Select your new employees.
14	Begin accepting new job applications.	Have students pay their bills.
15	PAY DAY! Announce employee of the month! Select your new employees
16			Allow students to begin planning their business relationships and business plans for the next Market Day. If the student was a consumer on the last market day, I assign them producer for this one.
17		Prepare consumers for market day by teaching them about writing checks, using debit cards, and keeping track of expenses.
18			Hold Second Market Day
THIRD QUARTER
Week	Making Money	Managing Money	Investing Money
19	Begin accepting new job applications.	Have students pay their bills.	Have students reflect on what went well and what went poorly with their business.
20	PAY DAY! Announce employee of the month! Select your new employees.
23	Begin accepting new job applications.	Have students pay their bills.
24	PAY DAY! Announce employee of the month! Select your new employees.
25			Allow students to begin planning their business relationships and business plans for the next Market Day. By now, all students should have experienced being both a producer and a consumer. I allow them to pick which role they’d like to have for our final market day.
26		Prepare consumers for market day by reviewing writing checks, using debit cards, and keeping track of expenses.
27			Hold Final Market Day
FOURTH QUARTER
Week	Making Money	Managing Money	Investing Money
28	Begin accepting new job applications.	Have students pay their bills.	Have students reflect on what went well and what went poorly with their business.
29	PAY DAY! Announce employee of the month! Select your new employees.
32	Begin accepting new job applications.	Have students pay their bills.
33	PAYDAY! Announce employee of the month! Select your new employees.
36		Have an end of year auction so students can spend all their money. I usually have students donate items to the auction. It teaches charity and saves the teacher from having to buy things to auction off.

Still have questions about starting your own classroom economy? Feel free to contact me at CassiNoack@gmail.com.
You can also visit my blog at cassinoackteach.blogspot.com
or my store at Cassi Noack Teach.

Cassi Noack is a wife, mother, and teacher from Tomball, Texas. With over a decade of teaching experience, she couples her creativity with what she's learned along her journey to help her students find success in the classroom. Cassi currently teaches a 4th grade self-contained class full of the best kids in Texas.