[learn]

Hello PT,
Do some of you happen to use money for behavior incentives in the classroom? If so, how do you go about using this and making it easy for us teachers as well as for the kids and where to store their money?

[Haley23]

I assume you mean fake money . I've had two teammates who have done this. One had a bulletin board where each student had a little file for their name, and they put it there to keep when it was earned. It was kind of behind her desk so there weren't issues with kids walking by and messing with it during the day.

The other had little cups attached to the back of kids' chairs and she would put it in there, which seems like it would invite a lot more issues, IMO. Personally, it seems like a lot to manage and I wouldn't be okay with spending my own money on things for the students to "buy" with their money. I might consider it as a a last resort if I had a group that was incredibly hard to manage.

[learn]

Yes, fake money.

[kahluablast]

I had my kids make wallets with construction paper and duct tape. I cut paper in a size good for folding into money sized wallets (depends on what you use for money), laminated them and let the kids tape them up on the sides. Then, they kept them in their desks - I have a pencil box that they kept in the middle of their stuff. If they lost it, they lost it. Rules were no one else should be in anyone's desks, so it was safe enough.

In the beginning, I used it often to reinforce following directions quickly, being on task, or whatever. That tapered off as time went on. If I needed I could walk around with bills and just lay it on desks as needed. I didn't do it all the time after the first couple of months. You have to work in time to do "economy" things - cashing checks, spending money... I made my kids keep a register with how much they earned, received, and spent. I told them I could check them at any time, and I spot checked when they were doing economy stuff.