Students will be actively involved in a year-long economy unit in which they earn credits and debits. The activity is cross-curricular since students are learning major economic concepts, as well as using math skills on a daily basis. Throughout each week, students can earn/pay credits for any number of things. Children will earn credits (money-income) for: -Appropriate behavior -Satisfactory work completion -Classroom job (trash collector, paper distributor etc.) pay varies according to our agreed upon payroll. -Credits are also earned sporadically for following rules, showing good character, putting extra effort into school work, and being responsible. Children will pay money (debits) for: -Desk rent (like mortgage) due each Monday or Tuesday. -“Mustang Market” Class Store items available every other week on Fridays. - Breaking laws (classroom rules) in our community of learners (“Tickets”) -insurance -taxes Each Monday and Friday students justify their accounts by adding up their credits and subtracting their debits to calculate their balances. At the beginning of the year, the class will determine daily jobs that are necessary for students to do in the classroom. They will also vote on a daily salary for each job by ranking the jobs in order of importance and/or the amount of work required. All students will have their own account book. Students use the Credit and Debit Notebooks to keep track of how much they are earning during each pay period. Since students only get paid at the bank at the end of a pay period (2 weeks), the notebooks serve as checking accounts that the students balance before going to the bank to receive their earnings. The banker will write paychecks to all students at the end of each pay period (2 weeks) that reflect the amount that they have earned after balancing their credits and debits. Students cash their checks at the Welch’s World Bank to receive the money that they have earned. They may use their money to purchase items at the class store (Mustang Market). Students can, of course, choose to save the money that they earn each week to purchase a more expensive item at the store. For this reason, all students have wallets in which they can store their money. Students can purchase items at our classroom store at the end of each pay period. Students set up, run, and break down the classroom store. As students shop, they use shopping logs to keep track of what they are spending. Students record the item, the quantity, and the cost before totaling their final bill. The log is taken to the cashier to be double-checked and is then used as the shopper's receipt. Students are already learning many "real-world" concepts that can't be taught as effectively in a textbook. The class store is ultimately used to teach economic lessons that include decision making, opportunity cost, supply and demand, and inflation. Economist The class economist studies the behavior of student shoppers. Using an Excel spreadsheet, the economist keeps track of how much students make each week when they cash their checks at the Welch’s World Bank and then keeps track of how much they spend at the store. We can make graphs to compare the two amounts in order to analyze the economy in our classroom. The Economist also keeps track of popular and unpopular items at the store to determine high or low demand in stock. The economist then gives a report at our class meetings and makes suggestions about items that need to go on sale and scarce items that may need a price increase. Behavior will be reported daily in your child's agenda. You will need to review it with your child, initial and return it every day. If you have any questions or concerns please e-mail Ms. Welch welchh@fultonschools.org.