The classroom economy is designed in an experiential way to ensure that it supplements rather than interferes with a classroom's core curriculum. It allows students to learn valuable life skills and make progress on topics that are integral to the curriculum. This page is designed to help you make connections between common lessons and the experience of the classroom economy.

Our connections are based on the Common Core State Standards.

Mathematics:
Attend to precision.

Each student is required to maintain a bank log of his or her finances. The individual student's log and the Banker's log of client accounts must be kept in balance to ensure accuracy.

Use place-value understanding and properties of operations to perform multi-digit arithmetic.

Students' bank accounts can grow from as little as $50 to as much as several thousand dollars. To keep an accurate log, they will need to perform multi-digit arithmetic.

Fluently add and subtract multi-digit whole numbers using the standard algorithm.

Students are required to complete bank transactions using the standard algorithm.

Reading:
Interpret information presented visually, orally, or quantitatively (e.g., in charts, graphs, diagrams, time lines, animations, or interactive elements on web pages) and explain how the information contributes to the understanding of the text in which it appears.

Students must read and interpret bank logs and bank slips and explain how these collateral items are used in the classroom economy.

Writing:
Write opinion pieces on topics or texts, supporting a point of view with reasons and information.

Students are required to complete a job application naming three jobs they want and the reasons they think they should have those jobs. Essentially, the students must state their case of why they should be awarded a particular job.

Social studies:
The classroom economy is a perfect complement to a supply-and-demand unit. Specifically, you can discuss how items at the auction are in high demand (everyone wants them), but the supply is low (only one set of markers, for example), which drives the price up. (Note: Social studies standards are not a part of the Core Standards).