Sara S. teaches 4th grade in a self-contained classroom, and is in her 20th year of teaching. Prior to COVID, Sara used a paper-based classroom economy system, but was in need of an easy to use, low-touch solution. Sara was looking for a tool that allowed her students to track their earnings without having to pass out "money," and was excited to come across ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) on a teacher Facebook group.
ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) was the perfect way to transition my current system to a COVID friendly program.
Although many other teachers and schools have seen an uptick in disruptive student behaviors in the last few years, ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) has helped Sara maintain consistency and create a productive learning environment built around student responsibility and ownership. In turn, she's had been able to keep disruptive behaviors at bay and engage students in a meaningful way.
"I love the fact that the students need to continue to balance their account. They cannot just accept a transaction. When my fourth graders started this year, adding and subtracting was not strong for them. They have learned how to add and subtract larger numbers because their balances keep growing. I also love how I was able to seamlessly transition from my current program to ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity), and students love having their own bank account. "
"When we came back from Winter Break in January, I let the class know that their salaries increased because in Massachusetts, minimum wage went up. I also told them that because of the rising housing costs, their rent also went up. When they logged into ClassBank (formerly ClassEquity) to see how much each increased by, they were shocked that rent went up more than salaries. I told them that that’s what the real world is all about, sometimes you do not get a cost of living raise even though the price of everything around you is going up. We had a great conversation about cost of living and inflation. While I kept it at the fourth grade level, it was a great teaching moment about real life skills."
"This system is an easy way to provide whole school accountability, while making it your own. The website is set up for you so you can literally “plug and play." It can easily be customizable to meet the needs of your class or individual students, while also being able to include all teachers and staff."
Sara is excited to end the school year strong, and is excited for spring weather in Massachusetts!
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