PayGrade is a classroom economy simulation that you can use all year in just about any classroom setting. Recently, PayGrade was acquired by an online investment company called Stash. A result of that acquisition is that all of the features of PayGrade are now free for all teachers and students.
How PayGrade Works
Last year I wrote this detailed overview of how PayGrade works. The following is a condensed version of that overview.
At the end of each week in PayGrade your students get paid in virtual currency that they can redeem for various rewards of their choosing. Students also have the option to just bank their virtual currency for use at a later date.
PayGrade isn’t just a simple “students do jobs, students get rewards” system. That is because students have to pay bills from their virtual paychecks before they can spend their currency for things that they want.