Money in an Apron

Last year, my behavior management theme was stars. The behavior chart was stars with numbers on each point, and the students turned their star if redirection was needed. Students could also earn paper stars to use to make purchases from the treasure boxes.

With moving to second grade, I'm also moving away from stars. A good friend of mine who is going from second to fifth grade this year shared with me how she used play money for rewards and consequences. A few times a year, she would set out this extravagant store in which the students could make purchases with the money they had earned. Seeing that we teach money in second grade, I decided to follow her lead and transition from a currency of stars to make purchases, to using money and real-world situations.

Of course, now I had to figure out how I would have the money with me throughout the day. I could buy a little apron somewhere... but would it have the right number of pockets? Probably not.

When you can't find what you want... make it!

Notice the owls! I knew this was the fabric I wanted as soon as I saw it.

Its hard to see in the picture, but this apron has seven (yes, seven!) pockets. Each pocket is made using darts so they stick out further and have room for plastic coins, and paper bills. 4 small pockets on the right, 2 long/horizontal pockets middle/leftish, and 1 vertical pocket on the far left. Yikes! That was quite a task, but quite a rewarding feeling when I finished them.

You can see a second apron made for a friend.