Reality Town 2009!

Today was Reality Town at Valley Jr. High! This was my first year in charge and that was a little stressful, but I just relied on what we've done the last 2 years and on my AWESOME Counseling Center secretary, Juliene. With the help of my colleagues we had a very successful activity today.
Reality Town is an activity we do for our 9th graders. They are assigned a career based on their first quarter midterm GPA (which is an eye-opener for some who are convinced grades don't count). With their career they are also given a monthly income and one of 4 life scenarios.
1. Married and spouse stays home, therefore they don't have to pay for child care but they have not additional income from their spouse.
2. Married and spouse works part time and goes to school. They have to pay for child care, and spouse contributes $500 monthly to total income.
3. Single parent. They have to pay for child care, but they are given $200 per child.
4. Married and spouse works full time, adding $2000 to monthly income.
Each student is randomly assigned one of these scenarios, and also randomly assigned 1, 2, or 3 children.
When the students enter Reality Town their first stop is the bank where they open a checking account and are given a checkbook. They then go from business to business trying to buy the necessities and also the wants of life. They must balance their checkbooks so they know how much money they have left. Some of the businesses are Bank, Housing, Transportation, Groceries, Child Care, Clothing, Entertainment, Communications, Home Improvement, Health and Grooming, Utilities, Car Insurance, Health Insurance, Dental Insurance, Medical, Military Recruitment, Supplemental Income, and Pet Shop.

Some students with their Reality Town booklets.

This is pretty much the funniest part of the day. This picture was taken about a half hour before Reality Town ended for this group. Supplemental Income becomes the most popular booth! I hear a lot of, "Ms. White I have NO money!" "What can I do to get more money?" "How many other jobs can I actually get?" "Reality sucks!" "I'm broke!" "I'm in poverty!" "I failed the Military Recruitment test, what else can I do to get more money?" Hilarious!

Students receive an extra $100 if they dress appropriately for their job. Here we've got a video game designer (get it??? She dressed like a nerd!), a physical therapist, and a mechanical drafter.

After I took this picture I had to play the police officer and kick these kids out of my park for loitering!

Some of our awesome volunteers. These girls were some of my first students and came from Granger High School to help us out.

Mr. Ballentine helping a couple more volunteers.

The aerial view of Reality Town.

A child psychiatrist.

It was a great day! I am completely exhausted but very proud of our Counseling Center. There are only 2 of us who have put on Reality Town at Valley before, but it went well. Now I think we will all spend the next 3 days sleeping!