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WealthWise Kids

Grades 6–8Ages 11–14 · Unit 3.2 · The Real Paycheck

Reading a real paycheck: a free worksheet for grades 6–8.

Miller worked 80 hours at $15 an hour and expected $1,200. The cheque says $1,023. The $177 is the whole lesson, and almost no young person meets it before their own first payday. Students build the pay stub line by line from gross to net and name who receives each deduction.

Download the PDF ↓One page · with answers · 25–35 minutes

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Preview of the Where Did $177 Go? worksheet

What is on the page

  • A blank pay stub to complete from gross to net
  • Each deduction named, with who receives it
  • The $177 reconciled in full
  • An answer page with the completed stub

What it teaches

  • The difference between gross pay and take-home pay
  • What payroll deductions are and where the money goes
  • Checking a pay stub for mistakes

How to run it

Ask what they expected the answer to be before they start. The gap between their guess and $1,023 is the part they remember.

The other free worksheets

See all four free financial literacy worksheets, read what sixth grade learns about money, or start with our guide to financial literacy for kids.

Where it comes from

Unit 3.2 · The Real Paycheck of a 266-lesson curriculum.

This sheet is one activity, unchanged, from Financial Foundations™. Teachers can run a free five-week pilot with one class. Families can take the Family Edition home.

For my class ›For my family