Money skillsFree
Pay Stub Worksheet
Reading a Paycheck · Gross vs Net Pay
- Grades
- Grades 8–12
- Formats
- Google Slides, PDF, PowerPoint
- Pages
- 10
- Answer keys
- Included
Opens our store on Teachers Pay Teachers, where you can see the full preview and download.
Teach students how to read a pay stub with this free paycheck lesson! High school students fill in guided notes on gross pay, net pay, overtime and FICA, read and check a realistic pay stub for an hourly cashier, then hunt for five mistakes on a lifeguard's pay stub. It is a ready-to-teach sample of the full Understanding a Paycheck unit.
What's included
- Teacher guide with a 60-minute lesson plan and differentiation (support, on level, challenge)
- Standards and contents page with key vocabulary
- Paycheck Basics guided notes: gross pay, overtime, deductions and withholding, FICA (Social Security 6.2% and Medicare 1.45%) and net pay
- Pay Stub Practice: a realistic hourly pay stub with 7 questions (pay period, gross pay, Social Security, Medicare, net pay, take-home percent and YTD)
- Find the Error on the Pay Stub: 5 mistakes to find and fix
- Completed notes and answer key with worked math
- A look inside the full Understanding a Paycheck unit and the Money Skills Mega Bundle
How to use it
Teach it as one 60-minute lesson or over two short periods in personal finance, CTE, consumer math, FACS or life skills, or use it as homework or a sub plan. Withholding amounts are given on each stub (they depend on each person's W-4 and state), so students focus on the math they can check: gross pay, overtime, Social Security, Medicare and net pay.
Skills practiced
Gross vs net paypayroll deductionsFICAovertimepercentschecking a pay stub for errors
