Where's George?

Have you ever wondered where a dollar bill was before it got to you? Or perhaps were curious about where it might go once you spend it? Well, if so, then this is the assignment for you. A word of warning though first; this assignment may take some time to complete and it requires you to spend (or at least place into circulation) twenty (20) dollars.

This project can only be started during the first trimester of the school year as it will take some time to get results.

Here's what you are going to need for this one:

• 20 one dollar bills preferably in good condition
• Regular access to the internet
• An account at wheresgeorge.com (free)
• All of the documents (pdf format) for the assignment downloadable from this page
• A commitment to log on and check your account once-a-week for the duration of your tracking project.

Here are the directions for this assignment:

You will begin by logging on to www.wheresgeorge.com and creating an account for yourself. This is free and will help you to track your selected bills. Once you have an account you are ready to begin the tracking project. At this point you will need twenty one-dollar bills in reasonable condition. Download and print out the Where's George Tracking Document and write down the serial number of all twenty of your bills in the serial number column. Next enter each bill into your wheresgeorge.com account. You will need both the serial number (printed in green ink in two different locations on the bill and the series which is printed in small black type at the bottom right of George Washington's portrait. You will also need to enter our zip code (94558) and the following message in the short note section:

"This bill is being tracked as part of a class project. Please log it in and put it back into circulation as we get more points for each time it is logged in!!"

Remember to make sure you are logged in when you enter your bills!!! Next place all of the bills in an envelope and bring them to school and ask Mr. Dresel for the stamp and stamp each bill once with the stamp. Once all the bills have been logged into your wheresgeorge.com account and each one has been stamped you are ready to turn them loose into the great wide world. Remember to make sure each bill has been stamped before you spend it! Give them to your mom to use when she does the family shopping, use them when you shop for your Christmas gifts, use them when your family goes out to dinner or best of all take them with you and spend them on a family vacation.

If you choose to, you may send out more than 20 one dollar bills. Simply print out another tracking document for each additional group of 20 one dollar bills and be sure to enter them into your wheresgeorge.com account (you will still report on only 5 bills out of all the bills you entered into your account at the end of the tracking period).

Now comes the hard part but also the fun part. For the duration of the tracking period (one trimester or one school year) log into your wheresgeorge.com account and check on your bills. If you are doing this as a year-long project then once every month will be good, if this is a trimester-long project then you will need to do this weekly. To get to your bill reports follow these directions:

• Go to www.wheresgeorge.com and log on using your e-mail address and your password.
• from the menu bar on the left side of the page click on "Your Bills".
• Check to see the date of the most recent report and if it is earlier than that days date then click on the "refresh this report" link and wait while the site retrieves all the information on your bills.
• Next find the box that says, "Available Bill Detail Reports" and look for the line that says "All bills entered" and click on the "Click for report" link. This will bring up a table that has all your bills in it.
• Click on each serial number to find out where that bill has been.
• Record the progress of your bills each time you do this on the Where's George Tracking Document.

Wrapping up and turning in your tracking project.

Follow these turn-in procedures completely and carefully to get the most credit possible for your work.

• Download and print out the assignment cover sheet and put your Redwood Heading on it.
• Log on to wheresgeorge.com one final time and refresh your report information. Access your bill reports and check the status of your bills.
• From your original 20 bills choose your top five that have been the most active. For each of these 5 bills do two things. First, get a printer-friendly version of each bill's report and print it out. Second, get a google map of each bills travels and print it out. (You will find these two choices at the top of each bill report)
• Sample Bill Tracking Document
• Download, print out, and complete the assignment evaluation paper.

You should now have 13 sheets of paper that need to be turned in for credit. Assemble them in this order, staple them together and turn them into Mr. Dresel in B-3.

1. Assignment Cover sheet on top
2. Where's George Tracking Document
3. Bill Tracking Report for Bill #1
4. Goggle map of the travels of Bill #1
5. Bill Tracking Report for Bill #2
6. Goggle map of the travels of Bill #2
7. Bill Tracking Report for Bill #3
8. Goggle map of the travels of Bill #3
9. Bill Tracking Report for Bill #4
10. Goggle map of the travels of Bill #4
11. Bill Tracking Report for Bill #5
12. Goggle map of the travels of Bill #5
13. Completed assignment evaluation sheet