#1144. Penny Mall With Buddies

Mathematics, level: Elementary
Posted Thu Jul 1 11:30:01 PDT 1999 by Amy Smith (ocracokey@hotmail.com).
Grady Brown Elementary, Hillsborough, NC
Materials Required: 2 classes- preferably Kindergarten and 2nd/3rd
Activity Time: 30 minutes-1 hour
Concepts Taught: Money, real life consumer math

This is a wonderful activity that I came across during my first year of teaching. Penny Mall is an opportunity to buddy with another class once a month while focusing on money concepts.

The younger(K) class brings 100 pennies to school in there own container. The older class makes items to sell, decides on prices, and advertising opportunities.

The day of penny mall, the K class comes to the "mall" to go shopping. Reading the prices for each item, the K children then count out the appropriate amount. (Usually we start with small amounts and work our way up). 100s boards are used to help the children count.
Usually the teachers decide on the number of items each K student is allowed to buy (Usually 3)

At the end of the mall, the older students have been keeping a record of what has been sold, and for how much. They count up their "profits" and record. The lump of all the pennies are then returned to the K teacher for the K children to recount 100s out again for the next mall. Usually the K children write about what they bought- sometimes in piggy bank books.

The older students decide what were good sellers, what weren't, optional prices, possiblities, brainstorm for next time, set goals, etc..

It's a wonderful activity to do each month!! Enjoy!