#399. Introducing money

Mathematics, level: Elementary
Posted Fri Apr 17 15:24:02 PDT 1998 by Karen (karensut@aol.com).
Alice Schafer Elememtary, Linesville, PA
Materials Required: plastic money
Activity Time: varies
Concepts Taught: Coin worth

Introduce the penny, nickel, dime and quarter. One each day for four days, using a magnifying glass to identify the similarities and differences of each coin. Discuss teach coins similarities and differences and value.

Teach the following rap:

Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Well a penny is one and a nickel is five,
A dime is worth ten and a quarter twenty-five.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.

Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Five pennies make a nickel,
Two nickels make a dime.
Two dimes and a nickel
make a quarter and it's mine.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.
Pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters.

Make a gameboard for each student. The board is a 9 x 12 piece of construction paper - long ways. Draw a line across the paper about 2 inches down from the top. Next divide the paper into thirds or fourths (depending on which coins you want to reinforce their values). Using money stamps, stamp pennies in the right hand box at the top. Nickels to the left of the pennies, dimes to the left of the nickels. I only have a few with quarters and I use them for students who are deveopmentally ready for that part of the activity. Laminate if you like. They will keep for years if you do.
Divide students into groups of two. Give each student a gameboard and each pair of students a dice. For the first game one student rolls the die and places that number of pennies on their gameboard in the pennies column. The second student does the same. When a student has five pennies he or she may exchange it for a nickel and places it in the nickel column. Choose a stopping point before the game begins. EX: When someone in your group gets 5 nickels the game is over. Clear your board and start over. You can do this for dimes and quarters also as your students are ready.
It's fun and an easy way to observe each students understanding of a coins value. I like it to because it works at each ability level throughout the classroom.
Have fun! Let me know how it works or any other ways you may find to make this work better. Karen