I always include books in my money unit and like to start with Shel Silverstein's poem: Smart (click title for pdf link). We read the poem and count out the coins, laying them beside each stanza, and noting their value. The kids are always giggling by the end of it and it's also a great opportunity to introduce the concept of irony. From there I like to go to Alexander Who Used To Be Rich Last Sunday. There are other great books about money as well, such as The Berenstain Bears' Trouble With Money, One Cent, Two Cent, Old Cent, New Cent; and Lots and Lots of Coins; but I generally keep those to read aloud due to the reading abilities of my newly arrived students. Reading A-Z also has several good books, of various levels, about money. As a final "print input", I post a poem on my wall about coins and their value. I didn't write it, but I did make it a larger size (17x11) and add some graphics. (Click the word poem to download a copy for yourself.) |
Of course reading about money is not enough to teach students how to count it. Along with all this reading, we do a lot of activities to practice counting coins. One of my favorite center activities is Coin Eggs. I am always looking for fun ways to get the kids active and manipulating objects and this idea used objects I already had around the house (I collect egg cartons and other such things from my family's recycle bins), so it was totally free for me! Materials: egg carton, 12 plastic eggs, play coins, Sharpie marker Steps to create your own: 1. Number the eggs 1-12 with the Sharpie marker. 2. Count out and place plastic coins in each egg (download my directions packet by clicking the picture to the right for directions, a recording sheet, and answer key). 3. Place the eggs in the carton and label the outside in some way (in order to distinguish it from your other fun egg carton activities, such as the integers practice game from my June 26th blog). 4. Put the carton, recording sheets, and pencils in your math center and let the kids practice. |