• NTTI Home
• Master Teachers
• Lesson Plans
• National NTTI

---

South Carolina ETV
1101 George Rogers Boulevard
Columbia, SC 29201-4761
Phone: 803-737-3545

Right on the Money (Grade 2-3)

Master Teacher

Hope C. Robinson

Time Allotment

One 45-minute class period

One 60-minute class period

Overview

This lesson is a great introduction to teaching students about coins. It will give students a closer look at coins. Through the activities in this lesson, students will learn why coins are so important, and why it is important to be able to count money.

Students will watch a video about different ways of making the same amounts of money and view a Web site clip about the Denver Mint to discover how coins are made.

They also will do an activity using a Web site about how much each coin is worth and find out facts about the penny.

Subject Matter

Mathematics (money)

Learning Objectives

Students will be able to:

• Name and write money amounts;
• Count bills and coins.

South Carolina Standards

Visit the SC Math Standards Web site

Second Grade

Measurement II:

C.2. Determine the total value of a collection of coins.

Third Grade

Numbers and Operations I:

A.7. Read and write amounts of money using dollar sign ($) and    decimal notation (.).

Data Analysis and Probability I:

B.1. Collect data using observations.

Media Components

Video

Mathica's Workshop, Lesson 6: "Winter Wonders" includes many different skills, including symmetry and money. Only a portion of this video will be used. (Length: 15 minutes)

(Note to Teacher: Remind students that money looks different for each country.)

Web Sites

Denver Mint

Go to the knowitall.org Web site. Choose the icon "SearchETV." Use this screen to go to the Mathematics site. Type in Keyword "money," and select Asset. Type "video," Dewey Number "332.4," and then click on "Search." Find the "Denver Mint" video that has the keywords "United States, Colorado, coins production." The video lasts nine minutes, and it is about the production of money. Students will learn what a "mint" is and about the importance of making money.

How Much is Each Coin Worth?/Gran's Grocery. This Web site is an activity where students have to identify how much each coin is worth. Then, they go shopping at Gran's Grocery and "purchase" items by choosing the correct amount of money. They are also given immediate feedback to let them know if their answers are correct or incorrect.

Pennies. This Web site gives links to find out interesting things about pennies. There are links to penny facts, the history of the penny, and penny details. This Web site will be used to show the importance of pennies.

Materials

• Pigs Will Be Pigs by Amy Axelrod; Aladdin Paperbacks, 1994
• prizes (such as stickers or candy)
• pencil and paper
• overhead coins (pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half-dollars)
• dry erase markers

Equipment

• overhead projector
• television and VCR
• computer with Internet access
• Averkey

Prep for Teachers

• Make copies of Activity Sheet 1
  (1 per student).
• Purchase the book Pigs Will Be Pigs
  or check it out from the library.
• Gather stickers, candy, or anything that you will use as prizes.
• Bookmark Web sites that will be used in the lesson.
• Preview the Mathica's Workshop video.
• Preview the Denver Mint Web site, the How Much Is Each Coin Worth?/Gran's Grocery Web site, and the Pennies Web site.
• When using media, always provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction, a specific task to complete and/or information to identify during or after viewing of video segments, Web sites or other multimedia elements.

Introductory Activity

Step 1: Begin by reviewing the different coins with students. Show them the coins (front and back) on the overhead projector (in order of value-penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar), and have them identify the coins.

Step 2: On the How Much Is Each Coin Worth? Web site, provide a Focus for Media Interaction by having students watch the screen and give answers to the questions. Answers are provided on the Web site with each click on an answer. Then, click on Let's Go Shop at Gran's Grocery. Call on students to come up to the television screen and circle the correct multiple-choice answer using a dry-erase marker. Click on the answer that the student circled, and again, answers are provided on this Web site as immediate feedback.

Step 3: Insert the Mathica's Workshop video and FAST FORWARD until the scene where the people have left the workshop and are walking down the street. A woman says, "I have to call him and tell him I'm O.K." and then prepares to make a phone call using coins. They then realize that there is more than one way to produce the same amount of money. Watch until the people are walking into the ice-skating rink and then STOP the video.

Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by asking the students to discuss reasons why it would be important to be able to have different ways to make money. (Answers may include: person may only have certain coins available to use, some machines only accept certain coins). Also, have students come up to the overhead and show different ways to make 25 cents.

Day 2

Learning Activity

Step 1: Read the book Pigs Will Be Pigs. (Note to Teacher: Be sure to read it slow enough that the students can copy down money amounts that they hear).

Tell students listen to the story and use pencil and paper to write down all the money amounts that the pig family is collecting. At the end of the book, students should add all money figures they wrote down and come up with a total. (Answer is provided at the end of the book). If the answer is correct, the student is rewarded with a prize. If it is incorrect, give 2-3 more attempts to come up with the correct answer. At the end of the lesson, provide the entire class with the correct answer if everyone has not come up with it.

Step 2: Discuss the importance of being able to count money. (Answers may include: making purchases, receiving correct change.)

Step 3: Go to the Denver Mint Web site and view video. Press the PAUSE button after the man explains what the marks are that show where the coins are made (he says, "the coins will be identified by the mint mark").

Provide students with a Focus for Media Interaction by asking: "How can you tell where the coins are made?" (Answer: The mint mark is on the coin that shows the location of its production).

Press PLAY until the man explains what a mint is (he says, "that's virtually all we do-produce coins"), then press PAUSE. Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by asking students, "How many mints produce coins in the United States? What happens in a mint?"

(Answer: There are two mints in the United States-Denver and Philadelphia; a mint is where coins are produced.)

Tell the students to listen to hear how the workers in the mint know that all the coins are perfect. Press PLAY until you hear the woman say, "the press operator uses a magnifying glass to make sure that every coin is perfectly beautiful and beautifully perfect." Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by asking, "How do the workers know that all of the coins are perfect?" (Answer: They use a magnifying glass.)

Press PLAY until the lady says "in piggy banks." Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by asking students, "How much money does the average American have stashed away in his or her home?" (Answer: $20.00)

Watch video until end.

Culminating Activity

Step 1: Ask students to share what they have learned about the importance of coins and being able to count them. (Answers: to come up with different money amounts, make purchases that may not be "dollars," counting back change.)

Go to the Pennies Web site. Tell students that pennies are important in their own way. Tell the students to find out facts about pennies. Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by asking, "What did you learn that you did not know about pennies?" (Answers will vary.)

Read "History of the Penny" and "Penny Details." Provide a Focus for Media Interaction by telling students to give some details that they learned about pennies. (Answers will vary.)

Community Connections

• Invite a bank manager to come speak to the class about how money comes into the bank and where it comes from.
• Invite a coin collector to come to the class to speak about coin collecting and the history of coins. Then, have students research the history of coins. How did they look a long time ago? What has changed from then to now?

Student Materials

"Making Money" worksheet (See Activity Sheet 1.)

Activity Sheets (PDF)

• Activity Sheet 1: Making Money