Lesson 15

The purpose of this warm-up is to invite students to share what they know about money. Students did not work with money in grade 1, but may be familiar with coins and dollars from their experiences outside of school. This warm-up allows teachers to hear the language students use to talk about money and how much they know about coins and their values.

• “What do you know about money?”
• 1 minute: quiet think time

• Record responses.

• “Today we are going to learn more about money.”

The purpose of this activity is for students to identify pennies, nickels, and dimes. Students find the total value of a set of like coins by counting on or skip counting by five or ten.

• Create a money poster to display during the activity launch and throughout the section.
• Cut out money images from the blackline master and tape the dollar bill images.
• (optional) Gather collections of real or plastic coins.

• Groups of 2
• Display the pre-made poster to show front and back images of pennies, nickels, and dimes. See sample below.

• “Each coin has a value in cents. Does anyone know the names or values of these coins?”
• Share and record responses.
• Write the name and value of each coin on the poster.
• “When we write the total value we use the cent symbol after the number to show that it represents cents.”
• Demonstrate writing the ¢ symbol next to the amount.

• “Now you are going to find the value of 3 coin collections.”
• “Don’t forget to use the cent symbol when writing your answer.”
• 5 minutes: independent work time
• 3 minutes: partner discussion

• Display Han’s coins.
• “What do you notice about Han’s coins?” (They’re nickels. They’re all the same size. Some show a head and some show a building. One side says “five cents.”)
• “How did you find the value of Han’s coins?”
• Share responses.
• As needed, summarize the responses: “All coins have a front and a back. Coins of the same type, like nickels, all have the same size. When you count coins that have the same value, you can skip count or count on by that value.”
• If time, review other student responses.

The purpose of this activity is for students to find the total value of a set of coins that contain different denominations. Students first identify each coin and confirm they have the right value assigned to the coins. They need to know the value of each coin before doing the calculations, so it is okay if they need to refer to the chart. Students find the value of a mixed set of coins by counting on, adding, or grouping like coins and then adding their total values. For example, a student might explain their thinking by saying, “I put all the dimes together, nickels together, and pennies together first, and then added \(30 + 20 + 6\).” When students group the coins in order to find their value efficiently they strategically use base-ten structure (MP7).

• Each group of 2 needs access to the blackline master to cut out coins as needed (color-printing recommended) or a collection of real or plastic coins.

• Groups of 2
• Give students access to coins or a copy of the coins to cut out the nickels, dimes, and pennies.

• “When all the coins are the same, we can use skip counting to find the total value.”
• “Sometimes we have to try different methods to find the value of coins when there are different coins together.”
• “Work on your own to name the coins and find the value of each collection.”
• 8 minutes: independent work time
• “Compare with your partner and work together to answer the questions to compare the value of the different groups of coins.”
• 3 minutes: partner discussion
• Monitor for students who:
  • group like coins to skip count, count on, or add
  • look for ways to count by ten or make ten

If students find a value other than the value of each coin collection, consider asking:

• “Explain how you found the total value of the collection?”
• “What is the value of each coin in the collection?”
• “How could you organize the coins to help find the value?”

• Invite selected students who added or skip counted in various orders or share their reasoning. Highlight the use of 10 in the methods.
• “How did you organize the coins to find the total value of Priya’s coins? Why did you choose to organize them this way?” (First I counted all the dimes, then nickels, then pennies, and then I added it all up.)
• Share and record student thinking and equations.