Identifying Coins and Exploring Coin Relationships

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I planned with 1st grade yesterday, and they are getting ready to tackle money.  In Texas, 1st graders need to be able to identify coins, know the values of the coins, and understand relationships between the coins (1 nickel has the same value as 5 pennies).

I read something interesting related to coins a while back, probably in Van de Walle.  Coin values are really a very abstract concept for young children.  Think about it.  Up until now, their experiences with numbers have all been based on one-to-one correspondence.  The number 5 meant five of something--jelly beans, teddy bear counters, fingers, etc.  With coins you have one object, take for instance a nickel, but now it means 5.  That can be pretty tough!  After reading that, I decided that I wanted to do something to help make coin values a little less abstract and to tie this new knowledge into something they are already very familiar with.  What I came up with was ten-frames.  So again, if you think of the CRA sequence of instruction, the ten-frames are the representation of the abstract concept.  Pictured below are images of the cards I made to help support the kiddos as they learned about coin values.  The set, which includes instructions for use, is a freebie at my TPT store. If you download the freebie, I would love for you to rate it favorably and follow my store.  Also, you might want to check out Coin Part Part Whole Workstations.  Scroll down to the bottom of this post for a downloadable coin trading mat with instructions.

Coin Trading Mat

Each child will need a trading mat and a supply of real or play money.  If you're using play money, it should be as realistic as possible.  Call out a coin, for example nickel.  The kids will put a nickel in the nickel column. Then ask them to show you how many pennies it takes to equal the value of the nickel.  You can take this activity in many different directions.  Ask them to put out a quarter, and then ask them to show you the same value using dimes and nickels.  Notice how open-ended that is.  Most kids will put out 2 dimes and 1 nickel.  But some kids might put out 1 dime and 3 nickels.  Think about the great math conversations you could have!