Lesson Plan

Trading Pennies and Nickels

Main Subject Area: Mathematics

Duration of Lesson:  45 minutes

Keywords:

• Addition
• Coin Combinations
• Coins
• Money
• Nickel
• Penny
• Value

Brief Description:

Students will correctly identify the each coin's value, and will add pennies and nickels to arrive at a designated amount.

National Standard(s):

• Number and Operations
• Problem Solving
• Communication

Additional Subject Area Standard(s):

Objectives:

The students will correctly identify the coins being discussed and each coin's value.

The students will add pennies and nickels to arrive at the designated total marked on their envelope.

Materials (online):

Materials (offline):

For each student:

1 Mint or cough drop tin 10 pennies, 5 nickels (real) for each tin

For whole class instruction-

large paper coins

large paper coin holder

25 envelopes with change amounts written on them

Coins Used in Lesson:

Circulating U.S. pennies and nickels

Grade Level(s):   K-2  

Procedures (online):

Procedures (offline):

1. Place a pile of mixed coins (pennies and nickels) where all the students can see them. Ask the students several questions to initiate conversation.

- What is this? (a pile of coins)

- How much money do I have here?

- How can I find out how much money is in the pile?

- Do I count the coins, or is there something else I need to know about the coins to find out how much money I have? (You need to know the values of each coin and add the values together)

2. Review the 2 coins you will be working with (penny and nickel). How much are they each worth? Which is worth more money?

3. Review the rules of using coin boxes with your students.

4. Give each student a coin box. Have them add these combinations, using the coins in their workspace.

- How much money do I have if I have one penny and find three more?

- How much money will I own if I have a nickel and three pennies?

Continue with this line of questioning a few more times.

5. Assign students to work in pairs. Distribute an envelope to each student.

6. Using their pennies and nickel, the students will place the specific amount of money (as written on the front of each envelope) inside each envelope.

7. After placing the coins in the envelope, the students trade envelopes with their partner. Students can check their partner's work to make sure that it is correct.

8. After each person has checked their partner's change, it is their turn to come up with the correct amount on their new envelope by using a different coin combination than their partner used.

9. The partners trade envelopes again and check the work of their partner.

10. Once each partner has completed the activity, the students trade envelopes with another group. Each group repeats the activity using their 2 new envelopes.

11. Have all the students return their coins to the appropriate boxes and regroup the class.

12. Invite students to come to the front of the room to illustrate two ways of producing the same value (using only the large paper pennies and nickels)

13. Closure - How did it feel to figure out these amounts? Was it easy or hard? What coins did you tend to exchange when you had to think of another way to express the same amount using only these coins?

Assessment / Evaluation:

Were the students able to work in pairs? Did they follow directions? Were they able to develop different combinations of coins for the same amount? Did they have difficulty with this task? Did they see that 5 pennies are worth 1 nickel?

Differentiated Learning Options: