Show me the Money!

With the adoption of the CCSS, we are finding that some skills do not come up as often in our new curriculum.  Many grade levels have no standards for money.  This does not mean that it should be ignored at these levels--in fact, we need to work together to find some ways to integrate money into our games and activities at every level. 

In the CCSS, 2nd grade is the first grade with a specific standard that focuses on money.

2.MD.8:  Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, using $ and ¢ symbols appropriately.

The next time we see mention of money in the CCSS is 4th grade.

4.MD.2:  Use the four operations to solve word problems involving distances, intervals of time, liquid volumes, masses of objects, and money, including problems involving simple fractions or decimals, and problems that require expressing measurements given in a larger unit in terms of a smaller unit. Represent measurement quantities using diagrams such as number line diagrams that feature a measurement scale.

EM4 does present problems with money at different grade levels, but students are expected to have mastery of counting and writing money by the end of 2nd.  We are finding that all students are not achieving mastery by the end of Grade 2.

I know that you do a lot with money already, but I also know that you are busy teaching the standards for your grade level and that money is not as prevalent in EM4 in grades other than 2nd.  Here are some ideas and resources to encourage more work with money in our classrooms which should be able to meld into your grade level's standards.  Please  add more ways that you integrate money into your students' learning in the comments at the bottom of this post.

IDEAS:

K-2:

+Use coins in your calendar work.

+When teaching counting by 5's, have students use nickels so that they make the connection between coin and its value.
+Have students  use coins as objects while learning tally marks or sorting.
+Play games that work on identification and values of coins. 
+Use coins as playing pieces in games.  
+Label your math groups as the pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.
+Make parents aware of the need to expose their children to coins and their values.

3-5:
+Use story problems which involve the use of money.
+Use coins to represent multiplication and division facts.
+Use coins and bills to represent place value.
+Use coins to represent fractions and decimals.

++There are many books that involve money in our math literature resources we received last year as well.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:
These resources from EngageNY are very good.  I think they are good to use for extra practice and some enrichment.  They are leveled by grade, but some of them could be used in more grades than the intended one. (EngageNY has great modules for all CCSS skills--these just have money as their primary focus.)

Grade 1:  Identify and Decompose P, N, and D  Identify and Decompose Q    More identify coins   Count on using pennies    Use P and D to represent numbers to 120  Adding 10s and 1s

Grade 2: Problems with money

Grade 4: Money as decimals    Problems with money

Grade 5:  Patterns using money



GAMES/PUZZLES:

Fiddlesticks: Glue images of coins or play coins onto the ends of tongue depressors.  Label on the end of one of the sticks, write BANKRUPT.  Sticks go into a plastic cup with the coins at the bottom of the cup.  Students take turns pulling a stick and identifying the coin. If the coin is correctly identified, the student keeps the stick.  Play keeps going back and forth...if a child pulls the BANKRUPT stick, that student has to put all of his/her sticks back into the cup.  This game is great practice and it works well in a station, because it never ends.  I recommend about 20-25 sticks per set. If your students are able, you might have them total how much money they have at the end of the station...

Clean Up the Money: Follow this link to get the PDF of this game. Great for money practice and coordinate pairs.

Coin Clue Puzzles:  This SMART document blends logic with money... especially good for Grades 2-4.  Download the SMART doc and save with your other docs.  There are currently 15 puzzles in this document.

Online games:
    Menu of games from Sheppard Software: A variety of online games at different levels.
     The Piggy Bank Game:  This game involves counting coins.
    Bank it!:  This game involves counting coins and simple word problems.
    Cash out!:  This game simulates making change.  Difficulty levels vary.

If you have an Ipad or Ipod for use in your classroom, ConnectSums and Sumstacker are great games and have a mode that involves coins!  They can be played on your computer, but they can only be opened in Internet Explorer.

So...I hope that some of these ideas and resources help your students to build their skills with money.  If you have a great money resource or link to share for any grade level, please consider commenting below.