Making Change

After some "counting coins" warm up this afternoon we learned all about making change. We learned that whenever you make change, the simple strategy to use is subtraction. Just like when we did subtraction strategies in October, the big number goes on top and the smaller on the bottom. The only difference with money, is the decimal point! Practicing making change at home would be helpful too.

Counting Coins

Our mini math unit is moving along quite nicely. Each day we are becoming more and more comfortable with counting coins. Next week we will be doing a lot of problem solving with money. Some skills we should practice this weekend are:

- counting coins up to $10
- adding money amounts
- showing coins different ways (example: 2 quarters is $0.50, how else can I show $0.50)
- next week we will learn how to make change, some of us could even try this if we feel ready

Bake Shop

In math we have begun solving what Mrs. M and I call "bake shop" problems. These problems are often multi step and require us to apply our knowledge and understanding of money to higher level questions. The great thing about these questions is that they are very authentic too. They are problems that will arise in the real world. In fact, just yesterday at Walmart, I had $20 in my wallet and needed three items. I had to calculate whether I had enough money or would need to use my debit card. This was exactly what todays lesson was all about.
I have attached an example of a bake shop problem...that may also be similar to a pop quiz (wink wink)

Bake Shop Problem

Let's Make Comparisons

Our writing workshop for the next few weeks will be on comparative writing. As a group we wrote a short paragraph comparing apples and bananas. Believe it or not we had A LOT of fun doing it too! Who new that such a simple topic could bring out so many belly laughs. I can't really remember exactly what made us chuckle, but I know there was a ton of it going on!
We also took a look at this (Pinterest) pic and had a great discussion of the similarities and differences between the two.

 On a side note... I am sure that if I attempted this recipe mine would look like the bottom picture...sigh!

Counting Money

Today we kicked off a mini math unit in money. Our lesson focus was to review the names of the different coins and how much each are worth. We also practiced counting coins. Knowing how to count coins is a crucial part of this unit. Solving problems will get increasingly difficult if the boys and girls cannot count a handful of change. I encourage us to practice counting coins each night. So kiddies... start searching between the couch cushions!
Here is a link to Mrs. Mihalides' famous video on counting coins the easy way!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y84rcTspXUU