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Kindergarten - Mathematics

 

Activities

Hey Now, It's Kids Counting Money

Financial and Economic Concepts: Savings and Financial Investments

Teaching the value of money by using a counting chart a great way to teach young students the concept of money. The method includes the aid of a 1-100 counting chart and has proven to be an efficient tool.

Things You Will Need:

• 1-100 counting chart or 1-30 counting chart (Kindergarten)
• Coins (use either real coins or actual size plastic money)
• Pennies, Nickels, Dimes, Quarters, 1 Dollar bill (real or actual size paper money)

1. Teach the value of 1 cent by placing one penny on each number of the chart and practice counting from 1 - 100. Teach your students that 1 penny equals 1 cent and 100 pennies equals 1 dollar. Practice this concept every day for at least one week.
2. Teach the value of 5 cents by teaching your students to count by 5's. On the chart, assist your students in removing every five pennies and replacing the fifth with a nickel.
3. Teach the value of 10 cents by teaching your student to count by 10's. On the chart, your student should remove the nickels and replace every other one with a dime.
4. To teach the concept of quarters, teach students this rhyme: "25, 50 75, a dollar! I've got so much money, it makes me want to holler!" While saying the rhyme, the student should place quarters on the appropriate numbers.

Read more!

1-100 Counting Chart (pdf)

1-30 Counting Chart (pdf)

Music Connection

Learning About Money

Financial and Economic Concepts: Savings and Financial Investments

This lesson's goal is to teach the children how to identify and count coins, learn about saving and the value of earning money. Activities and games are for kindergarten and first grade children.

Circle Time
Prepare for this lesson by mounting and laminating, both front and back of a real penny, nickel, dime and quarter on cardstock. Pass the display around so the children can examine it up close. Initiate a discussion of the color, characteristics and value of the coins. Talk about how people long ago would trade or barter for supplies and food, instead of using actual money. Open a brainstorming discussion on ways each student could earn money to save for something special. Share the history of the piggy bank, since the students will be making their own bank. Years ago, when metal was very expensive, people made their dishes and pottery from an inexpensive clay, called pygg. They would save their money in jars made of pygg. This is where the "piggy bank" comes from. Read the story, The Berenstain Bears' The Trouble With Money, by Stan and Jan Berenstain.

Activity
You will need a variety of containers, such as jars, small boxes or water bottles. Encourage the children to be creative by decorating their banks with stickers and markers. Each child should write their names on their banks, as they will actually be saving their money.

Art
Give each child a copy of the attached coin rubbings page, numerous coins, colored chalk or crayons to create a design of rubbings. They may be creative by adding stems, leaves, bees, and grass to fill the entire page with the relief rubbings. Always praise and display their artwork. Please see attached coin rubbings page.

Math
Working with a number chart 1-100, give each child a "nickel". Place the first nickel on the zero. As each child comes up, he or she will count to 5 and tape the nickel on the number 5. The next student counts five and tapes the nickel on the number 10. As each child places a nickel, ask how much money do we have. Continue until they get to 100. This teaches them that a nickel is worth 5 cents. You may also extend the lesson by doing this with a dime or a quarter.

Suggested books to read:

• Bunny Money by Rosemary Wells
• One Cent, Two Cent, Old Cent, New Cent: All About Money by Bonnie Worth and Aristides Ruiz
• The Berenstain Bears' Trouble With Money by Stan and Jan Berenstain

Coin Rubbings (pdf)

1-100 Counting Chart (pdf)

1-30 Counting Chart (pdf)

Music Connection

How Much/How Many

Financial and Economic Concepts: Saving and Investing – Preparation, understanding coin values.

Students share the book Monster Money, by Grace Maccarone, to learn to recognize coins, know their value, and develop understanding of the concept of money as a medium of exchange.

Complete Lesson Plan (pdf)

Music Connection

How Much is Growing in My Garden?

Financial and Economic Concepts: Saving and Investing – Preparation, understanding coin values.

Using crayons or colored pencils, students will create a coin rubbing of multiple coins, add stems, leaves and other items found in a garden. Have students add the value of the coins and write the total on the line below.

Coin Rubbings (pdf)

Music Connection

Making Spending Decisions

Financial and Economic Concepts: Saving and Investing – Preparation, understanding coin values.

This lesson introduces guided, money-related, decision-making activities for children in preschool and kindergarten.

Very young children are able to analyze and choose between two equally positive alternatives without major negative consequences. As children grow older, they become able to select the best from among a greater number of alternatives.

Making structured spending decisions will assist young children in making choices. Help children recognize that money comes in limited amounts.

Complete Lesson Plan (pdf)

Student Activities (pdf)

Music Connection

Pennies, Nickels and Dimes ….. Oh, My!

Financial and Economic Concepts: Saving and Investing – Preparation, understanding coin values.

Students will play a game in which they determine the number of cents (pennies) that equal a nickel, dime, and quarter.  The students will also identify which set of coins has more, fewer, or the same amount while also counting each collection and writing the corresponding value.

Complete Lesson Plan (pdf)

Materials:

• The “What’s The Value?” worksheet
• The “How Many Make a…?” worksheet
• Colored pencils and/or crayons
• One of each coin:  cent, nickel, dime, and quarter
• Glue
• Scissors
• Value card sets

Preparations:

• Make copies of the “What’s The Value?” worksheet (1 per student)
• Make copies of the “How Many Make a…?” worksheet (1 per student)
• Create value card sets, one per student plus a teacher set using the Value Cards resource page included.

Class Time: 1 30-minute session

Steps:

1. To review the value of a cent, nickel, dime and quarter as a class, play the following game with your students.
   • Give each student a set of value cards.  Tell them to lay out each card in front of them.
   • Hold up one of the four coins for all students to see.  Ask students to select a value card and hold it up to show the number of cents that the coin is worth.
   • Ask the students how many cents this coin is worth.  Solicit group response.
   • Show the students the correct value (selected from the teacher’s set of value cards).
   • Ask students if that coin’s value is greater than, less than, or equal to a different coin that you select.
   • Repeat numerous times, randomly selecting one of the four coins. (As a challenge, display all four coins in a random order.  Have the students place the corresponding value cards in that same order.)
2. Introduce the “How Many Make a …?” worksheet.  Review the directions with the class and ask students to complete this worksheet individually.  When students finish, check worksheets for understanding.
3. Work with students to complete the “What’s the Value?” worksheet.  This can be completed as a class or in small groups with or without supervision as necessary.

Music Connection

The Berenstain Bears Trouble with Money

Financial and Economic Concepts: Savings and Financial Investments

Students read about the cubs' spendthrift ways and how Mama and Papa Bear teach them to earn and save. Students learn about figures of speech, and they create "critter banks" in which they can begin to save.

Materials Required:

• copy of The Berenstain Bears' Trouble with Money
• a one-gallon milk jug for each student or other container from which students can create "critter banks" such as cardboard cans with lids and oatmeal boxes (Prior to the lesson, ask parents to collect and send well-rinsed milk jugs or other containers to school.)
• markers for each student
• paste, pipe cleaners, plastic eyes, ribbon, yarn, construction paper, tissue paper, and other art supplies
• copy of Activity 1 for each student

Complete Lesson Plan

Activity Sheet

Music Connection

Bunny Money

Financial and Economic Concepts: Savings and Financial Investments

It's Grandma's birthday, and Ruby knows exactly what Grandma would love — a beautiful ballerina box. Max also knows what she'd love — a scary pair of ooey-gooey vampire teeth. Ruby has saved up a wallet full of bills, but as one mishap leads to another, money starts running through the bunnies' fingers. . . . Will they have enough left for the perfect present? Wells' adorable story is also a fun and lively introduction to early math.

Instructional Goals:

• Students will know what money is and how to describe it.
• Students will understand that there is a difference between goods and services.
• Students will know how spending occurs.

Complete Lesson Plan

Printables for Bunny Money

Max & Ruby Tic-Tac-Toe Coloring Pages

Max & Ruby's Puzzle Book Coloring Pages

Music Connection

I Can Save

Financial and Economic Concepts: Savings and Financial Investments/Scarcity and choices

Unlike some lessons, children catch on to the idea of saving pretty quickly.  After all, children are natural savers – they save everything from stickers to the latest give-aways at a fast-good restaurants.  With some encouragement, children can apply this same concept to saving their pennies.  One of the easiest ways to get children started on a savings plan is to put money away in a bank.  You can use the bank “wrapper” to make a bank out of a can.  This exercise can help children understand why saving is important: saving now can help you get things you want later. 

To introduce the purpose of a penny bank, show the following video clip.

Michele - Pig Collector

Point out that the girl in the clip saves her money UNTIL THE BANK IS FULL.  Print a wrapper for each student.  Have students complete the directions on the wrapper.

I Can Save Bank Can Wrappers (pdf)

Can Label 1 (pdf)

Can Label 2 (pdf)

Freund Container and Supply - site to purchase Coin Collection Cans.

After students have completed the directions on the wrapper, discuss with them how money is scarce (limited).  Since money is a limited resource, choices must be made on how we spend it.  Have the student circle the item they would choose to buy when their money is saved.

Music Connection