Teaching Money

Teaching money in first grade can be a little difficult. Asking students to remember the names of the coins; the values; and then adding numbers that they aren't always ready to begin adding, can be difficult for students. There are a couple of things that I have done for the past couple of years that have helped to make teaching money a lot easier.

One thing is that early on in the year I put the various coins on students' desks. I know other teachers make one table group one coin, but I actually like having different coins at each table group. I find that this gives students more exposure to all of the coins, especially as I rotate the coins after a couple of weeks (or when I can find the time).

Another thing I do is use a program I call Money Bags. This program is available on my TPT Store, but basically, it is a program that allows students to get daily hands-on practice counting money with parent support. 

In this program, students are given a bag of money each night. They then count it and return the bag the next day. This program has made a huge impact on my teaching about money. Students are way more familiar with the coins and have some understanding of the process. It is way less difficult for them and way less difficult for me.

You can find this resource at my TPT Store if you are interested. The program does take some management, but it is super fun and rewarding.

                        

Money Bags

There are definitely ways to make learning money fun. I love having my students play the Roll Five Money Game. It is so heart warming to see my student smile and cheer as they learn. 

This game is super easy to prep and play. The most difficult part for me is getting together a bunch of coins. Fortunately, I have a huge coin jar at home that I keep full, especially for this time of the year. 

Roll Five Money Game

As I begin teaching money in the classroom, I prefer the hands-on approach allowing students to count coins, such as using my Money Bags resource, but I also realize that practice pages are a good way to assess students. Money Worksheets is one resource that I use to have students produce written work in order to monitor their learning.

Money Worksheets

However you teach money, I hope that you realize that you can make it a pleasant experience for both yourself and your students. Don't dread it! Have fun with it!

I have several other money resources in my TPT Store. Please feel free to visit and check them out. 

Mrs. Navarre's TPT Store