My computer has had a virus for a week and a half and you would swear I am lost in my own home. We have got to get it fixed…even if it costs us. Speaking of costing us…. today we are gonna talk about MONEY, HONEY.
When I taught kindergarten one of the grade level expectations is that children can identify coins and their values. But coins can be difficult to teach unless you teach them ONE coin at a time. Kids always seem to recognize a quarter because they need quarters to buy candy haha, but the other coins all blend together in their minds. So, when I teach coins I will spend a week or more on each individual coin so that the children can really store and organize the information in their minds.
So, go on a penny hunt today and collect as many as you can and put them in a coin purse or a wallet. Then write various numbers with the cent sign on post-its and place them on toys in your child’s room or playroom. First, teach your little one about the penny. The penny is made of copper and it is worth one cent. President Lincoln is on the front and the Lincoln memorial is on the back (you can just say “a building.” In small handwriting you can read the words “one cent.” “When we use pennies we count by ones….let’s count some together.”
Explain to your little one that you put a pretend price on the toys in the playroom so lets go shopping. Tell them that you work in the store so if they want to buy anything they need to count out the right number of coins and pay you in exchange for the toy.
If your little one has already had plenty of practice with the penny, teach him/her about nickels and how to count them by fives, writing all of your value amounts on the post-its in multiples of fives.
