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Apr 7, 2014

Coin Top-It

Last week, I posted about Introducing Coins and Counting Money. I asked for feedback and Teacher Gone Digital gave me a great idea for a quick and easy coin counting game that she calls Coin Toss!

Today, as we did our introductory Envisions lesson on coins, there was a game included, but I quickly decided that Teacher Gone Digital's game would work much better for me to see exactly what my kids know at this point. So, I explained it to them and we had a blast! My students already know how to play addition top-it (from Everyday Math) and we play that often, so I named the game "Coin Top-It."


Students were put into pairs and each pair got a cup of coins. I had put them in boy/girl pairs (just happened to work out perfectly!)  


They dumped the coins out on the floor between them.

 

I told them all of the girls were heads and the boys were tails. So, they started sorting their coins however they landed on the floor.



Then, they each counted "their" coins (heads or tails). I had to remind them to not just COUNT the coins, but to actually count up how much money. One could have more COINS, but it could be worth less money. So, the "top-it" part comes into play when they are motivated to count their coins and check each other to determine who "tops" the other/has more money. Then, they just put all of the coins back in the cup and start again. EASY!


I had to work with one student because of the odd number. After working with him for a bit, I started "trading him out" with other partners, so that I could get some quick one-on-one time with students and counting money. Each student that I taught some tricks to, I told them to go back and teach their partner that trick, since I couldn't get to everyone. They loved it!



I showed them how to sort their pile of coins, then start with the quarters, then count up by tens or fives, etc.


This worked out really well and I'm glad we did this instead of the game that was planned today (straight from the book). I love when last minute decisions work out so well. This will definitely be a game that we play many more times!!! Thank you again to Teacher Gone Digital! Check out her blog!

What a fun Math Monday for us!


 

5 comments:

  1. WoW! What a fun game! I bet my kiddos would love it! I am going to try it! Thanks so much!
    Hilary
    Second Grade is Out of This World!

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    Replies
    1. Hilary,
      So easy! After all of these years....how did I never think of this!? I thought maybe everyone else knew. Thankful to Teacher Gone Digital for commenting and sharing her knowledge and ideas with me on my previous blog post. LOVE collaboration!!! :)

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  2. Great idea! Thanks for explaining it.

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  3. Thanks for the shout out! My motto is work smarter, not harder which is sometimes easier said than done. Games like this let kids practice important skills but don't require a huge amount of prep time on my part. I LOVE collaboration as well!
    Teacher Gone Digital

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  4. I absolutely love this!!! Defiantly going to try this this week!

    Marcy
    Saddle Up For 2nd Grade

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