Lesson Plan : Exploring Money

Teacher Name:
 Alesia Barnett
Grade:
 Grade 1
Subject:
 Math

Topic:
 Money Identification
Content:
 Cooperative Learning Structure: Think-Pair-Share Rationale: I wanted students to be able to look at the money by themselves, but also be able to talk to others about it, so think-pair-share was the perfect structure for this lesson. Students can make their own observations and solidify them by talking to a partner before they share with the whole class. Vocabulary: penny, nickel, dime, quarter
Goals:
 TEKS: 1.1 C: identify individual coins by name and value and describe relationships among them; 1.12 A: explain and record observations using objects, words, pictures, numbers, and technology; and 1.12 B: relate informal language to mathematical language and symbols.
Objectives:
 The students will: -identify coins by name -describe attributes of each coin -describe how coins are alike and different -identify the value of each coin
Materials:
 10 plastic cups with a real penny, nickel, dime, and quarter in each; large white butcher paper (made into a chart with a picture of each coin at the top); marker; student checklist
Introduction:
 Teacher will pair students and give each pair a plastic cup with a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter. Teacher should set a few guidelines, including: -teacher MUST receive all coins back at the end of the lesson -students MUST share the coins with their partners -no throwing, spinning, flipping, or playing games with the coins
Development:
 Teacher will allow students to look at coins by themselves for 2-3 minutes, walking around to make sure students are on task. If students have a hard time understanding what to do, ask leading questions such as, "what do you notice about the color of the coin?" or "what can you tell me about the front/back of the coin?"
Practice:
 Teacher now directs students to discuss with their partners what they observed about the coins. Teacher should tell students to be sure and discuss what they observed about individual coins and how the coins are alike and different. Teacher should walk around to make sure students are on task and understand what they are discussing, posing leading questions as needed.
Accommodations:
 For ESL students: Pair ESL students with students that act as peer tutors.
Checking For Understanding:
 Call out the name of a coin and have one of the partners place that coin in the empty plastic cup. Call out the name of another coin and have the other partner place it in the empty cup. Rotate between the students until each student has identified all coins. Teacher will walk around with a student check-off sheet to quickly check for student understanding.
Closure:
 Teacher will have entire class name each coin and amount as the coin is pointed to on the chart. Teacher will tell students that the chart will be kept up in the classroom during the money unit and students should use the chart as a tool if they have trouble remembering any of the coins.
Evaluation:
 Checking for understanding activity will be used as an assessment, since this is the beginning of a unit.
Teacher Reflections:
 I thought the lesson went very well. I tried to foresee any behavior problems using real money would cause and stop them before they started by setting guidelines. This seemed to really work. All students used the money in an appropriate way (and I received all of it back). Pairing the ESL students with a peer tutor turned out to be a great plan. The peer tutors love to help out in the classroom, so they love being paired with the ESL students and the ESL students love the peer tutors because the peer tutors can explain things to them in a way that a teacher never could. There are 4 ESL students in our class and having the peer tutors kept me from having to be in 4 places at once. The students were having a lot of trouble with the nickel and the dime - they kept getting them confused, but the chart seemed to really help throughout the money unit. Money is a very abstract concept, if you think about it. Trying to remember what the coins look like, their name, and their amount. I wanted to provide a concrete, hands-on activity for the students, to try and make it a little more "real life" and the students really responded to this. Money was still abstract to them, but having the chart up in the classroom that they could look at really made a difference. In fact, one of the other first grade teachers came in our classroom, saw the chart, and asked if she could copy it for her class, which made me feel like this lesson was a really good idea.

Create New Lesson Plan Lesson Plan Center