In first grade, learning often becomes most meaningful when students can connect learned skills to real-life situations. And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing as we dive into the world of coins!

To help us remember the value of each coin, we start our mornings with a fun and engaging rhyme during our morning meeting, complete with hand motions to match!
“A penny’s worth 1, a nickel’s worth 5, a dime is worth 10 and a quarter 25!”
Ask your child to demonstrate the hand motions tonight at home! This daily routine that we started way back at the beginning of first grade quickly became a class favorite and is now a solid reminder of the coins’ values.

Throughout the year, we’ve spent a lot of time practicing skip counting by 5s, 10s, and even 25s. Now, students are excited to see how those skills connect to real life! As we count groups of nickels, dimes, and quarters, they are beginning to understand how skip counting helps us quickly determine the value of a collection of coins.

In addition to learning the value of coins, we’ve also focused on recognizing their unique visual features. Students have been studying the size, color, and details on each coin to help them tell them apart. From the copper penny to the larger silver quarter, they are becoming experts at identifying coins and explaining how they know which is which.

Throughout the end of the year, we will use real coins, practice coins, songs and games to become experts at counting coins.