Money Counts

$Money Counts book cover$

Grade 2
4 skill lessons · 4 math-through-reading

Math

Skill lessons

The mathematics the book carries, taught directly. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1Enough, Too Much, and What Comes Back
2Every Way to Make Twenty-Five Cents
3What Each Coin Is Worth, and Two Roads to Ten Cents
4Five, Ten, Fifteen, Twenty, Twenty-Five

Math + reading

Math through the reading

The same book, entered through a sentence it prints. Change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it.

5One Word, Two Prices
6The Question the Book Doesn't Answer
7Was the Quarter the Wrong Coin?
8Fifty Cents Short, Said Both Ways

Reading

Reading and language lessons

The same book read as a text. What a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how the writing is put together - no mathematics.

9Money Means Coins and Bills
10Which Questions Does the Book Answer?
11Change Is Not Always a Change
12Nobody Says Who Is Talking

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Skill lessons

4 lessons on the mathematics the book carries. Printable workbook pages and teacher keys are not available for this book yet.

1. Enough, Too Much, and What Comes Back Application · Deciding whether an amount covers a price, and finding the change

The book runs the same purchase twice. A quarter buys ten cents of candy and fifteen cents comes back; a dollar buys a seventy-five cent toy and a quarter comes back. Students set the money they hold against the price on the tag, decide before paying whether it is enough, then build the change with coins and count it. The application is that the same handful can be too much at one price and not enough at another, so the price has to be read before the coins are counted.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Price the candy and count what you hold (5 min)
Read the price line on the candy tag aloud and set out two candies. Build their cost in coins: five cents and five cents, counted to ten. Then take the quarter from the money envelope and count it. Say the price and say what you hold, both in cents, before you decide anything.
Word preview: price
How much for two candies?
Candies are five cents each.
I have a quarter.
2. Decide, then take the change (6 min)
Before any coin moves, each partner says whether the quarter is enough, too much, or not enough, and says the two numbers that settle it. Then pay ten cents for the candy and take the rest back. Count what came back — a dime and a nickel — and say the amount. Write the subtraction the book prints in cents.
Word preview: change, enough
That's too much.
You get change.
25 cents minus 10 cents equals 15 cents.
I got my candy and a dime and nickel back in change.
3. Try the quarter against the toy price (4 min)
Move to the toy tag and read its price aloud. Hold up the same quarter and say what it is worth. Now say whether it is enough for the toy and say the two numbers that settle it. The book says what happens next; read that line aloud with your partner.
Word preview: price, enough
I'll buy a toy.
One toy, 75 cents each.
That is 25 cents.
You need more money.
4. Pay a dollar and build the change (5 min)
Put four quarters on the desk and count them to one hundred cents. Pay seventy-five cents by sliding three quarters across, and count what stays behind. Say the amount in cents and name the coin. Each pair writes the book's dollar subtraction and reads it aloud with a finger on the coin that is left.
Word preview: change
This is more than enough.
I will get change.
$1 minus 75 cents equals 1 quarter in change.
1 toy is 75 cents.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Decide, then take the change (5 min)
Read the candy price and count the quarter. Before any coin moves, say whether the quarter is enough, too much, or not enough, and say the two numbers that settle it. Pay ten cents, count the dime and nickel that come back, and say the amount.
Word preview: change, enough
That's too much.
25 cents minus 10 cents equals 15 cents.
2. Pay a dollar and build the change (4 min)
Count four quarters to one hundred cents, slide three across for the toy, and count what stays behind. Say the amount and name the coin.
Word preview: change
$1 minus 75 cents equals 1 quarter in change.

Three levels

Support: Run the candy purchase only, and keep the paying visible: lay the quarter down, lay the ten cents of candy cost beside it in two nickels, and take back the coins that are left over rather than subtracting. The decision sentence is the same one — enough, too much, or not enough — and the coins on the desk are the reason.
At Grade: Run both purchases, deciding aloud before paying each time and counting the change in coins, and write both of the book's subtractions in cents.
Extension: The quarter is too much for the candy and not enough for the toy, and it never changed. Say what did change, using both prices and the quarter's worth in your answer. Then find a price that the quarter would cover exactly, and say how you know.

English learners

Comparing two amounts is arithmetic and transfers cleanly; the trouble here is that English says the verdict three different ways and only one of them contains a number. Too much, more than enough and you need more money all describe the gap between a price and a handful, and none of them says which is larger. Post the three phrases beside the two price tags and rehearse the frame that carries the numbers: I have ___ cents and the price is ___ cents, so it is ___. Students may reason about the gap in their strongest language while the coins are still on the desk, then say the frame in English with the tag in one hand.

Materials

Plastic coin sets per pair: twelve pennies, six nickels, four dimes, four quarters
Price tag cards: CANDY 5 CENTS EACH and TOY 75 CENTS
Money envelopes, one per pair, holding one quarter, two dimes, a nickel and four quarters
Pencils
Word cards: price, change, enough

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

2. Every Way to Make Twenty-Five Cents Application · Composing one amount from several coin combinations, to twenty-five cents and one dollar

The book prints two different coin piles that both come to twenty-five cents, then asks the same question again at one dollar and answers it three ways. Students build the book's two twenty-five-cent piles, find the ones it left out, and sort every pile they find by how many coins it uses. The application is that one amount has many coin faces: the target is fixed and the route is not, and a pile is checked by counting its worth rather than by counting its coins.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Build the book's two twenty-five-cent piles (6 min)
Read each of the book's two lines aloud and build exactly what it says on the sorting chart. Count each pile by its coins: two dimes is ten, twenty, then five pennies takes you twenty-one to twenty-five; two dimes is ten, twenty, then a nickel takes you to twenty-five. Write 25 in the cents box beside each pile.
Word preview: equals
2 dimes plus 5 pennies equals 25 cents.
2 dimes plus 1 nickel equals 25 cents.
2. Find the piles the book left out (6 min)
The book never shows the shortest pile or the longest one. Build twenty-five cents using one coin only, then build it using nothing but nickels, counting five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five. Count each new pile to check it lands on twenty-five and not past it. Write the cents box for each.
Word preview: quarter
1 ¼ equals 25 cents.
5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents equals 25 cents.
3. Sort the piles by how many coins they use (4 min)
Put each pile you built into the column that fits how many coins it holds. Say aloud how many coins are in each and how many cents each is worth. Partners check that every cents box on the chart says the same number.
Word preview: equals
How much money do you have?
4. Read the dollar question and check one answer (4 min)
Read the book's dollar question and its three answers aloud. Pick the one you can build with the coins on your desk and build it, counting twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, one hundred. Say why the pile is a dollar even though no dollar is on the desk.
Word preview: dollar
What coins can be used to make $1?
10 dimes, or 4 quarters, or 2 half dollars?

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Build the book's two twenty-five-cent piles (5 min)
Read each of the book's two lines aloud and build exactly what it says. Count each pile — ten, twenty, then on to twenty-five — and write 25 in the cents box beside it.
Word preview: equals
2 dimes plus 5 pennies equals 25 cents.
2 dimes plus 1 nickel equals 25 cents.
2. Find the piles the book left out (4 min)
Build twenty-five cents with one coin only, then with nothing but nickels, counting five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five. Check each pile lands on twenty-five.
Word preview: quarter
5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents equals 25 cents.

Three levels

Support: Work at ten cents rather than twenty-five. Build the book's four ten-cent piles — ten pennies, five pennies with a nickel, two nickels, one dime — and sort those four by how many coins each uses. The sorting question is the same one; only the counting is shorter.
At Grade: Build the book's two twenty-five-cent piles and the two it omits, sort all four by coin count, and check every cents box agrees before the dollar question.
Extension: Two dimes and a nickel is twenty-five cents and so is a quarter, but the book prints no pile using both a dime and a quarter. Build twenty-five cents in every way you can find using quarters, dimes and nickels only, then say how you know your list has nothing missing — organise the cases by how many dimes each one uses.

English learners

The arithmetic here is language-light: counting on and checking a target work the same in every language, and a pile of coins is its own explanation. The English that carries load is the joining word. This book writes plus and equals in words rather than symbols, and a child who reads equals as a signal to stop rather than as a claim about worth will build the piles correctly and still not see why they match. Rehearse one frame against two finished piles: this pile is ___ cents and this pile is ___ cents, so they are equal. Students may organise and count in their strongest language, then say the frame in English with a hand on each pile.

Materials

Plastic coin sets per pair: twelve pennies, six nickels, four dimes, four quarters
Sorting chart: a three-column sheet headed few coins, more coins, most coins, with a cents box beside each row
Pencils
Word cards: quarter, dollar, equals

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

3. What Each Coin Is Worth, and Two Roads to Ten Cents Concept · Coin value: reading each coin's worth in cents and building an amount two ways

The book prints a worth line for every coin it names, then immediately asks the reader to make five cents and ten cents from coins that are not all alike. Students lay each coin on a strip of pennies as long as its worth, so a nickel sits over five pennies and a dime over ten, and then build ten cents by both routes the book prints: five pennies with a nickel, and two nickels. The concept is worth rather than count: two nickels and ten pennies are different numbers of coins and the same amount of money, and the penny strips are what show it.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Lay each coin on its penny strip (6 min)
Each pair takes a penny, a nickel and a dime and reads the book's worth line for each one aloud. Count out that many pennies in a row under the coin: one under the penny, five under the nickel, ten under the dime. Touch each penny as you count it, and stop where the coin's line says to stop.
Word preview: penny, nickel, dime
1 penny equals 1 cent.
1 nickel equals 5 cents.
1 dime equals 10 cents.
2. Make five cents both ways (4 min)
Read the book's question aloud, then build both answers side by side: five pennies in one row, one nickel in the other. Count the pennies by ones to five. Say what the nickel is worth without counting anything, because its strip already showed you. Say which row has more coins and which row has more money.
Word preview: worth
What coins can be used to make five cents?
Five pennies or one nickel?
3. Build ten cents the book's first way (5 min)
Put one nickel down first and five pennies beside it. Say five for the nickel, then count on across the pennies: six, seven, eight, nine, ten. Lay the six coins along a penny strip to check that they reach ten squares and no further. Say the amount in cents.
Word preview: nickel
Now, can you make ten cents?
5 pennies plus 1 nickel equals 10 cents.
4. Build ten cents the other way and compare the piles (5 min)
Clear the strip and put down two nickels, counting five and then ten. Set that pile beside the six-coin pile you just made. Each partner says one sentence naming how many coins are in each pile and how many cents each pile is worth, then says whether the two piles are worth the same.
Word preview: worth, dime
10 pennies or 5 pennies and 1 nickel or 2 nickels or 1 dime.
How much money do you have?

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Lay each coin on its penny strip (5 min)
Each pair reads the book's worth line for the penny, the nickel and the dime, and lays that many pennies in a row under each coin — one, five, ten. Touch each penny as you count it.
Word preview: penny, nickel, dime
1 nickel equals 5 cents.
1 dime equals 10 cents.
2. Build ten cents the other way and compare the piles (4 min)
Build two nickels and then build five pennies with one nickel. Set the piles side by side and say how many coins are in each and how many cents each is worth.
Word preview: worth
5 pennies plus 1 nickel equals 10 cents.

Three levels

Support: Stay with the penny and the nickel only. Lay the five-penny row under the nickel, count it aloud twice, and then build five cents both ways. Ten cents comes later, once the child can say five cents while pointing at one coin.
At Grade: Run all three coins onto their penny strips, then build ten cents by both of the book's routes and say which pile has more coins and which pile has more money.
Extension: The book prints four routes to ten cents. Build the two the lesson skipped — ten pennies, and one dime — and put all four piles in a row ordered by how many coins each uses. Then say what stays the same across the whole row and what changes.

English learners

Coin worth transfers: a child who has handled money in any currency already knows that a small disc can be worth more than a big one, and the penny strips carry that idea without any English at all. English names the coins rather than numbering them — a nickel does not say five anywhere on it, and the word gives no clue. Keep the four coin cards face up beside the strips all lesson and rehearse one frame against them: a ___ is worth ___ cents. Students may count and compare in their strongest language while building, then say the frame in English pointing at the coin and its strip.

Materials

Plastic coin sets per pair: twelve pennies, six nickels, four dimes, four quarters
Penny strips: paper strips ruled into ten one-inch squares, three per pair
Word cards: penny, nickel, dime, worth

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

4. Five, Ten, Fifteen, Twenty, Twenty-Five Fluency · Counting on by fives to twenty-five and reading the count as a total

The book's last page buys five candies at five cents each and prints the whole count as one line of five terms. Students build that line with nickels and with candy cards, running the count by fives to twenty-five until the sequence is quick and the last number said is the amount. The fluency is the five sequence itself and the habit of stopping the count at the target rather than running past it, which the earlier twenty-five cent piles gave them a reason to want.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the five-term line and lay it out (5 min)
Read the book's long addition line aloud, touching one candy card for each five cents you say. Lay the five candy cards in a row and put one nickel on each. Say how many cards and how many nickels are in the row.
Word preview: each, cents
Candy, five cents each.
5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents equals 25 cents.
2. Run the count by fives (5 min)
Slide the nickels one at a time into the count strip, saying five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, one number word per nickel. Run it three times, faster each time, and stop dead on twenty-five. The last number you say is what the row is worth.
Word preview: cents
5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents equals 25 cents.
3. Trade the row for one coin (5 min)
Read the book's last line aloud. Slide the five nickels off the strip and put one quarter in their place. Say what the row was worth and what the quarter is worth. Say whether the amount changed when the coins did.
Word preview: each
5 candy is equals 1 quarter.
What can I buy with my change?
One quarter.
4. Count a row your partner builds (5 min)
Take turns. One partner lays down any number of nickels up to five; the other counts them by fives, touching one coin per number word, and says the amount in cents. Swap after each row. Neither partner counts by ones.
Word preview: cents
1 nickel equals 5 cents.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Run the count by fives (5 min)
Slide five nickels one at a time into the count strip, saying five, ten, fifteen, twenty, twenty-five, one number word per nickel. Run it three times and stop dead on twenty-five.
Word preview: cents
5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents plus 5 cents equals 25 cents.
2. Count a row your partner builds (4 min)
Take turns. One partner lays down any number of nickels up to five; the other counts them by fives, touching one coin per number word, and says the amount. Neither partner counts by ones.
Word preview: cents
1 nickel equals 5 cents.

Three levels

Support: Stop the count at fifteen. Three nickels and three candy cards, counted five, ten, fifteen, with a finger landing on each coin, run until the three number words come without a pause. Add a fourth nickel only once the child reaches fifteen without restarting at five.
At Grade: Run the full five-term count to twenty-five, trade the row for a quarter, and count partner-built rows of up to five nickels without dropping to ones.
Extension: Keep counting past the book's line. Lay out nickels to fifty and run the count, then say what every number you land on has in common and which number word comes right before you would need a second quarter.

English learners

The five sequence is a chant and chants transfer: many children already own five, ten, fifteen in another language, and the counting hand does the same work in both. The word each is the new one: it sits between the price and the number of items and decides that five cents gets said five times rather than once. Say five cents each while touching every card in turn, so the word is heard as a repetition and not as a total. Students may run the count in their strongest language first and then in English on the same row of nickels, which keeps the arithmetic steady while only the number words change.

Materials

Plastic coin sets per pair: twelve pennies, six nickels, four dimes, four quarters
Candy cards: five paper squares per pair
Five-frame count strips: a strip of five boxes, one per pair
Word cards: each, cents

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Math through the reading

The mathematics is reached through a sentence the book prints: change one word in the reading and the numbers change with it. These carry their own standards, matched against these lessons rather than inherited from the skill ones.

5. One Word, Two Prices Integrated · Students buy two candies twice, once from the book's sentence and once from the same sentence with one word removed, and count the two different bills the two readings produce.

Students buy two candies twice, once from the book's sentence and once from the same sentence with one word removed, and count the two different bills the two readings produce.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Read the price and mark the word that acts (4 min)
Read the book's price sentence aloud with your partner and put a finger on the one word that tells you how many times to charge five cents. Say what the sentence would ask you to pay if that word were not there, before any coin moves.
2. Build both bills (6 min)
In the top lane build what the book's sentence says: one nickel for each candy, counted five and then ten. In the bottom lane build the sentence without the word: one nickel for the pair, counted to five. Set a cents card on each lane.
3. Pay with the quarter and take both changes (5 min)
Lay a quarter beside each lane and take back what is left after paying that lane's bill. Count each change pile in coins and card it. Say which lane gave more change back and by how much.
4. Say and write the sentence for each lane (5 min)
Each child says one sentence per lane naming the word, the number of candies and the cents owed, then writes both. Partners check that the cents in each sentence match the cents card on that lane before the sheets are traded.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Read the price and mark the word that acts (4 min)
Read the book's price sentence aloud with your partner and put a finger on the one word that tells you how many times to charge five cents. Say what the sentence would ask you to pay if that word were not there, before any coin moves.
2. Build both bills (6 min)
In the top lane build what the book's sentence says: one nickel for each candy, counted five and then ten. In the bottom lane build the sentence without the word: one nickel for the pair, counted to five. Set a cents card on each lane.

Three levels

Support: Keep both lanes but drop the change. Build the two bills only, five cents and ten cents, and say each one aloud with the candies still visible under the coins. The reading decision is untouched; only the second computation is set aside until the two bills are secure.
At grade: Build both bills, pay both with a quarter, count both change piles, and write one sentence per lane with its cents in it.
Extension: The book prints two answers to the two-candy question — “2 candies equals 2 nickels” and “2 candies equals 1 dime” — and both are ten cents. Say which lane those two lines belong to and how you know, then find a price sentence about the toy where removing the same word would change nothing, and say why the toy is different.

English learners

Unit pricing is a shopping idea long before it is an English one, and a child who has bought sweets in any language already expects the price to attach to the sweet. Where English puts the word is the difficulty: each trails the price rather than leading it, so it arrives after the number has already been heard and is easy to lose. Say the sentence twice with a candy card touched on each five cents, so the repetition is heard rather than parsed. Rehearse one frame against the mat: five cents ___ candy, so ___ candies cost ___ cents. Students may work out both bills in their strongest language while the coins are down, then say the frame in English with a hand on the lane it describes.

Materials

Plastic coins: four nickels, two dimes and two quarters per pair
Two-lane buying mat, one lane marked with the book's sentence and one with the sentence missing its word
Paper candy cards, two per pair
Blank cents cards and a pencil
The book's price sentence written large, with the word to be removed on a separate slip that can be lifted off

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

6. The Question the Book Doesn't Answer Integrated · Students find the two sentences that decide how many nickels make a dollar, then build the answer in stacks of nickels and say which lines gave it to them.

Students find the two sentences that decide how many nickels make a dollar, then build the answer in stacks of nickels and say which lines gave it to them.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Hunt for the answer and find it missing (4 min)
Read the book's nickel question aloud, then look at the line just above it, where the same question about coins is answered three ways. Say which coins that line names and which coin it leaves out. Report to your partner that the number is not on the page.
2. Pick the strips that decide it (4 min)
Six sentence strips from the book are face up on the desk. Choose only the ones you actually need to settle the nickel question and push the rest away. Read your chosen strips aloud in the order you would use them, and say out loud why you pushed away the dime strip.
3. Build the dollar in nickels (8 min)
Using the strips you kept, lay nickels along the hundred-cent track in stacks of four, counting five, ten, fifteen, twenty for each stack and then carrying on across the track. Stop the moment you reach one hundred cents. Count how many nickels are on the track and write that number on the tally card.
4. Answer the book with its own lines (4 min)
Each child writes one sentence answering the book's question with both numbers in it — how many nickels and how many cents — and reads it to a partner while pointing at the two strips that funded it. Partners check the strips before they check the number.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Hunt for the answer and find it missing (4 min)
Read the book's nickel question aloud, then look at the line just above it, where the same question about coins is answered three ways. Say which coins that line names and which coin it leaves out. Report to your partner that the number is not on the page.
2. Build the dollar in nickels (8 min)
Using the strips you kept, lay nickels along the hundred-cent track in stacks of four, counting five, ten, fifteen, twenty for each stack and then carrying on across the track. Stop the moment you reach one hundred cents. Count how many nickels are on the track and write that number on the tally card.

Three levels

Support: Run the same hunt and the same two strips, but stop the track at fifty cents and answer a smaller question: how many nickels make half a dollar. The strips do not change and neither does the reasoning; the count is five stacks shorter and the child still says the number with both lines in front of them.
At grade: Choose the two strips from six, build the full dollar in nickel stacks counting by fives, and write the answer sentence carrying both the coin count and the cents.
Extension: The book asks a second question it never answers: “How many pennies equal $1?”. Say what that answer must be without laying out a hundred pennies, using the same two-line move, then say which of the two questions the book could have answered from its own dollar line and which it could not.

English learners

Counting by fives is a rhythm that carries across languages, and the nickel stacks make the answer physical rather than verbal. What needs care is the shape of the book's question. English asks how many nickels equal a dollar with the small coin first and the large one last, which is the reverse of the order the counting runs in, and children who translate it word by word often start at the dollar and get stuck. Turn the question around aloud before building: a dollar is ___ cents, and a nickel is ___ cents. Rehearse the answer frame against the finished track: it takes ___ nickels to make ___ cents. Students may count and check the stacks in their strongest language, then say the frame in English with a hand on the track.

Materials

Plastic nickels, twenty-four per pair
Hundred-cent track: a paper strip ruled into five twenty-cent sections
Six sentence strips carrying the book's own lines, four of which do not bear on the question
Tally cards and a pencil
The book's unanswered nickel question written large and left on the board for the whole lesson

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

7. Was the Quarter the Wrong Coin? Integrated · Students build the candy purchase with a quarter and with a dime, then tell the book's shopper which coin to hand over next time and back it with the amounts.

Students build the candy purchase with a quarter and with a dime, then tell the book's shopper which coin to hand over next time and back it with the amounts.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Pay the same candy two ways (6 min)
Set two candies and their price tag on the counter mat and build the ten cents they cost. Pay once with a quarter and count the change into the tray — a dime and a nickel, fifteen cents. Clear it, pay again with a dime, and see the tray stay empty. Say both amounts aloud before moving on.
2. Take the quarter to the toy counter (4 min)
Move the same quarter to the toy tag and read its price. Say the quarter's worth and the toy's price, then say which is larger and by how much you can tell without subtracting. Report whether the book's words about this quarter changed between the two counters.
3. Tell the shopper which coin to bring (6 min)
Your partner holds the shopper card. Tell them which coin to hand over for two candies next time and why, and put at least two amounts from the counter into your reason. The shopper may ask one question back. Then swap cards and hear the other side.
4. Say what would change your mind (4 min)
Leave the coin you are recommending on the counter mat. Say one thing that would make you change to the other coin, naming the amount that would do it. Partners check that neither answer is simply the book's three words said again.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Pay the same candy two ways (6 min)
Set two candies and their price tag on the counter mat and build the ten cents they cost. Pay once with a quarter and count the change into the tray — a dime and a nickel, fifteen cents. Clear it, pay again with a dime, and see the tray stay empty. Say both amounts aloud before moving on.
2. Tell the shopper which coin to bring (6 min)
Your partner holds the shopper card. Tell them which coin to hand over for two candies next time and why, and put at least two amounts from the counter into your reason. The shopper may ask one question back. Then swap cards and hear the other side.

Three levels

Support: Keep both purchases in front of the child and give the reason its shape: I would bring the ___ because two candies cost ___ cents and a ___ is worth ___ cents. The coins stay on the mat while the sentence is said, so every blank can be filled by pointing rather than remembered. The arithmetic is untouched.
At grade: Pay both ways, test the quarter at the toy counter, advise the shopper with two amounts in the reason, and name what would change your mind.
Extension: Take the side you did not argue and make the strongest case you can for it, using amounts the first side did not use. Then say whether the shopper should carry the quarter at all on a trip to both counters, and what the book's two verdicts about that one coin together tell you.

English learners

The comparison itself is arithmetic and travels; what is hard is that the book's verdict is idiomatic. Too much sounds like a quantity and is actually a judgement, and English uses more than enough and you need more money for the two sides of the same comparison without either phrase naming which amount is bigger. Put the three phrases on cards beside the two price tags so they can be pointed at rather than produced. Rehearse the advice frame with the coins down: bring the ___, because two candies cost ___ cents. Students may argue the case through in their strongest language with a partner who shares it, then give the advice in English to the shopper card with a hand on the coin they chose.

Materials

Plastic coins: four quarters, four dimes, four nickels per pair
Counter mat with a change tray marked on it
Price tag cards: CANDY 5 CENTS EACH and TOY 75 CENTS
Paper candy cards, two per pair
A shopper card, one per pair, for the partner being advised
The book's three verdict phrases on separate cards: that's too much, you need more money, this is more than enough

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

8. Fifty Cents Short, Said Both Ways Integrated · Students build the toy's price and the shopper's quarter as two rows on one track, measure the gap in coins, and say the same fact once with more and once with fewer.

Students build the toy's price and the shopper's quarter as two rows on one track, measure the gap in coins, and say the same fact once with more and once with fewer.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Build both rows on one track (6 min)
Read the toy's price and the shopper's amount aloud. Build seventy-five cents in quarters along the top of the track, counting twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, and build the shopper's twenty-five cents along the bottom, both starting from the same end. Say where each row stops.
2. Fill the gap and count it (4 min)
Lay coins into the gap between the shopper's finish point and the toy's until the bottom row reaches the top row's end. Count only the coins you added and say that amount in cents. Do not clear the rows.
3. Say it both ways (6 min)
With both rows still down, each child says one sentence starting with the toy and one starting with the shopper, putting the fifty cents in each. Your partner points at the row your sentence starts with. Say both sentences again with the rows swapped end to end and check nothing about the money changed.
4. Write the pair and check them against the coins (4 min)
Write both sentences with all three numbers in them. Trade sheets and check your partner's pair against the track: the sentence starting with the smaller row must not say more. Fix any sentence the coins do not support.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Build both rows on one track (6 min)
Read the toy's price and the shopper's amount aloud. Build seventy-five cents in quarters along the top of the track, counting twenty-five, fifty, seventy-five, and build the shopper's twenty-five cents along the bottom, both starting from the same end. Say where each row stops.
2. Say it both ways (6 min)
With both rows still down, each child says one sentence starting with the toy and one starting with the shopper, putting the fifty cents in each. Your partner points at the row your sentence starts with. Say both sentences again with the rows swapped end to end and check nothing about the money changed.

Three levels

Support: Work the candy pair instead: ten cents of candy against the twenty-five-cent quarter, a gap of fifteen that fits on the short track. Both rows and the gap stay on the desk while both sentences are said, and the numbers are small enough to count by fives if the quarter's worth slips.
At grade: Build the seventy-five and twenty-five rows, count the fifty-cent gap in coins, and produce both sentences aloud and in writing with all three numbers in each pair.
Extension: The book sets the same quarter against a ten-cent candy and calls it too much. Build that pair and write both of its sentences, then say what happened to the comparison words when only the price changed, and whether a coin can be more and fewer at the same time.

English learners

This is the lesson where the English asks the most, and it is not about vocabulary. Many languages mark comparison with a particle or a case ending rather than by rebuilding the sentence, so the English pair — more than and fewer than, with the two amounts trading places — asks for a syntactic move some children have never had to make, while their arithmetic is entirely secure. Keep both rows on the track while both sentences are said, so the child can see that one arrangement is being described twice. Rehearse the pair as a matched set: the toy costs ___ cents more than the quarter, the quarter is ___ cents fewer than the toy. Students may state the relation in their strongest language first, then produce both English sentences pointing at the row each one starts from.

Materials

Plastic coins: six quarters, four dimes, four nickels per pair
Cents track: a paper strip ruled into three twenty-five-cent sections, one per pair
Price tag cards: TOY 75 CENTS and CANDY 5 CENTS EACH
Sentence sheets and a pencil
The book's vague comparison written large: you need more money, with a blank left where a number could go

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

Reading and language lessons

4 lessons on the reading and language the book carries - what a word means in its sentence, how a character is shown, how a text is built. No mathematics: these are matched against the English language arts curricula, which are a different and smaller set than the mathematics ones.

9. Money Means Coins and Bills Text structure · Recognising a sentence written to define a word

An informational book often opens by telling you what its main word means, and this one does it in a single sentence before it does anything else. Students find the defining sentence, say how it differs from the sentences around it, and then write no numbers but say a definition of their own for a word they already know. The work is recognising and producing a definition, which is language work throughout.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Find the sentence that defines (6 min)
The teacher reads the passage below aloud. One of these three sentences tells you what a word means. The other two tell you what people do. Point to the defining sentence and say aloud which word it defines.
Word preview: means
Money means coins and bills. People earn money by working. You buy things with money.
2. Sort defining from telling (5 min)
Read the passage below again with a partner. Take the three sentences one at a time and say defining or telling for each. Say aloud how you decided, using the word means in your reason.
Word preview: define
Money means coins and bills. People earn money by working. You buy things with money.
3. Meet a naming sentence (5 min)
Read the passage below with the teacher. This one does something else again: it says that a group of things have names, and then it names them. Say aloud whether this passage defines a word or lists names, and say what made you sure.
Word preview: name
Each kind of money has a name. Penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar.
4. Say a definition of your own (4 min)
Read the passage below once more to hear how a definition sounds. Then choose a word everybody in the room knows, such as school or lunch, and say a defining sentence about it to a partner in the same shape the book uses.
Word preview: own
Money means coins and bills. People earn money by working. You buy things with money.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Find the sentence that defines (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below. Point to the sentence that tells you what a word means, and say which word it defines.
Word preview: means
Money means coins and bills. People earn money by working. You buy things with money.
2. Say a definition of your own (4 min)
Read the passage below again to hear how a definition sounds. Then say a defining sentence of your own about a word everybody knows.
Word preview: own
Money means coins and bills. People earn money by working. You buy things with money.

Three levels

Support: Use only the passage in step 1. Echo the teacher sentence by sentence. Point to the word means. Say aloud the two things money means, according to that sentence.
At Grade: Read the passage in step 2 and label each of its three sentences defining or telling, giving a reason for each.
Extension: Read the passages in steps 1 and 3. Say two sentences about why a book might define its main word before it names any of the kinds.

English learners

The verb means is doing grammatical work here that many languages handle with a different construction, and it can be heard as intends rather than signifies. Say a definition about a classroom object using means, then the same idea using is, so the two are heard as one move. Invite students to define one word in their strongest language and then attempt the English frame. Rehearsable frame: ___ means ___.

Materials

Money Counts, the passage printed in this step
definition and action sort cards
sentence frame strip
Word cards: means, define, name, own

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

10. Which Questions Does the Book Answer? Text structure · Telling a question the book answers from a question it leaves to you

This book asks a great many questions, and it treats them in two different ways: some it answers on the very next line, and some it simply leaves standing. Students read two question passages, mark each question as answered or left open, and say what a reader is supposed to do with each kind. The sorting is about the writing, not about the answers; students are never asked to supply a numeric answer.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Find the questions (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below. Point to every question mark you can see. Say aloud which sentences are the questions, reading the first words of each one.
Word preview: question
What coins can be used to make five cents? Five pennies or one nickel? Now, can you make ten cents?
2. Sort answered from left open (6 min)
Read the passage below again with a partner. For each question, say answered or left open. Do not work anything out. Just say whether the book itself supplies an answer right there on the line.
Word preview: answered
What coins can be used to make five cents? Five pennies or one nickel? Now, can you make ten cents?
3. Do the same with a harder stretch (5 min)
Read the passage below with the teacher. It asks three questions. Say aloud which ones the book answers on the spot and which ones it leaves standing for the reader.
Word preview: open
What coins can be used to make $1? 10 dimes, or 4 quarters, or 2 half dollars? How many pennies equal $1? How many nickels equal $1?
4. Say what the open ones are for (4 min)
Read the passage below one more time. Then tell a partner one sentence: when the book leaves a question open, it wants me to ___. Say what a reader is meant to do, not what the answer would be.
Word preview: reader
What coins can be used to make $1? 10 dimes, or 4 quarters, or 2 half dollars? How many pennies equal $1? How many nickels equal $1?

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Sort answered from left open (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below. For each question, say answered or left open. Do not work anything out; just say whether the book supplies an answer on the line.
Word preview: answered
What coins can be used to make five cents? Five pennies or one nickel? Now, can you make ten cents?
2. Say what the open ones are for (4 min)
Read the passage below. Then tell a partner: when the book leaves a question open, it wants me to ___.
Word preview: reader
What coins can be used to make $1? 10 dimes, or 4 quarters, or 2 half dollars? How many pennies equal $1? How many nickels equal $1?

Three levels

Support: Use only the passage in step 1. Point to each question mark as the teacher reads. Then read aloud the first words of one sentence you marked.
At Grade: Read the passage in step 2 and label each question answered or left open, saying how you could tell.
Extension: Read the passage in step 3. Say two sentences about what changes for a reader when a book stops answering its own questions partway through a page.

English learners

English questions here take several shapes at once — What coins can be used, Now, can you make, How many — and a student tracking meaning may not notice that the shape has changed. Read each question with rising intonation and let students echo the melody before the words. Invite students to ask one question of the class in their strongest language and then in English. Rehearsable frame: This one is ___, because the book ___.

Materials

Money Counts, the passage printed in this step
answered and open sort cards
sentence frame strip
Word cards: question, answered, open, reader

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

11. Change Is Not Always a Change Vocabulary · Working out which meaning of a word a sentence is using

The word change appears several times in this book, and it never means what it usually means in a classroom. Students meet the everyday meaning first, then read three sentences where the book uses the word its own way, and say from the surrounding sentences which meaning is in play. They finish by saying both meanings in their own words. The reasoning is about word meaning from context, not about amounts.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Meet the word in the book (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below. Find the word change. Say aloud what the word usually means when you say something has changed. Then say whether that meaning would make sense here.
Word preview: change
I have a quarter. That's too much. You get change.
2. Use the sentences around it (6 min)
Read the passage below with a partner. The word change is here again, and the sentences around it are about buying something. Say aloud what change must mean in this book, using the other words in the passage as your reason.
Word preview: meaning
I got my candy and a dime and nickel back in change. I'll buy a toy. Is this enough?
3. Check the meaning holds (5 min)
Read the passage below with the teacher. The word change appears once more. Say aloud whether your meaning from step 2 still works here, and say which words in this passage let you check it.
Word preview: check
What can I buy with my change? One quarter. Candy, five cents each. YUM!
4. Say both meanings (4 min)
Read the passage below one last time. Then say two sentences to a partner: outside this book, change means ___; in this book, change means ___. Use your own words for both.
Word preview: both
I got my candy and a dime and nickel back in change. I'll buy a toy. Is this enough?

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Use the sentences around it (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below. Say what change must mean here, using the other words in the passage as your reason.
Word preview: meaning
I got my candy and a dime and nickel back in change. I'll buy a toy. Is this enough?
2. Say both meanings (4 min)
Read the passage below again. Then say to a partner: outside this book, change means ___; in this book, change means ___.
Word preview: both
I got my candy and a dime and nickel back in change. I'll buy a toy. Is this enough?

Three levels

Support: Use only the passage in step 1. The teacher reads it. Point to the word change. Say aloud whether the person is getting something or giving something.
At Grade: Read the passage in step 2 and say what change means in this book, naming the words nearby that told you.
Extension: Read the passages in steps 2 and 3. Say two sentences about how a reader can tell which meaning of a word is in use without being told.

English learners

Many languages use two entirely separate words for change-the-difference and change-the-money-returned, so a student may be searching for a meaning that English is hiding inside one form. Say the shopping meaning with a gesture of money coming back, and the other meaning with a gesture of something turning into something else. Invite students to give both words from their strongest language, and note that English has only one. Rehearsable frame: Here, change means ___, because the sentence says ___.

Materials

Money Counts, the passage printed in this step
two meanings chart
sentence frame strip
Word cards: change, meaning, check, both

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.

12. Nobody Says Who Is Talking Reading · Working out who is speaking when nobody is named

Partway through, this book stops explaining and starts letting somebody talk, without ever naming them or using quotation marks. Students read a stretch, decide how many people are speaking, and say what each speaker must be doing in the shop. They point at the words that told them. Because the transcript carries no quotation marks anywhere, the lesson makes that absence the puzzle rather than pretending it away.

Full lesson — 20 minutes

1. Notice the voice appear (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below. Somewhere in here the book stops explaining and somebody starts talking. Point to the first word where that happens. Say aloud how you could tell.
Word preview: voice
How much for two candies? Candies are five cents each.
I have a quarter. That's too much. You get change.
2. Tell the voices apart (6 min)
Read the passage below with a partner, reading it exactly as printed. Say aloud whether one person is talking here or more than one. Then say which sentence belongs to the person buying and which belongs to the person selling.
Word preview: speaker
I have a quarter. That's too much. You get change.
3. Follow the voice further (5 min)
Read the passage below with the teacher. Say aloud what the speaker has just done and what they are about to do next. Point to the words that told you each one.
Word preview: follow
I got my candy and a dime and nickel back in change. I'll buy a toy. Is this enough?
4. Say what would have helped (4 min)
Read the passage below one more time. Then tell a partner one sentence about what a writer could add to make it obvious who is speaking. Name the thing you would add, and say where you would put it.
Word preview: clear
One toy, 75 cents each. That is 25 cents. You need more money. This is more than enough. I will get change.

Short version — 9 minutes

1. Tell the voices apart (5 min)
The teacher reads the passage below exactly as printed. Say whether one person is talking or more than one, and which sentence belongs to the buyer and which to the seller.
Word preview: speaker
I have a quarter. That's too much. You get change.
2. Say what would have helped (4 min)
Read the passage below. Then say one sentence about what a writer could add to make it obvious who is speaking, and where you would put it.
Word preview: clear
One toy, 75 cents each. That is 25 cents. You need more money. This is more than enough. I will get change.

Three levels

Support: Use only the second passage in step 1. The teacher reads it. Answer aloud: is the person buying something or selling something? Point to the words that told you.
At Grade: Read the passage in step 2 and say whether one person is speaking or more than one, matching each sentence to the buyer or the seller.
Extension: Read the passage in step 4. Say two sentences about how a reader keeps track of a speaker when the writing gives no name and no quotation marks at all.

English learners

Without quotation marks or a said tag, the only cue that the voice has switched is the pronoun and the sense, which is exactly the layer a new English reader is still building. Read the passage twice in two clearly different voices before asking any question, so the switch is heard before it has to be found. Invite students to say who they think is speaking in their strongest language, then name the two roles in English. Rehearsable frame: This part is the ___, because they say ___.

Materials

Money Counts, the passage printed in this step
two speaker name cards
sentence frame strip
Word cards: voice, speaker, follow, clear

Standards & curriculum

Choose your curriculum above to see the standards for this lesson.