Topic: Journal entry - Change for a Dollar

Grade Level Category: 4 - 6

Strategy: Journal entry

Objectives Being Assessed:
Making coin combinations to total $1.00

Materials Required:
Journal entry page or write the assignment on the board to be copied by students, calculators, play money.

Description of the Activity:
This journal assignment followed instruction on adding coins. Students has worked in small groups, with partners and independently on adding coins and solving problems using suggested coin combinations (for example: Use twelve coins to make $1.00. Four of the coins are nickels. What are the other eight coins? Hint - they are all the same coin.) We discussed that there are almost 300 different coin combinations that total $1.00. As a class we determined the amount of coin combinations they felt they should come up with to earn a grade of "A", "B", "C", and "D". As expected, they were much harder on themselves than I would have been. Most students met the challenge to get a grade they found acceptable. Students were allowed to use play money and calculators. They worked independently (except for a few students with very weak money skills).

Reproducible Page:
Change For a Dollar

Reference of Sources:
Ideas from pages 12 through 15 of Mathemactivities written by Bob Bernstein (Good Apple, 1991) were adapted in this activity.



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