Math / Grades 2-3
Count value, not pieces
Learning goal: Read labeled coin values, compare equal-value sets, and check change without confusing cents with the number of pieces.
Before you start: Count by ones, fives and tens, and add small whole numbers. Use Tens and ones first if needed. Read the labels; these drawings do not identify real coins.
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Count Labeled Coin Values
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Video transcript and practice. Reading or printing does not count as playback time or an assessed grade.
1. Count value, not pieces
Video: 0:00
Welcome to our pretend counter. These circles are practice pieces. Read the number on each one. A piece labeled twenty-five cents is worth twenty-five cents, not one cent. We will count the value, compare two sets, and check change. The drawings do not show what real coins look like. All our amounts are in cents. One hundred cents is one dollar in this model.
2. Keep a running total
Video: 0:29
Here are three pieces. Read twenty-five, ten, and five. Start with twenty-five. Add ten to reach thirty-five. Add five to reach forty. The set is worth forty cents. We counted three objects, but we counted forty cents of value. Touch or point to each piece once as you add it. Moving a piece does not let you count it a second time. Nice try, wandering coin.
3. More pieces, less value?
Video: 1:00
Set A has four pieces worth one cent each. One plus one plus one plus one is four cents. Set B has one piece worth five cents. Which set is worth more? Set B, because five is greater than four. More pieces do not always mean more value. The printed numbers matter. The size, color, and position of our practice circles do not decide their value.
4. New pieces, same value
Video: 1:29
An exchange can give us different pieces with the same total value. Two ten-cent pieces make twenty cents. Four five-cent pieces also make twenty cents. We can swap one set for the other in our pretend drawer. Fun fact: the number of pieces changes, but their total value does not. The extra pieces did not make extra money. Count both sets to check the exchange.
5. Pause: count this set
Video: 1:59
Pause and try a fresh set. You have one twenty-five-cent piece, two five-cent pieces, and one one-cent piece. How many cents altogether? Point to each piece once. Start with twenty-five, then add each remaining value. Say the totals or write them down. Also count the pieces. You should have two answers: a number of pieces and a value in cents. Continue when you are ready to check.
6. Check your two answers
Video: 2:31
Start at twenty-five. One five brings us to thirty. The next five brings us to thirty-five. One more cent makes thirty-six cents. There are four pieces, worth thirty-six cents together. If you got thirty-one, check for the second five-cent piece. If you got four, that is the number of pieces, not their value. Both counts tell us something, but they answer different questions.
7. Check the change
Video: 3:01
Now an invented item costs sixty-eight cents. The customer pays one hundred cents. They paid more than the price, so we return change. Count up from sixty-eight: add two to reach seventy, then thirty to reach one hundred. The change is two plus thirty, or thirty-two cents. Check by adding the price and the change: sixty-eight plus thirty-two equals one hundred. These pretend prices have no extra fees or tax.
8. Equal or short?
Video: 3:33
First compare the payment with the price. If the price is seventy-three cents and the payment is seventy-three cents, they are equal. The change is zero. But if that same item is offered only sixty cents, the payment is short. Thirteen more cents are needed. We do not return thirteen cents. Sixty plus thirteen reaches the price. The same subtraction can describe a shortage or change, so first ask which amount is larger.
9. Continue to your worksheet
Video: 4:06
Continue to the coin-value worksheet below. Its questions use new sets. Read each label, add each value once, and tell the difference between pieces and cents. Then try the equal-value exchange sheet. When you are ready, the making-change sheet asks you to compare payment with price and check by adding. Open Cash Counter for hands-on practice. Hints and retries are free, and none of this spends real money or your earned game coins.
Show your understanding
You can point, explain aloud, draw or write.
- Distinguish the number of pieces from their total value, and explain an exchange that changes the pieces without changing the value.
- Compare price and payment before finding change or a shortage; check by addition using fresh worksheet amounts.
Try it yourself
Pause at 25c, 5c, 5c and 1c. Count both the pieces and the value, explaining why your two answers differ.
Continue to the coin-value worksheet, then equal-value exchanges and Cash Counter. When ready, compare payment and price on the making-change sheet.
Next: your worksheet
Count Labeled Coin Valueshttps://s3u.com/mb2d0
Exchange equal values · Make change and notice short payments
Practice at Cash Counter · Review tens and ones
Lesson: https://s3u.com/lessons/count-value-not-pieces