📋 Session plan (for teachers)

Session 5 — Money: counting coins and making change

Grade 2 · Math for Young Minds Total time: ~20 minutes Common Core: 2.MD.C.8 Today's idea: Coins have different values. We count them by value, not by how many.

What students will be able to do

By the end of this session, the student can:

• Name the value of a penny, nickel, dime, and quarter.
• Add a small handful of coins to find the total.
• Figure out the change owed when you pay more than the price.

Materials

• A small handful of coins per pair: 5 pennies, 5 nickels, 5 dimes, 4 quarters (real or fake)
• Worksheet (one per student)
• Pencils

Substitution: No coins on hand? Draw four big circles on the board and label them 1¢, 5¢, 10¢, 25¢. Paper circles with the values written on them work just as well.

New words

Heads-up — common confusions

• The dime and the penny are both small — but a dime is worth 10¢, not 1¢.
• Some kids will count coins as 1 each instead of by value. Slow down and say each value out loud.
• A dime looks smaller than a nickel but is worth more. Name this out loud — it's tricky on purpose.

Plan

1 · Hello & today's idea — 2 min

"Today we're going to count money. Not by how many coins — by how much each coin is worth."

Hold up one of each coin. Point to each as you say it:

"Penny — 1 cent. Nickel — 5 cents. Dime — 10 cents. Quarter — 25 cents."

Say it again. Have the students say it back with you.

2 · Hands-on explore — 6 min

Hand each pair a small handful of coins.

Prompt: "Sort your coins into four piles. One pile for each kind."

Walk around. Check that pennies and dimes aren't getting mixed up.

Then say:

"Pick up one dime. That's 10 cents. Pick up another dime. Now you have 20 cents. Keep going — count by tens."

Try it again with nickels (count by fives). Then with quarters (25, 50, 75, 100).

"See? We don't count coins like 1, 2, 3. We count them by their value."

3 · Connect to the math — 4 min

Write on the board:

penny  =  1¢
nickel =  5¢
dime   = 10¢
quarter= 25¢

"To add coins, start with the biggest ones. Count quarters first, then dimes, then nickels, then pennies."

Do problem 1 together:

"What is the total of 3 dimes, 2 nickels, and 4 pennies?"

Walk it through out loud:

3 dimes:    10, 20, 30
2 nickels:  35, 40
4 pennies:  41, 42, 43, 44
Total:      44¢

"And change is the money you get back when you pay more than the price. If something costs 30¢ and you pay 50¢, you get 20¢ back. That's change."

4 · Practice with support — 6 min

Pass out the worksheet. Let students use their coins to act each one out.

Problem 2 (solo): "You have 5 quarters. How many cents is that?" → 25, 50, 75, 100, 125¢

Problem 3 (solo): "A toy costs 70¢. You pay 1 dollar. How much change?" → 1 dollar is 100¢. 100 − 70 = 30¢

Problem 4 (stretch): "Make 47¢ using as few coins as possible. What coins do you use?" → 1 quarter + 2 dimes + 2 pennies = 5 coins

Circulate. If a student is stuck, ask: "What's the biggest coin you can start with?"

5 · What we did + Try at home — 2 min

"Today you learned that each coin has its own value. We count coins by value — and change is what we get back when we pay too much."

Send the take-home:

"Tonight, find some coins at home — in a piggy bank, on a counter, in the car cup-holder, or in a parent's wallet (ask first!). Add up how much money there is. Use the words: pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters."

Observation rubric — what to notice in this session

Use this during the session, not as a test. One observation per student is plenty.

No fail state. "Developing" today is "using" next week.

What's next (Session 6)

Next time, Session 6 — Measuring length moves from money to size. We measure things with rulers and tape measures — and learn the difference between inches, feet, and centimeters.

✏️ Worksheet (for students)

Math for Young Minds · Grade 2

Session 5 — Money: counting coins and making change

[ Hello ]  →  [ Explore ]  →  [ Connect ]  →  [ Practice ← we are here ]  →  [ Try at home ]

Today's big idea

Coins have different values. To find a total, count by what each coin is worth — not by how many coins you have.

  penny = 1¢      nickel = 5¢      dime = 10¢      quarter = 25¢

Watch out! A dime is smaller than a nickel, but it is worth more.

Example we did together

  quarter   dime   nickel   penny   penny
   25¢   +  10¢  +   5¢   +  1¢  +   1¢   =   42¢

We count by value, not by how many coins.

Problem 1 — together

What is the total of 3 dimes, 2 nickels, and 4 pennies?

Draw the coins and label each one with its value:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Add them up:

  ____¢  +  ____¢  +  ____¢  =  ____¢
   dimes    nickels   pennies    total

Problem 2 — on your own

You have 5 quarters. How many cents is that?

Draw the 5 quarters here. Write 25¢ on each one:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Count by 25: 25, 50, ____, ____, ____

Total = ____¢

Problem 3 — on your own

A toy costs 70¢. You pay 1 dollar (100¢).

How much change do you get back?

Draw the coins you might get back as change:

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

   100¢   −   70¢   =   ____¢
   paid      price     change

Problem 4 — stretch

Make 47¢ using as few coins as possible.

What coins do you use? Draw them and label each value.

┌─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┐
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
│                                                         │
└─────────────────────────────────────────────────────────┘

Fill in:

• Quarters: ____
• Dimes: ____
• Nickels: ____
• Pennies: ____
• Total coins used: ____

Hint: start with the biggest coin that fits, then work down.

Today's words

Try at home tonight (1 minute)

Find some coins at home. Add up how much money is there. Use the words: pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters.

Look for coins in:

• A piggy bank
• Loose change on a counter
• A parent's wallet (with permission)
• The cup-holder in the car
• A coat pocket

Write down what you found:

  ____ pennies   ____ nickels   ____ dimes   ____ quarters

  Total = ____¢

Show a grown-up tomorrow morning.

Next time (Session 6): we learn how to measure things with rulers and tape measures — inches, feet, and centimeters!

🏠 Family guide (for parents)

Math for Young Minds · Grade 2 · Session 5

A note for grown-ups: today we counted coins and made change

What your child did today

In class today, we worked with money — pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.

The big idea: each coin is worth a different number of cents, so we can't just count "one, two, three" — we have to count by value.

We added handfuls of coins to find totals. We also figured out change — what comes back when you pay more than the price. We did this with real coin amounts, like a 70¢ toy paid for with a dollar.

Why this matters

Money is one of the first places kids meet numbers that don't all count the same. A dime is smaller than a nickel but worth more. That's a surprisingly big idea — it shows up later in measurement, fractions, and place value.

We're not in a rush. Understanding comes before speed, and speed comes later on its own.

🏠 Try this tonight (1 minute)

Find a small handful of coins at home. A piggy bank, the kitchen counter, a car cup-holder, or a parent's wallet (with permission) all work.

Spread them out and ask your child:

• "Can you name each coin?"
• "How much is each one worth?"
• "What's the total?"

Where to look:

Use the real words: pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters. If they count the coins as "one each" instead of by value, gently ask, "How much is this one worth?" That's the whole lesson.

Words your child is learning

• cent (¢) — the small unit of money; 100 cents make a dollar
• change — the money returned when you pay more than the price

If your child says…

"This is easy." Great. Ask them to make 47¢ using the fewest coins they can. Or ask, "Can you make the same amount a different way?"

"This is hard." Also great. Slow down. Sort the coins into piles first — all pennies together, all nickels together. Count one pile at a time. Add the piles at the end. The dime and penny look alike — it's okay to mix them up at first.

"I don't want to." That's okay. Try again another time, maybe at a real store. Hand them a dollar and let them pay for something small. Money feels different when it's real.

What's next

In our next session, we move from money to measuring length. We'll use rulers and tape measures, and start learning the difference between inches, feet, and centimeters.

Thanks for taking a minute tonight. These small kitchen-table moments are where math lives.

— Math for Young Minds

🔑 Cheat sheet (visual)

💰 Coins: count by value

Picture 1 — Meet the coins

   ┌─────┐      ┌─────┐      ┌─────┐      ┌─────┐
   │  1  │      │  5  │      │ 10  │      │ 25  │
   │  ¢  │      │  ¢  │      │  ¢  │      │  ¢  │
   └─────┘      └─────┘      └─────┘      └─────┘
   penny        nickel        dime         quarter
   (small)     (bigger)      (small!)     (biggest)

⚠️ The dime is small but worth 10¢ — more than a nickel!

Picture 2 — Add coins by value

Problem: 3 dimes + 2 nickels + 4 pennies

   🟡 🟡 🟡        🪙 🪙        · · · ·
   10  10  10      5    5       1 1 1 1

   count:  10 → 20 → 30 → 35 → 40 → 41 → 42 → 43 → 44

Total = 44¢ ✨

Picture 3 — 5 quarters

   ┌──┐ ┌──┐ ┌──┐ ┌──┐ ┌──┐
   │25│ │25│ │25│ │25│ │25│
   └──┘ └──┘ └──┘ └──┘ └──┘

   25 → 50 → 75 → 100 → 125

5 quarters = 125¢

How to read the sign

            ¢   ←  means "cent"
            │
       44 ¢
       │
       └──── how many cents in all

100¢ = 1 dollar

Picture 4 — Making change

You pay $1 (100¢). The toy costs 70¢.

   paid:   100¢  ████████████████████
   price:   70¢  ██████████████
                              ^^^^^^
                              change!

         100¢  −  70¢  =  30¢

Change = 30¢ 💵

When to use which coin?

Rule: use quarters first, then dimes, then nickels, then pennies.

Try this in your head

   ┌──┐ ┌──┐  🟡 🟡  🪙 🪙  · · ·
   25   25   10 10   5  5   1 1 1

➤ Total = ____ ¢

Answer: 25 + 25 + 10 + 10 + 5 + 5 + 1 + 1 + 1 = 83¢