Wednesday, March 2, 2011

Teaching 1st graders about money is stressful!!

My unit plan this quarter was teaching children about money. The first grade standards focus on identifying the value and name of a coin, adding small groups of coins, and showing different combinations of coins for a set value. My unit was scheduled to take 6 days but ended up taking 12! The children needed a solid 4 days of review and practice before they started to feel more comfortable adding small groups of coins. Today I did my final assessment. There were two parts to the assessment, one a written “test” where the children had to “count on” and write the value of a small set of coins and the other was an oral and hands on assessment. I told the children they were going to a candy shop but in order to buy something they had to show two ways to use coins to make up the set price. It was very clear which children understood the concept of adding coins and who did not! I feel frustrated that not everyone got as much out of the unit as I had hoped but I think some are just not ready for it. We will be starting measurement next week but will continue to give them opportunities to practice their new skills.

- A stressed out Miss Hansen

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