Monday, February 17, 2020

New Money Unit - What's in YOUR Wallet?

Today we have started a new unit in my math class. This will culminate in a fantastically fun yearly event called Flea Market Math. Fingers crossed, Irma might make an appearance as cashier, and may even be joined by another bargain-lovin' store keeper!

To start us off, we will be playing many coin puzzles I call What's in YOUR Wallet? Each morning, we will take turns asking riddles using real coins - an easy example being:

I have 4 coins. They equal 61 cents. What coins do I have?

Before that, however, I thought we could do a different type of math activity and try some origami. This morning, each child made and decorated an origami wallet, in which to hold their coins.



Two pockets!
If your child would like to make some more, here is the youtube tutorial we used as our guide:

Not only was this a good math lesson, but it was a wonderful lesson on perseverance. Many, if not most, of the children wanted to give up after one try. I spoke to the group about the value of not giving up, trying again when it seems difficult, and so on - and finally convinced them all to take another piece of paper and keep going. Although it was challenging, all are very proud of their paper wallets.



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