Montessori Money Math.

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Yesterday I was observing at our local Montessori school. and there was so much great work going on! The works that I really thought were special though were the money works that the kids were doing! Money is one of those things that we all know is not always in Montessori albums. So I was really excited to see how they approached this work! One of the things that I noticed was that they has a change box full of money and it was share among all the students. They took what they needed and everyone shared this. I love this idea! There were also different levels of cards that the child could work with. I believe that some of these were written into the work plans! I did write down the examples of the cards the kids were using and I think I will be making these when I start teaching Bunny about money! These works are obviously to be done after you present the coins and their value with a 3 part lesson. Once they get how the money is valued, the sky is the limit of the fun you can have! Here are the examples of the cards that I saw:

Level 1: Lay out the coins listed and then exchange them for one coin.
5 pennies, 10 pennies, 2 nickles, 5 nickles, 5 dimes, 2 quarters.

The child would lay the listed amount under the card. When he had done this he would find the one coin that he needed to make the same amount and place it above the card! Super simple but a really Montessori way to work on this!

Level 2: Make this amount of money three different ways.  $1.25

The child would take a card with a certain amount and make the number with coins in three ways. The child I saw doing this work had done about 4 or 5 different cards. She then had a teacher come a check her work before she put it away!

Level 3: You buy this bear for $0.17. You pay $0.25. What is your change?

The child is here figuring out what she gets back! I think that this work has the point of interest of “buying” something! I can see Bunny loving this work as she gets older!

Finally, as they were wrapping up their money study, the kids got to have a restaurant in school! They were all excited as they discussed it! I can imagine how much fun that would be! It would be something that is easily done at home too! Better yet, I think that having a friend over would really make this a fun thing! The teacher showed the kids the menu that she had written out. There was breakfast, lunch and dinner. Each meal had 4 or 5 items on it with prices. A couple of kids were the waiters in charge of adding the menu prices and making change. The other kids were the patrons. They would switch places later!  I wish I was there to see the restaurant in action, but that was for another day! This work was for the level 2 and 3 kids (second and third grades).
So that is what I observed of the money math works in the 6-9 classroom! I hope someday get some pictures and I make this work up and add them here! The other really great learning tip that I think I will defiantly be using here is the question “Tell me one thing you know about_____?” The teacher used this question as each child left to go work. I saw this question used in the grammar presentation (Bunny, tell me one thing know about prepositions) and in the math presentation, they asked for more specifically for the answer to a math problem ( Bunny what 5x 4?) I love that this asks the child for information they know. I really think that this is a great way to see what they know about your presentation!  If anyone has more money learning ideas, please share them in the comments! 🙂 We would all love to hear what other amazing ideas are out there! Happy Schooling Everyone!!!!!