Numicon Free Display Resources

Learning about money with Numicon – Sheet 1 of 2

Copyright © Numicon Ltd 2008. All rights reserved

Children know about exchanging as they negotiate ‘swaps’ with their friends on the playground. They can learn much too about shopping exchange transactions when they are out and about for example they will often see credit card transactions, but there are also many transactions that involve cash – for instance buying tickets to go swimming, or for the bus, or train; buying postage stamps and buying parking tickets or drinks from vending machines. Children also need to learn to read money notation, so when out with your child look out for the different ways that money is written. Role play shops can be a great opportunity for modelling shopping behaviour, conversation and vocabulary associated with money and coin recognition.

In the classroom, set up role play situations, read stories about going shopping and help children to connect the coin values with cardinal number values by displaying a 0-100 number line with coins stuck on at the appropriate places. Setting up and discussing money problems provides a valuable ‘real world’ context for children to use and apply their number understanding.

Learning about money with Numicon

Children need to get to grips with two big ideas involving money: (1) that buying something is a transaction when money is exchanged for something else; (2) that different combinations of coins are of equal value even though they might look different e.g. one 5p coin is of equal value to two 2p coins plus one 1p coin and both of these are equal to five 1p coins. They also need to use and apply their understanding of number and calculating in situations involving money.

Learning to name and recognise coins

• Lookingatcoins,rubbingthemtoseenumeralsonthem.

•Matchingrealcoinstogiantmoney(availablefromBEAM).

• Sortingcoinsintopilesof1p,2p,5p,10pcoins.

Reading amounts

• Lookatallthedifferentwaysmoneyiswritteninshopsetc.

• Whenlookingoutforthe‘p’in‘pence’remindchildrenthatmaths uses symbols and short ways of writing things.

• Demonstratehowtowrite1p,2p,5pandpractisereading each amount.

AsanindependentactivitychildrencanplayagameinpairsusingtheNumiconPostBox.Youwillneedacollectionof1-shapes,2-shapes, 5-shapes and 10-shapes, and a collection of 1p, 1p, 5p and 10p coins. One child posts a Shape through the post box and the other posts the equivalent coin back.

Linking written amount with coins

Downloadthe‘NumiconCoinSpinnerOverlay’(www.numicon.com)Play a game where children have to spin the spinner check the amount (1p, 2p, etc.) and pick up the appropriate coin.

Numicon Free Display Resources

Learning about money with Numicon – Sheet 2 of 2

Copyright © Numicon Ltd 2008. All rights reserved

Understanding coin equivalence

InNumiconKit1CalculatingCard3Bthereareactivitieswherechildren begin to connect what they know and understand about number ideas by matching coins with Numicon Shapes.

Activity 1 Suggests sticking 1p coins to 1-shapes, 2p coins to 2-shapes, and 5p coins to 5-shapes (blutak works well).

Activity 2 Looksforwaysofmaking5pandthen10pusingonly1-shapes,2-shapes and 5-shapes.

Activity 3 Movesontoaddingpricesofobjectstogetherandrecordingasamoney addition.

Youcansetuplotsofusefulproblemsforchildrentosolveintheroleplayshoplike‘WhatcoinscouldIusetopayforastickerthatcosts 8p?’

Giving change

Activity4onKit1CalculatingCard3Bintroducesgivingchange,which many children find tricky – when we give change we are doingsubtractionbutbycountingon.Wefindchildrenmakehelpful connections between their understanding of finding the difference by comparing two Numicon Shapes in order to do this. Refer to Firm Foundations Card 13b, Kit 1 Calculating Card 7a, and Kit 2 Calculating Card 10 to see the progression.

Youcanhelpbysettinguproleplayshopswithitemslabelledwithprices1p,2p3pand4p.Thepersondoingtheshoppinghasapursecontaining5pcoinsandNumicon5-shapes.Lookathowmuch of the shape should be paid for the goods and therefore the bit of the shape that is left. Translate this into coins. Pass the 5p to pay for a 2p item and receive 3p change

Working with £s and pence

LaterworkinKit2suggestsmakingconnectionsbetweenmoneyand children’s work on 2 and 3-digit numbers. The main teaching activities for this are on Kit 2 Numbers and the Number System Card 9 which also introduces £ and pence notation and gives several suggestions for activities using on these ideas.