Money From Around the World

This month, my class is learning about money and banks.  Our standards are American, so they require us to teach the kids to recognize and count American coins (even though we live in Morocco and use dirhams to buy things), so we have spent lots of times on American coins (here’s a post on how I’m teaching American Money in Morocco), and we have also looked at Moroccan dirhams.  However, we have also spent a lot of time looking at other coins from other countries.  I am blessed to have families who have traveled or lived in lots of different countries (United Arab Emirates, Spain, Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa, Republic of Congo, Libya, Kuwait, the Philippines etc.).

These families happily sent in money for my class to view, and so we have been keeping track of all the different money we have looked at.  We are recording: the country, the color, the images on the front and back and whether it was coin or paper.  We also recorded if there were numbers on the coins – as American coins do not have numbers, making them increasingly hard to count.  (I’m smiling to myself, because I know that many of you just pulled out a coin to check me on that!)  I know that many students don’t have access to this type of experience, so I have been taking pictures of the money that has come in.  Please feel free to share with your class!

Paper Money from the Democratic Republic of Congo

 

Paper Money from Tunisia

 

Paper Money from Libya

 

 

Paper and Coin Money from the Republic of the Congo

 

 

 

Coins from all over!!

 

Money, Money, Money

My math topic for the month of January is counting and comparing money. This may not seem like a big deal, as it’s part of every American curriculum I’ve ever seen. However, for my students (who live in Morocco) counting American money is, well, a foreign concept! I do work on counting Moroccan money (dirhams) with them as well during calendar, but it is not technically part of my standards. I also don’t have many manipulatives in my classroom, which means no pretend money. (You would see my classroom wishlist board on pinterest!) So, having them count money can be very time or money intensive on my part.  As I have little of both time and money, I am opting to cover money in 3 ways:

 

1.  The real stuff – My grandmother recently visited us here in Morocco, and she brought with her some real American coins, which I will use with the students in small group, so that we can review how each coin looks, how to tell the difference, and of course, how to count the coins.

 

2.  Technology! – If you haven’t seen Wednesday’s Website Suggestion from last week, it showcases the great website I am using where my kids can count money virtually.

 

3.  Puzzles – I have created three self-correcting puzzles on counting money to get us started.  (I think I’ll probably make at least two more, as we get going.)  I started using them on Friday, and the kids were psyched!  They love puzzles anyways, and these are an easy way for them to count money without having to work in those dreaded workbooks.

 

 

Click on any of the pictures to download the self-correcting puzzles from TPT.

         

Does anyone else have any ideas on how I can work on money with no manipulatives (and no smart board)?  If so, please leave me a comment or post it on my Raki’s Rad Resources Facebook Fan Page.

Show Me the Money!!!

It’s time for the Wednesday Website suggestion!! For two years, I was the Technology Specialist at a school in Georgia. During that time, I amassed a large collection of websites that I used with my students. If you want to search through some of them, you can check out my IKeepBookmarks site. Or, you can check back here each week for the Wednesday Website suggestion.

My math topic for the month of January is counting and comparing money.  This may not seem like a big deal, as it’s part of every American curriculum I’ve ever seen.  However, for my students (who live in Morocco) counting American money is, well a foreign concept!  I do work on counting Moroccan money (dirhams) with them as well during calendar, but it is not technically part of my standards.  I also don’t have many manipulatives in my classroom.  (You would see my classroom wishlist board on pinterest!)  So, having them count money can be very time or money intensive on my part.  That’s why I was so excited to stumble back upon this week’s website while I was looking through my bookmarks.  It’s simply called Counting Money and it’s hosted by Harcourt School Publishers, but as of right now, it’s FREE, and I play to use it a lot with my students this month!!  Click on the picture so you can use it too!

Hope you enjoyed this Wednesday’s Website suggestion – check back each Wednesday for a new Wedensday’s Website suggestion. Also, feel free to check out previous Wednesday Website suggestions including: Find the Dog’s Bone, Storybird and Math Magician.