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To most fifth graders the concept of money involves mommy and daddy’s pockets. This blog will introduce the reader to incorporating consumer math to fifth graders.

Books:

1. A Kid’s Guide to Earning Money. Written by Tamra Orr. This book is intended to teach students the value of earning money. It does not tell the student what job they should get, instead it guides them on how to go about earning money.
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2. The Everything Kids’ Money Book. Written by Diane Mayr. A book that not only teaches kids about money it also teaches kids where money came from.
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3. Money Sense for Kids. Written by Hollis Page Harman. This book informs students on how money travels from the mint to their pockets. Also, very informative on how to save their allowances.
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4. The Kids’ Allowance Book. Written by Amy Nathan, with help from Debbie Palen. A comprehensive book containing over a 150 responses from actual kids on the pros and cons of allowances.
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5. The New Totally Awesome Money Book for Kids, Revised and Updated Edition. Written by Author Bochner and his kid sister, Rose Bochner. Author teams up with his kid sister to give a child’s perspective of everything from saving to credit cards.
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Websites:

1. Count Coins
   This website starts by giving the student the chance to pick their own difficulty level and character to play with. After that, they are asked to find a certain amount of change and can drag and drop them onto the table to see if they chose the correct amount. Good introduction to the lesson.
2. Lemonade Stand
   An interactive game that allows the student to pick and choose how much money should be spent on things such as advertising and lemons.
3. Counting money
   Same idea as the first website listed here, but the amounts of money are quite a bit larger. Gives students opportunity to play with larger bills such as 20’s, 50’s and 100’s.
4. Making Change
   This website allows the student to choose between currencies. The student can choose from US money to Mexican money to Australian money. Once type of currency is chosen, student must make change using that particular countries currency.
5. Add it up
   The student must count the money shown and correctly type that amount in the box provided. Students can check their work.

Additional resources:

1. Board Games
   This is an excellent website to purchase board games involving play money. The board games are at a discounted price and their are plenty to choose from.
2. Money Worksheets
   This free website allows the teacher to pick and choose what the worksheet should contain. Student count each side of coins up and compare on which one has more. Very user-friendly.
3. Online Money Activities
   If computers are easily accessible than this is a great website. Offers a few different lessons that kids can learn sitting at the computer.

**Updated on 1-31-12**

Thanks to Jessie at the  Amorita Charter School in Amorita, Oklahoma for finding and recommending this site.

Interbank fx – All About Money
This site has links to games, activities, lessons and additional resources for identifying and counting money, using and spending money, earning and saving money, and much more!

Introduction: I chose resources for linear measurement, weight, volume, and temperature. The materials are geared towards 2nd grade and I have focused on VA SOLs 2.11 and 2.14.

Text Annotations:

Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni

Inch by Inch, written and illustrated by Leo Lionni, tells the story of an inchworm who measures the physical characteristics of different types of birds. Although no numbers are used in the text, Inch by Inch introduces measurement by inches. Furthermore, the book helps students understand that concrete objects can be measured. The book closes when the inchworm is asked to measure the size of the nightingale’s song. Knowing that a song cannot be measured and knowing that he could become the nightingale’s next meal, the inchworm cleverly devices a plan tricking the nightingale. While the nightingale thinks its’ song is being measured, the inchworm “inched out of sight.”
Inchworm and a Half by Elinor J. Pinczes

Written by Elinor J. Pinczes and illustrated by Randall Enos, Inchworm and a Half can be used in measurement lessons for younger elementary students. The plot of the book is very similar to the plot of Inch by Inch by Leo Lionni. The inchworm in Pinczes’ book measures objects in a garden by looping its body and each loop equals one inch. However, the premise of Pinczes’ book differs from Lionni’s because fractions are introduced as well. When the inchworm in Pinczes’ book measures a bean using the looping method and comes up short, a worm half the inchworm’s size measures the remainder of the bean. The following objects get smaller and as a result, smaller worms are used to measure the difference.

Actual Size by Steve Jenkins

Actual Size, written by Steve Jenkins, presents measurement in a fun way. Readers are presented with a variety of animals and insects or a specific part of an animal’s or insect’s body to scale. For example, readers can compare the size of their hand to a gorilla’s hand. Jenkins further emphasizes the largeness of the gorilla’s hand by depicting the smallness of a pygmy lemur’s palm. All illustrations in Actual Size were completed in torn paper collages and could be used to enhance an art lesson. Furthermore, Jenkins presents some physical characteristics of some of the animals in his book, and Actual Size could be used in science lessons.

Millions to Measure by David M. Swartz

Millions to Measure, written by David M. Swartz and illustrated by Steven Kellogg, is the story of a wizard named Marvelosissimo. Marvelosissimo measures and calculates the length, mass, and volume of various objects. However, the wizard finds that the English Standard of measurement is complicated, and he develops a new system of measurement, the metric system. Readers are introduced to grams, liters, and meters and are given the opportunity to compare the two systems of measurement.

The Snowy Day by Ezra Jack Keats

I could not find a book other than elementary science textbooks that measured and explored temperature in degrees Celsius or Fahrenheit. However, I think The Snowy Day, written and illustrated by Ezra Jack Keats, would be a good introduction to the topic. The main character of the book wakes up to snow and Keats writes about the boy’s adventures during the day. The plot consists of the child making snow angels, knocking snow off of a tree, examining his footprints in the snow, and trying to save a snowball for the next day. The Snowy Day could be used to introduce a lesson on weather patterns or the unique illustrations could enhance an art lesson on collages or watercolors.

Web Annotations:

1.) Math Cats Convert Numbers– this site provides students and teachers with a good resource for measurement conversion. Viewers are instructed to enter any number in the box and the website will convert the number to various measurements, in U.S. Customary and Metric formats. The site allows viewers calculate length, mass/weight, and liquid volume. For example, users can determine how many ounces are in a pound and how many quarts are in a gallon. The viewer decides what numbers to enter for conversion and this feature promotes a thorough exploration of measurement. Furthermore, the site is easy to use and the focus of the page is directed towards the activity and not towards advertisements.

2.) Temperature Game– this game, provided by NASA’s website, helps students learn temperature in degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit. The object of the activity is to determine the correct temperature of various objects. Users place the objects’ icons next to the thermometer that is labeled with several different temperatures. For example, students must place an icon of a pot of boiling water next to the correct temperature on the thermometer. They have to determine the boiling point of water. Students have the opportunity to compare answers in degrees Celsius and Fahrenheit. Additionally, older students can play the game finding the temperature of the objects in degrees Kelvin. Although the game does not provide answers, users are given immediate feedback based on responses and have the opportunity to correct mistakes. Lastly, the site provides an link that defines terms related to temperature and gives a brief historical lesson on the development of measuring temperature.

3.) Sleuths on the Loose-found on the PBS Kids website, Sleuths on the Loose is an activity that develops linear measurement skills. Students are directed to calculate the height (in inches) of several baby monsters and the monsters’ mothers. The site provides the length of the baby monsters’ foot and tells viewers how many of the monsters’ feet equal its height. Students have an opportunity to develop multiplication skills because they have to find the correct answer by multiplying the length of the foot by the number of feet that equal the monster’s height. The same process is used to determine the height of the mama monsters.

4.) Learning Math– this website has ten sessions that allow students to explore measurement in depth. Although advanced mathematical topics such as circumference and trigonometry are covered, topics are available for elementary students. Session Three explains the metric system in two parts. Learning objectives are stated for each topic, and each session has an option for students to go back and review prior learning. Numerous videos discussing measurement, area, and volume are available for purchase as well.

5.) Animal Weigh In– this activity has students challenge their knowledge with the Metric System. Because the game is found on the BBC Education website, students may not be familiar with stones as a unit of measurement. However, students are tested on grams, kilograms, ounces, and pounds. For example, viewers place ounce weights on a scale. The ounces must equal the weight of another object located on the left side of the scale. However, the object’s weight is labeled in pounds, so students must determine correct conversions and equivalents. Students have the opportunity to correct their answers or move on to another measurement activity. Animal Weigh In has three levels that challenge younger and older students. Lastly, the game is animated and has sound which appeals to students.

Additional Resources:

1.) All Aboard the Campaign Trail– All Aboard the Campaign Trail is a cross-curricular activity that combines math, social studies, and civics into a week-long lesson. The lesson plan, found at the PBS Kids website, is comprehensive and states learning objectives, materials, the learning sequence, possible assessments, and extensions. The activity is used in conjunction with another lesson plan published by PBS Kids known as Donkeys and Elephants and Voters, Oh My! The class is arranged into two parties and students are asked to raise support for their political party in the anticipatory set of All Aboard the Campaign Trail. After familiarizing students with the campaign train, the groups plan a campaign trail using atlases and online maps as references. The students must determine the length of their campaign trail using map keys and scales. Using MapQuest as a reference, the students are asked to use the calculated mileage of their trails to determine the arrival time of their “trains.” Additionally, the groups can use the World Time Server website to see if their trail crosses time zones. Students are asked to strategically develop campaign trails using electors in the Electoral College to their party’s advantage.

2.) Curious George How Tall? I liked this online game provided by the PBS Kids website because it is a good resource to use with very young students. How Tall introduces young children to measurement by having them compare two objects of varying sizes. Viewers are asked to measure a larger object with smaller objects. For example, students are asked how many tennis balls, if stacked up in a vertical row, would equal the height of a tennis racket. No numbers are used in the activity, but How Tall helps students compare two objects and estimate the height of one of the objects. The game is interactive and The Man in the Yellow Hat prompts students throughout the game. The answer, correct or incorrect, is always verified by using the smaller object to measure the larger object, so students physically see the measurement. Students are shown why their answer is correct or incorrect and they have the opportunity to learn from errors. The game would be appealing to students because most children are familiar with Curious George and many teachers read Margret and Hans Augusto Reys’ books in the classroom. The game is free and can be used without creating an account with the website. Lastly, the PBS Kids website offers many other online games in various subjects and topics.

3.) Planet Mass Comparison-through NASA’s website students are able to compare the mass of the planets. Students determine what two planets they want to weigh, and the website places the planets on a scale. The website lists the mass of each planet in kilograms, so students can make numerical comparisons. The planets are shown in varying sizes depending upon their actual size. Viewers can add multiple planets to one side of the scale to see how many planets equal another planet. For example, students can see that the mass of approximately seven Mars roughly equals the mass of one Venus. No sound, but the activity is animated. This website would be good for a lesson on the Metric System and mass/weight. The game could also be used in a science lesson about the Solar System.

4.) Planet Size Comparison– another activity offered through NASA. This online activity is very similar to the Planet Mass Comparison. Students can compare the sizes of the planets and view the disparity in sizes. The website provides viewers with the diameters in kilometers of each planet and the size ratio between two planets. This activity does not have audio but is animated. This is another good activity for measuring size and lessons on the Solar System. Planet Size Comparisons could also be used in geometry lessons on circumference and diameters for older students.

Second grade students are expected to count and compare pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters up to two dollars.  They are also expected to master using a cent symbol, dollar symbol, and decimal point when working with money.  While play money is a good resource for students to work with in this unit, there are also a variety of books that introduce money and coin combinations and online resources that allow students to play interactively with coins and money amounts.

Text Annotations

The Penny Pot written by Stuart J. Murphy, illustrated by Lynne Woodcock Cravath :  This is a nice book about a little girl that wants to get her face painted at a carnival but does not have enough money.  Her friends leave their extra money in a penny pot and she is able to add to her money.  Realistic pictures of coins, counting on, making change, adding.  Recommended for ages 7 and up.

The Coin Counting Book written by Rozanne Lanczak Williams:  Short rhymes and real pictures of coins starting with pennies and moving up to half dollars and finally, to a dollar.  This book also talks about coin combinations and labels each coin numerically with its value and the cent symbol.  Recommended for ages 5 to 9.

Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday written by Judith Viorst, illustrated by Ray Cruz :  Alexander’s grandparents give his brothers and him a dollar each and he has big plans for spending it.  Through some funny situations, Alexander slowly loses his dollar.  Coin values, subtraction of money, saving money.  Recommended for ages 4 to 8.

Jelly Beans For Sale written by Bruce McMillan:  This is a very colorful book about students selling jelly beans – one bean for one cent.  Realistic pictures of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters in various combinations.  Encourages student participation while reading.  Recommended for ages 4 to 8.

Making Cents written by Elizabeth Keeler Robinson, illustrated byBob McMahon:  This book does a great job of covering many topics dealing with money through a story of children building a treehouse.  The book follows them as they buy different items needed to build their treehouse.  Coins, coin combinations, U.S. currency, foreign currency, how kids can make money, spending, and more.  Recommended for ages 9 to 12.

Web Annotations

HIP Pocket Change:  The U.S. Mint’s website for students.  The Circulating Coins section of the site lets students click on coins from penny to dollar coins and gives them information about that coin, a picture of it, fun facts about money, and a coloring page.

Garage Sale Wizard:  Students must choose between three buyers that want the same thing at a garage sale.  Each buyer shows what they are willing to pay for the item in coins and students choose the person willing to pay the most.

Coin Combo Game: Arcade style game.  Money falls and stacks up.  The goal is to keep the stack of money blocks as low as possible.  Students are asked to click on combinations of coins to make a certain amount.  When the student gets the right amount, the blocks disappear.  Target amounts increase as students move up in levels.

Discovering Coin Values:  Students are given an amount of money in decimal form.  They must pick up coins and slide them down a chute into a cup to match the amount.

Second Grade Money Game:  Students are shown a menu with different food items on it.  They are given the price or items to buy and must drag the correct coins onto the item to pay for it.

Additional Resources

Money Instructor:  Requires signup, but limited membership is free.  Basic Money Skills link provides resources for teachers including lesson plans, printable play money, worksheets, money coloring pages, and a history of money.

Busy Teacher Cafe Money Unit: This site offers a long list of lesson plan and activity ideas, money song lyrics, book suggestions, center activities, and links to online games.

Education World:  This page links to numerous money lesson plans for various grade levels.  There are also links to additional lesson plans on other websites.

School Express Beginning Money:  Fifteen printable money worksheets.  Some sheets have students count coins, others have them count numerical values, find a missing coin from an equation, or compare amounts.

HIP Pocket Change:  The U.S. Mint’s website.  There are lots of links for teachers – lesson plans, online activities, book suggestions, printable resources, project ideas, and more.

Hello Teachers!

As teachers, we know computation is an integral component of mathematics and it's our job to teach it well.  A variety of contexts are necessary for children to develop an understanding of addition and subtraction.  Below you will find resources for developing proficiency with basic addition/subtraction facts and operations.  The materials provided on this site are intended for second grade instruction, however they can be modified for a different grade level if necessary.

Literature

Integrating literature into any subject is an effective method for introducing and reinforcing a math concept.  Here are just a few of the countless books available to use when teaching addition and subtraction.  Happy Browsing!

Mission: Addition written and illustrated by Loreen Leedy.  To learn the concept of addition Leedy uses examples from our world. Miss Prime, the classroom teacher, presents her animal students with the core facts of addition by having them play detective and invent word problems.  Leedy’s explanations are clear and concise, and her colorful pictures feature a multitude of amusing animals.

Sea Sums written by Joy Hulme and illustrated by Carol Schwartz.  Simple math concepts are presented through the animals and plants of a coral reef.  The problems are presented in four-line rhymes, and then the numbers, words, and math symbols that make up the equation are also written out. Each bordered page contains colorful, large pictures of the creatures.     *cross-curricular: science-living systems

Bunny Money written and illustrated by Rosemary Wells.  Max and Ruby take the bus downtown to buy a birthday gift for their grandma, but they spend so much money on emergencies that they don’t have enough for bus fare home.  This picture book demonstrates addition and subtraction problems using money as the bunny characters shop for a gift. *cross-curricular: history and social science- economics

Lemonade for Sale written by Stuart J Murphy and illustrated by Tricia Tusa.  The Elm Street Kids’ Club decides to sell lemonade to earn money to fix up their clubhouse and they use a graph to keep track of their sales.

The Hershey's Kisses Subtraction Book written by Jerry Pallotta and illustrated by Rob Bolster. Pallotta uses Hershey kisses as a way to teach students the basics of subtraction.

Websites

Children enjoy using the computer, so why not take advantage of this interest and allow them to play and practice math skills while on the computer.  Below you will find interactive and engaging websites focused on computation skills for addition and subtraction.  Go ahead, try a few and have fun!

AplusMath- Addition Concentration  – Students can test their memory and practice addition skills at the same time.  Students are presented with two gameboards, one which contains the addition equations, and the other which contains the sums.  This game requires concentration !

FunBrain- Line Jumper – Students recall basic addition and subtraction facts in Line Jumper.  FunBrain shows a number line and a math question.  Students have to click on the number line at the correct answer for the question.  This particular activity is for numbers less than 20, however there is a level of difficulty option that ranges from easy to super brain.

Harcourt Math Advantage-High Rise Math – Harcourt offers a variety of math activities that correlate to their textbook.  Rise Math is an addition and subtraction game that is played between partners with a twist.  Partners compete to the top floor of the building by answering math questions, however students move throughout the building according to the type of math problem they're given.

Harcourt Math Advantage-Addition Surprise!  – It's a multi-skill activity! Not only do students get to practice basic addition facts, but they also gain experience with an addition table and number patterns.  Students drag a number tile to a square where the column and row add up to the sum on the number tile.  Each time the number tile is placed on the correct square a portion of the puzzle is revealed.

Quia- I Can Do Word Problems– Quia is a website that offers a variety of core subject activities created by teachers.  The activities consist of quizzes, concentration, matching, and Who Wants to Be a Millionaire, and more.  I Can Do Word Problems is a short exercise that requires students to solve word problems with emphasis on operation key words.

Additional Resources

Don't forget to check out these resources as well.  Continue to explore, adapt and create new ideas that best fit the needs of your students.

Quia Addition-Level 3 – Students continue practicing their addition skills by adding two digit numbers with sums up to 99.  Students have the option to play this game as a matching, concentration, or flashcard activity.

Quia Related Facts – Yet another Quia activity!  This activity provides practice with recognizing inverse relationships with addition and subtraction.

The Add and Subtract Body Part Dance – This is sure to get your students moving while adding/subtracting.  Jack Hartman uses music to promote learning by teaching the concepts of adding and subtracting through songs.  Get ready to dance!

Add it On Song – Here is a slight alternative to counting on fingers.  Jennifer Fixman helps students learn to add by shaking their fist and singing a song.  The pictures are a great tool as well.

Learning the calendar and the components of the calendar is considered a standard of measurement that kindergarten students are expected to learn.  Students should be able to identify days of the week, months of the year and seasons.

Books

Cookie’s Week by Cindy Ward and illustrated by Tomie dePaola is a story about a very mischievous cat.  Students will read the story and follow Cookie through different adventures, one for each day of the week.

Today is Monday, written and illustrated by Eric Carle, is a book that serves a different tasty food dish daily and introduces students to the days of the week.  On Sunday, children from all over the world come together to eat the delicious food.

Pepper’s Journal: A Kitten’s First Year by Stuart J. Murphy, illustrator Marsha Winborn, is a story whereLisa keeps a journal about her new kitten while readers learn about days, weeks, months, and years as they follow her and her kittens first year.

A Child’s Calendar by John Updike and illustrated by Trina Schart Hyman is a book of poems written that chronicle the typical events and weather for each of the twelve months.

The Turning of the Year, written by Bill Martin Jr. and illustrated by Greg Shed is a clever book of rhyming text that describes the months of the year by their common characteristics.

Websites

Starfall is a website that lets students create their own calendar.  It is full of animation and a narrator identifies the days of the week while the students are about to fill in missing dates and when asked, recognize specific dates.

Roy the Zebra-days is an animated games where students help a zebra get ready for bed by dragging and dropping the days of the week in the correct order.  The site lists some of the days and the student has to fill in the blanks.

Roy the Zebra-months is the same site as Roy the Zebra-days but this time the student plays with the names of the months.  Students must fill in the blanks for missing months and place them in the correct order.

This site combines knowledge of days, seasons and holidays.  Students are given a list of all three and next to the names have to determine whether the name is a day, a season, or a holiday.

In order to familiarize students with the common characteristics of the seasons, this site provides an animated games that pictorially shows the characteristics and students participate in common seasonal activities such as, raking leaving, mowing the grass, shoveling snow and watering flowers.

Additional Resources

• Childland provides a collaboration of teacher’s tools for teaching the days and months.  The booklet includes numerous songs, poems, teaching ideas, and printables all related to calendar.
• This site was designed to provide resources for ESL students but it also has many valuable resources that would be beneficial to all students.  The link takes you to a site with hundreds of worksheets available for teaching the days of the week.
• Mrs. Meacham’s site is a great resource for teachers to have a variety of ways for teaching Calendar Math.  One of her ideas is to create a calendar binder for each student.  Using the website, she takes you through how to make the binders, use them effectively, and the benefits for students.

These resources will help you to teach money to 2nd graders, utilizing great on-line interactive websites, lesson plans, and a variety of books. Money is an essential concept for children to learn and for them to be able to recognize how combining different denominations of coins can equal each other.

In regards to money, there are a lot of great books that teach the concept and incorporate how money is made, allowance, what you can buy with money, and how different coins added together equal others. I found these books to be the most useful for the classroom:

Making Cents– By Elizabeth Keeler Robinson, illustrated by Bob McMahon

This book is a story about children trying to save up to build a clubhouse and along the way they earn money in a variety of ways. It not only incorporates great pictures of coins and dollar bills, but it also tells who is on the face of each dollar bill. The book explains what you can buy with each coin denomination and dollar bills as well as visually showing children how many different ways you can make certain amounts, such as $1.00.

If You Made a Million – By David M. Schwartz, illustrated by Steven Kellogg

This book is a great visual representation of money equilvalencies and can really get children to understand how there are many ways to make $1.00 such as 100 pennies,20 nickels, 10 dimes, 4 quarters, or 1 dollar bill. It explains what you can buy with each amount as you earn it throughout the book and goes all the way up to 1 million. The concept of putting money in the bank to gain interest is also explored.

The Coin Counting Book– By Rozanne Lanczak Williams

This is a rhyming book on money and talks about trading coins for other coins. It explains coin equilvalencies and each money value is represented in words, pictures, and numbers. The book uses grouping to count the coins and also works a little on counting by tens in pennies to get to $1.00.

One Cent, Two Cents, Old Cent, New Cent: All About Money – by Bonnie Worth, illustrated by Aristides Ruiz and Joe Mathieu

This is a great Dr. Seuss rhyming book that starts with where money came from and how it was used in ancient times in bartering. The story goes on to how coins were gradually made by metal and how coins were different in different countries. It talks about United States currency and shows pictures some of the coins and of each of the dollar bills and whose face is on them.

The Penny Pot– By Stuart J. Murphy, illustrated by Lynne Cravath

This story begins at a school fair and one little girl, Jessie, really wanted to get her face painted and didn’t have 50 cents to do so. Throughout the book other kids come to the table to get their face painted and the book shows each coin they put in the jar. When they have more than 50 cents, they put the change in the penny pot. At the end of the story, with Jessie’s money and the money in the penny pot she finally has enough money to get her face painted, with a few pennies left over. This book shows different ways to get 50 cents and uses numbers and visual representations of counts to count.

Web Sites
I found a lot of great websites for kids to learn about money and explore the concept of counting. My five favorites are below.

Hands on Banking: This website is made by Wells Fargo Bank and through the help of an alien, walks kids through what money is, how you make it, and what banks do. It talks about buying items as well.

Toon University: This website gives kids a numeric money value at the top of the page and has coins at the bottom of the page. Kids drag coins into the cup to get to the appropriate amount. This gives kids a great opportunity to explore the easiest way to get to a larger amount instead of using smaller coins.

Superkidz: This website allows kids to pick which person they want to shop with at the store. For each problem, there are 3 items shown with the amount they cost. Kids figure out the problem by subtracting the amount of the item they bought from their initial amount. It not only gives kids a great way to practice counting money based on the picture of the coin, but it gives them great subtraction practice.

Cash Out: This is a great interactive game for kids to play and they are the cashier. They help customers make purchases and the customer tells them the amount of the item, how much they are paying with, and the change they need back. The kids choose the correct coins to give the right amount of change back to the customer.

Memory Game: This game is on the governments website and it allows kids to correctly match coins by front and back. It is just like a regular memory game but with coins.

Additional Resources

Printable Money– These are great visual models of real coins that can be printed and used as manipulatives in the classroom.

Berenstain Bears Lesson Plan – This lesson plan not only incorporates money and savings, but it is also a good lesson on economics for students using the book, “The Berstain Bears Trouble with Money.”

Changing Face of Money – This lesson plan gives children the opportunity to evaluate what they think has been used as a form of money and what has not. It explains how the face of money has changed a lot over time and in the end they should be able to describe a few changes that have taken place over the years with money.

US Mint for Teachers – This government website gives teachers tons of resources to use in the classroom to teach money. It has lesson plans, financial literacy, book lists, helpful websites, a glossary, and lots more.

MegaPenny Project – This website is a great visualization for kids to see actually how much one thousand, one million, and up to one trillion pennies looks like. It gives kids a chance to see how much a big number is but it starts out with smaller amounts.

This post is intended to be helpful in teaching addition facts up to 18 and the corresponding subtraction facts to first graders.  The books and websites selected offer resources on different levels for those students who may be struggling, and for others who made need enrichment.

BEST BOOKS FOR TEACHING ADDITION & SUBTRACTION

• The Hershey's Kisses Addition Book by Jerry Pallotta illustrated by Rob Bolster:  This book introduces children to basic addition. It illustrates a plus sign, a minus sign, an equal sign and a Hershey’s Kiss, which is the counting unit used throughout the book. From there, clowns carry, drag, throw and juggle Hershey’s Kisses to illustrate each addition equation. Most of the equations use single digits, but the book then adds single digits to the number 10. Equations are done horizontally and vertically.
• The Hershey's Kisses Subtraction Book by Jerry Pallotta illustrated by Rob Bolster:  Because children love chocolate, this book is a great way to teach them the basics of subtraction with Hershey’s Kisses. This is an appropriate follow up to The Hershey's Kisses Addition Book by the same author.
• The Mission of Addition by Brian P. Cleary illustrated by Brian Gable: This book introduces young readers to basic addition concepts in a fun, playful way. The story combines silly illustrations of cat-like characters drawn in bright vibrant colors, with playful rhyme, to teach addition starting with simple problems and progressing to more difficult throughout the story.
• The Action of Subtraction by Brian P. Cleary illustrated by Brian Gable: The book adds a sense of humor to the subject of subtraction, proving that sometimes, less is really more. The comical cats show young readers the basic concept of taking one number away from another.
• The M&M's Addition Book by Barbara Barbieri McGrath:  Rhyming text and illustrations use candy to teach mathematical skills, including review of counting and estimation and single and double digit addition.

BEST WEBSITES FOR KIDS TO EXPLORE ADDITION & SUBTRACTION

• CoolMath4Kids These two links offer several choices to students to explore the topic of addition and subtraction .  The addition page offers a beginner’s lesson on addition, including written steps and pictorial representation of this operation.  It also offers a number line activity, using a yard stick (or ruler) to practice addition instead of using finger counting. There are several other options offered to practice two and three-digit addition for the expert student!  The subtraction page also offers a beginner’s lesson on subtraction, including written steps and pictorial representation of this operation.  The yard stick activity is adapted to teach subtraction, and this page also offers instruction on fact families to help students to begin understanding the relationship between addition and subtraction.  There are also a few other activities which include place value and two/three-digit subtraction for the student who has mastered the basics.
• Math Cats This website has an enormous amount of resources available for teaching math including lesson plans and worksheets.  The word problem activity offers over 100 math word problems and their level of difficulty is categorized by cats of different ages including kitten, house cat, alley cat, etc.  The categories most appropriate for first graders are kittens and alley cats.  All categories offer numeric solutions as well as answers in word format.
• Math is Fun! This is an awesome website which offers resources on all areas of math by category, as well as math worksheets and a helpful dictionary of math terms.  Specifically, the addition resources include the definition of addition and other helpful vocabulary terms, both numeric and pictorial representations of addition, links to related activities, and an addition table.  Similarly, the subtraction resources include the definition of subtraction and other helpful vocabulary terms, both numeric and pictorial representations of the operation, subtraction table, and links to other related activities.
• Fun Brain This interactive website offers links to several addition and subtraction games which are a fun way for first graders to practice these operations and maybe even get a little competitive with each other! Those which are specifically related to the this topic are the following: Soccer Shootout (Whole Numbers), MathCar Racing, Tic Tac Toe Squares, Math Baseball, and Line Jumper.  All of the games prompt the student to select an easy, medium, or hard group of addition and subtraction problems in order to allow differentiation.  The solution to every problem is offered immediately after an answer is selected by the user, and the program also keeps score as the student plays.
• AAA Math This website offers several categories of resources to help teach both addition and subtraction.  The relevant  addition topics include basic addition – adding using objects, numbers, and words; addition facts – including facts up to 20; addition – topics from mental math to using calculators; properties and relationships – relationships between addition/subtraction and addition/multiplication; and addition skills – adding money, time, and other uses of addition.  The helpful subtraction topics include basic subtraction – subtracting using objects, numbers, and words; subtraction facts – including facts up to 20; subtraction – topics from mental math to using calculators; and relationships – exploring link between subtraction/addition and subtraction/division.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES FOR SUPPORTING INSTRUCTION

• Counting Wildflowers Lesson available on Hotchalk’s Lesson Plans Page – Incorporates reading the book Counting Wildflowers by Bruce McMillan with addition and subtraction practice. The students are presented with different scenarios throughout the pages of the book which gives them a pictorial representation of the operations.  After reading the book and performing the operations in several different ways, the students participate in an activity to make bouquets of fresh flowers with the greatest value.  The student who wins the competition is allowed to take the bouquet home to their mother.
• KidZone Addition and Subtraction  – Offer free printable worksheets for addition and subtraction practice using many different themes to get students interested in learning.  Problems are presented both vertically and horizontally and range from easy to more advanced.
• Math Cats Addition and Subtraction Idea Bank – Includes unique ideas for instructional strategies, directions for engaging addition and subtraction classroom activities, floor games, Cuisenaire rod games, information about fact families, and a forum for discussion among interested teachers.
• Ways to Teach Addition and Subtraction in the Early Grades article by Marilyn Burns – lists several different activity ideas including games and even classroom routines to help teach and reinforce addition and subtraction.  She also offers ideas for books and articles which relate to the topic.

Introduction
The topic I will be covering is Addition and Subtraction. The target grade will be Kindergarten, which is the grade that I plan to teach. The Standards of Learning this topic will cover is:

K.6 Math – The student will model adding and subtracting whole numbers, using up to 10 concrete objects.

Text Annotations
The following are some great books related to my topic of Addition and Subtraction. These are books that I will be able to read to or with my students in my Kindergarten classroom.

1. Jack The Builder by Stuart J. Murphy Illustrated by Michael Rex. – This book covers counting on, which builds on a student’s ability to add. A little boy uses blocks to build a robot and adds the parts on one by one.
2. Mall Mania by Stuart J. Murphy Illustrated by Renee Andriani. – This story takes place in a mall and practices addition strategies. In it, there is shopping, counting, and adding. The book uses elementary school students as the characters, which will help relate to the students when we read it.
3. Elevator Magic by Stuart J. Murphy Illustrated by G. Brian Karas. – A little boy subtracts his way down an elevator while encountering some magical sights. Great way for kids to practice subtraction.
4. Math for all Seasons by Greg Tang Illustrated by Harry Briggs. – This book has rhyming riddles. Kids can solve these by counting, or by using the author’s techniques. Kids can also develop great problem solving skills. It practices fun ways to add and subtract.
5. Ten Terrible Dinosaurs written and illustrated by Paul Stickland. – This book is a fun and entertaining way for kids to count back and subtract. It starts off with ten dinosaurs and the interesting scenarios they experience taking one away at a time.

Web Annotations
The following is a list of websites pertinent to my topic of addition and subtraction. These websites include games students can play to practice what we are learning.

1. Count Us In Practicing Addition – In this game, children have to put a certain amount of people on a bus to get the desired sum. It is a fun and interactive way to practice addition.
2. Addition and Subtraction Kindergarten Webpage Adding Bricks – In this activity, students count the number of bricks the workers dump to find the sum.
3. BBC Homepage The Little Animals Activity Center – Students take away the number of dots on one lady bug from another to practice finding the difference in a subtraction problem.
4. Kidport Kindergarten How Many? – Students count the number of shapes to get the total number. This will help build on addition skills for young children.
5. Pitara Kids Network Learning to Add and Subtract – Students will add or subtract the picture objects to find the correct sum or difference.

Additional Resources
The following are additional resources to help support instruction for this topic.

1. The Blue Bean Game – This lesson idea comes from education.com. The goal of this game is to practice addition skills with kindergarten students. Large Lima beans will be colored two different colors on opposite sides. After they are colored, you are to place them in a cup, shake them up, and toss them out. The student will have a piece of paper with the appropriate color in correlation to the lima beans and color on their paper the colors of each lima bean they see. They will add the individual colors and get the appropriate sum.
2. Subtraction Coloring Page – The template on this website has coloring pages that students can use to practice subtraction. Students this age love to color so I think it would be a great way to incorporate fun and math into one!
3. Candy Corn Kindergarten Math Lesson Plan – This lesson generates ideas to use candy in correlation to students learning to subtract. It is instructed for Halloween but can be adapted to any holiday or can even be used generally. Kids love candy at all ages, so what other better way to show kids concepts for subtraction then by eating candy away!

The following resources were chosen to be used in a kindergarten classroom.  As these youngsters begin to familiarize themselves with numbers and counting, books and websites are a great tools to facilitate their learning.

BOOKS:

Anno’s Counting Book,  written and illustrated by Matsumasa Anno – This book is wordless and introduces students to the number system.  The book goes through the 12 months, showing the growth of the town while providing the number written in large font on each page.

How Many Seeds in a Pumpkin?, written by Margaret McNamara and illustrated by G. Brian Karas – This book tells a story about a class being asking to count the seeds in a pumpkin.  The students must estimate and then groups skip count seeds in different ways: by twos, by fives, and by tens.

10 Little Rubber Ducks, written and illustrated by Eric Carle – The book is about 10 rubber ducks who are being skipped across the sea, but a wave knocks them into the ocean.  Then 10 ducks are swept in different directions.  This book is a great way to show your students ordinal positioning because it shows where each duck goes in order (1st, 2nd, 3rd, and so on to 10th).

My Little Sister Ate One Hare, written by Bill Grossman and illustrated by Bill Hawkes – In this grotesque cumulative counting book,  a little sister eats two snakes, three ants, but when she has to eat ten peas, she just can’t do it!  The book also rhymes.

The M&M’s Count to One Hundred Book, written by Barbara Barbieri McGrath – A rhyming book that uses M&M candies to illustrate counting to 100 by putting the candies in rows.  Students can use real M&Ms to follow along with the book and count by ones, twos, fives, and tens.

INTERACTIVE WEBSITES FOR STUDENTS:

• Curious George’s Count Your Chickens game is an interactive counting game to 10.  Chickens are in a pin and students must count them and then choose the correct number.  Once the student chooses a number, The Man with the Yellow Hat check the students work and counts out loud.

• Fishy Count is another game that asks students to count up to 10.  Fish swim across the screen and then stop.  Once they stop, the student counts the number of fish and chooses an answer.  If they student guesses the wrong answer, the game will count out loud, correcting the problem.

• Count the Cubes sets cubes in tricky places and asks students to count.  Students count and can either choose a number on the screen or type the number on their keyboard.  Students get points for answering correctly and even more points if they arrive at the answer quickly.

• Squigley’s Apple is a very simple game to help students with ordinal positions. Squigley the worm hides in one of the 10 apples.  Students are asked to figure out what apple Squigley is in and pick to ordinal number that tells the number of Squigley’s apple.

• A ghost in Spooky Sequences is missing a number.  Students can either choose to play a sequence that skips counts by fives or by tens.  Once students figure out what number in the sequence is missing, they can click the numbers and press enter to see if their answer is correct.  If their answer is correct, Spooky goes back into his haunted house and a new sequence will appear.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES (FOR TEACHERS):

• Numbers and counting offers an example of a counting math center.  With picture examples, links, and downloadable materials, this site has everything a teacher needs to create the perfect counting math center.
• Mathwire: Counting Games has downloadable math games that can be used as part of a lesson or at centers.  The site also has a link to online games that help students understand basic math concepts.
• Counting and Numbers has great counting activities for students.  Since this site is geared toward pre-schoolers, it would probably be best to use these activities early in the year when kindergardeners are learning basic counting (1-10 or 1-15).  The activities offered on this site not only help to strengthen counting skills, but also promotes gross motor development.

The most important part of mathematics teaching at all grade levels is the development of problem solving skills.  In fifth grade, students build on information they learned in third and fourth grade about the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division and their relationships.  The Virginia Mathematics Standard of Learning5.4 (Feb 2009) states that “the student will create and solve single-step and multi-step  practical problems involving addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division with and without remainders of whole numbers”.  Below I have included several resources which books, websites and other helpful resources, that can be used when teaching this SOL.

GREAT BOOKS TO USE WHEN TEACHING THIS TOPIC:

THE GRAPES OF MATH

Written by Greg Tang and illustrated by Harry Briggs

In this book, Greg Tang shows readers creative strategies to use in solving a variety of math problems by using patterns and combinations of numbers.

SPAGHETTI AND MEATBALLS FOR ALL!

Written by Marilyn Burns and illustrated by Debbie Tilley

This book is about Mr. and Mrs. Comfort who decide to have a family reunion.  Thirty two guests are coming to the reunion.  Mr. and Mrs. Comfort must decide how to seat their guests.  Students can practice their division skills with this book as Mr. Comfort bakes 16 loaves of bread and rolls 96 meatballs for the 32 guests.

 MATH POTATOES – MIND STRETCHING BRAIN FOOD

Written by Greg Tang and illustrated by Harry Briggs

This book includes mind-stretching riddles and creative ways to solve them by grouping numbers rather than memorizing formulas.

MATH CURSE

Written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith

This book begins with the teacher telling her class that they can think of almost everything as a math problem.  From that point on one student acquires a math anxiety which becomes a real curse.

THE MAN WHO COUNTED

Written by Malba Tahan and illustrated by Patricia Reid Baquero

This book is a series of tales in the style of the “Arabian Nights”, but revolving around mathematical puzzles and curiosities.

FIVE GREAT WEBSITES FOR KIDS TO EXPLORE AND PRACTICE THIS TOPIC:

1.  “MATH HOOPS”

http://www.mathplayground.com/mathhoops_Z1.html

This website provides word problems using whole numbers.  Problems range from single step addition to multi-step equations.  There are also problems with remainders.  When students answer five questions correctly they are given the chance to play some basketball.

2.  “CAMERON’S TRIP”

http://www.beaconlearningcenter.com/WebLessons/CameronsTrip/default.htm

This website gives students practice at multiplication and division by solving real-world problems.

3.  “MATH STORIES WITH LEON”

http://www.iknowthat.com/com/L3?Area=WordProblems

Students solve addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division word problems through math stories with Leon the Chameleon.

4.  “ARE YOU A MATH MAGICIAN?”

http://resources.oswego.org/games/mathmagician/maths1.html

This website provides students two levels of practice with the operations of addition, subtraction, multiplication, and division. Students can practice the operations individually or mixed.

5.  “MIGHTY MATH CALCULATING CREW”

http://www.harcourtschool.com/activity/mmath/mmath_knack.html

This is a multiplication activity from Harcourt School’s Mighty Math Calculating Crew, in which students are asked to solve multiplication problems that require regrouping.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES:

1.  “Be a Mathematician”

http://www.beam.co.uk/freeresources.php

This website provides an expansive selection of free resources for math for children ages 3 – 13.  It also provides information on the latest research, through discussion papers and articles, regarding different topics in mathematics.

2.  “Dr. Mike’s Math Games for Kids”

http://www.dr-mikes-math-games-for-kids.com/fifth-grade-math-games.html

This website provides an array of math problem solving game resources for fifth grade.

3.  “Mental Mathematics”

http://eduref.org/Virtual/Lessons/Mathematics/Arithmetic/ATH0014.html

This link is to a lesson plan on teaching students how to do mental mathematics.  This lesson shows students how to mentally come up with answers to problems without using pencils, paper or calculators.

4.  “About.com:  Mathematics”

http://math.about.com/od/wordproblem1/ss/gr5wp.htm

This website provides several word problem worksheets that are specific for fifth grade.

5.  “Math Stars Newsletter”

http://community.learnnc.org/dpi/math/archives/MathStarsG5.pdf

This is a link to a math problem-solving newsletter provided by the North Carolina State Board of Education.  Newsletters are provided for grades 1 – 8 and are available to download as PDF files.