How to teach counting coins

Grade 1 to Grade 4

Counting coins means finding the total value of a handful of coins. The tricky part is that a coin's value is not its size: a small coin can be worth more than a big one. Counting is quickest when you start from the highest-value coin and count on.

How to teach it

1. Learn each coin's value by heart first, separate from its size, since size is a misleading clue.
2. Sort the coins from highest value to lowest before counting.
3. Count on from the largest: start at the biggest coin's value and add each smaller coin in turn.
4. Group coins that make a round number (two 50s make a dollar) to keep the running total tidy.
5. Move on to writing the total with a dollar sign and decimal point, and then to making change.

Common mistakes

• Valuing coins by size rather than by their marked worth.
• Counting the number of coins instead of their total value.
• Losing the running total when mixed coins are not sorted first.
• Forgetting to convert 100 cents into one dollar.