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All I Have is a $2 Bill: A First Grade Adventure

All I Have is a $2 Bill: A First Grade Adventure

Jim & Susan Cantrell

Unit 5 Schools

Summer 2005

Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States.

By Popular Demand: Portraits of the Presidents

and First Ladies, 1789-Present

Library of Congress,

Prints and Photographs Division

These integrated lesson plans,focusing on the $2 bill, can be put together as a unit plan or used individually depending on the abilities and interests of your students. First graders work on their money math skills throughout the year.These lessons were created to spark interest and help first graders master their money skills.

Overview/State Standards/Resources/Procedures/Evaluation

Overview
Objectives / Students will:
  • Strengthen math skills related to money
  • Create an interest in the history of money and its importance
  • Understand how money is used in daily life
  • Be proficient at counting money

Recommended time frame / 10 lessons
Grade level / 1st
Curriculum fit / Math, Language Arts, Social Studies
Resources /
  • Image table
  • PowerPoint Presentation
  • All I Have is a $2 Bill sound file

IllinoisStateLearning Standards Back to Navigation Bar
Math:
GOAL 7: Estimate, make and use measurements of objects, quantities and relationships and determine acceptable levels of accuracy.
  • 7A. Measure and compare quantities using appropriate units, instruments and methods.
Language Arts:
GOAL 1: Read with understanding and fluency.
GOAL 2: Read and understand literature representative of various societies, eras and ideas.
GOAL 3: Write to communicate for a variety of purposes.
GOAL 4: Listen and speak effectively in a variety of situations.
GOAL 5: Use the language arts to acquire, assess and communicate information.
Social Sciences:
GOAL 14: Understand political systems, with an emphasis on the United States.
  • 14C. Understand election processes and responsibilities of citizens.
GOAL 15: Understand economic systems, with an emphasis on the United States
  • 15D.Understand trade as an exchange of goods or services.

Procedures Back toNavigation Bar
Introduction:
Introduce your students with the Microsoft PowerPoint presentation:
All I Have is a $2 Bill, A First Grade Adventure
Students are guided through pictures and interesting information about the $2 bill to the singing of Lost All My Money But a Two Dollar Bill. Historical pictures from the Library of Congress are paired with comments and questions to add enjoyment and thinking about how money is used to satisfy our wants and needs!
After viewing the PowerPoint, allow time for discussion and questions. A teacher led discussion could follow based on questions posed in the power point. An area of the classroom should display money posters, coins, related literature, materials to create mini-books, coin rubbings or impressions, and related math materials related to money for math explorations. Be sure to include a recording of the song from the Microsoft PowerPoint and a copy of the words as well. You will also want your students to revisit the PowerPoint on their own or as a group. Any of the following lessons can then be implemented.
Lesson One:
History of the $2 bill:
Visit to share the history of U. S. currency and the $2. Lead the class in a shared writing activity in their journals of the history of the $2 bill. Have them illustrate their writing. Send home some questions (and facts) in your weekly newsletter for discussion at home as well as the website for learning at home. A teacher made work sheet could be used for parents and children to complete as they check out this site. Families with no internet access could be invited to use the classroom computer.
Lesson Two:
Display an enlarged copy of a $2 bill. Have children name things they could buy for about $2. Compare the cost of today’s school lunch to the cost of food on the Bill of Fare in the PowerPoint. Brainstorm reasons for cost increases. For *homework, have parents and especially, grandparents, share what they could buy for $2 when they were first graders. Share these and display on a bulletin board with a $2. *Include a teacher made form or paper for this assignment. Ask parents to print so their ideas can be shared with others. Later these can be made into a class book that each child can help illustrate. It can also be sent home with each child to read and share.
Lesson Three:
Have each student write a paragraph telling how they would use a $2 bill to make the world a better place. This writing assignment could be tied intogiving during the holidays or citizen responsibility during Earth Week. Have students illustrate their work. Display and/or make into a class book to share with others.
Lesson Four:
During math explorations have students make groups of coins in $2 amounts. Have them use money stamps to duplicate their $2 groupings. Send these home with a note for parents to do some money counting with their child for homework.
Lesson Five:
Using a money dice, tally the rolls needed to reach a total of $2. This could be a game to play with a partner or small group activity with a parent volunteer. It could also be part of your morning
math routine. Students could also take turns showing $2 with overhead money as a morning math routine.
Lesson Six:
Using grocery store sale fliers have the children cut and paste items that equal about $2. Have them make a number model, i.e. 23c + 57c + $1.00= $1.80, for the items selected. Review how to write money number models. Follow-up with a related homework assignment and/or math assessment.
Lesson Seven:
Sing the song, Lost All My Money But a Two DollarBill. Brainstorm why or how the person singing the song had lost all but $2. Perhaps some of their ideas could become new verses for the song! Be sure to add the new song to their poetry collection binder and send home the new song in your newsletter. Will your music teacher want to help with this assignment? Or enjoy hearing the song?
Lesson Eight:
A math center containing lots of coins and money task cards could be used.
Ideas for task cards:
  • Count out 200 cents with pennies. Group your pennies in 10 frames.
  • Count out 200 cents using nickels.
  • Count out 200 cents using dimes.
  • Count out 200 cents using quarters.
  • Count out 200 cents using half-dollars.
  • Count out 200 cents using dimes and nickels.
Have them record their information in their math journal or on a teacher-made worksheet.
Have students solve number models with money amounts up to $2. This would be great to do in small groups with coins and a parent volunteer!
Lesson Nine:
Have each student create their own $2. After discussing why students think the art work changes and who decides on the changes have them design and create their own bills. A committee at the Department of the Treasury is in charge of this process. Historical events usually are featured in the art on coins and bills. There is a video called The Story of Money that shows an artist working on creating the art for a new bill. It also shows the process used to create new bills being created from beginning to end. The video is from the Treasury Department. Additional information about the artwork on U. S. currency is available at
Lesson Ten:
Depending on the interests of your class, develop a class book with information learned in the above lessons. My students love to see these books illustrated with photos taken of them working on the activities related to the subject of the book being made. Children get to take turns taking the book home to share with their families. Individual books of your class book (text only) can be duplicated for the children to learn to read and illustrate. If budget allows, some color pictures can be duplicated for the children to paste into their books.
Evaluation Back to Navigation Bar
  • None included

An Adventure of the American Mind

IllinoisStateUniversity