3rd Grade · Math · 2.MD.C.8
Counting Money Lesson Plan for 3rd Grade
A ready-to-teach counting money lesson for 3rd Grade. Everything below is classroom-tested structure: an objective, a 45-minute sequence, a way to check who got it, and 6 printable practice pages.
Approximately 45 minutes
Learning objective
- Count combinations of pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters
- Identify the value of each of the four common US coins
- Calculate the total value of a mixed group of coins
Materials
- Pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters
- The 4 coins plus $1 bills
- The 4 coins plus $1 and $5 bills
- The 4 coins plus $1, $5 and $10 bills
- Shopping word problems (no decimals)
- Shopping word problems
- Pencils, and whiteboard space for the modeled examples
Lesson steps
1. Warm up together (5 min)
Count around the circle before anyone sits down, then ask where counting money shows up outside this room. Listen for who counts confidently and who is watching a neighbour's lips.
2. Model it (I do) (10 min)
Work two examples of counting money where everyone can see, saying each number aloud as you go. Miscount once on purpose and wait: the child who corrects you has it.
3. Practice together (we do) (10 min)
Work three more problems as a class. Ask a different student to supply each step rather than the whole answer. If a step stalls, drop back to concrete objects or a drawing before moving on.
4. Independent practice (you do) (15 min)
Hand out "Pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters". Students work independently while you circulate. Note who is fluent, who is counting on fingers, and who has not started, because that grouping drives tomorrow's small group.
5. Close the loop (5 min)
Pull the class back. Ask one student to explain a problem they got right and one to name something that is still confusing. End on the confusion, not the success, so students learn that naming a gap is normal.
Check for understanding
Collect the practice pages and sort them into three piles: fluent, developing, and not yet. Any student in the third pile needs counting money retaught in a small group before the class moves on.
Differentiation
Extra support. Students who stall: pull them into a small group and rebuild counting money with concrete materials or a simpler text before asking for the written work again. Do not send the page home as homework, it will just rehearse the misunderstanding.
Extension. Students who finish early: ask them to write their own counting money problem for a partner to solve, then check the partner's work. Creating a problem is harder than solving one and it surfaces whether they really understand counting money.
Skills covered in this lesson
Pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters · The 4 coins plus $1 bills · The 4 coins plus $1 and $5 bills · The 4 coins plus $1, $5 and $10 bills · Shopping word problems (rounded to nearest $1) · Shopping word problems (with decimals) · Money in words (numbers to words) · Money in words (words to numbers) · Nickels, dimes and quarters · Nickels, dimes, quarters and loonies · Nickels, dimes, quarters, loonies & toonies · The 5 coins plus $5 bills
