Growing Money Sense

WALT (We Are Learning To)

Understand and explore basic financial concepts through hands-on activities using play money, focusing on recognising, grouping, and making simple amounts with coins.

Learning Objectives

Aligned with the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh (Phase 1 - Years 0–3):

• Recognise and order New Zealand denominations up to $20 according to their value.
• Make groups of like denominations and calculate their value.
• Use play money to represent practical financial situations.
• Connect counting, grouping, and number language related to money.
• Develop early number structure concepts like subitising (recognising quantity without counting) and grouping collections.
• Engage in active communication using mathematical language such as more, less, same, combine, separate .

Success Criteria

• Students can identify New Zealand coins up to $2.
• Students can group coins of the same kind.
• Students can make simple amounts (e.g., combining two $1 coins to make $2).
• Students can use words like more, less, and same to compare groups of coins.
• Students actively participate in the hands-on shopping role-play and demonstrate sharing and counting skills.

Class

14 preschool students

Duration

30 minutes

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Lesson Plan Structure

1. Getting Started (5 minutes)

• Warm-up Conversation: Show a range of play coins ($1 and $2). Invite students to touch, hold, and name the coins.
• WALT Introduction: Write and explain: "We are learning to recognise and use coins to make money amounts."
• Engagement: Sing a simple money song incorporating count and coins.

2. Main Activity – 'Mini Market' Play (20 minutes)

Materials:

• Play money coins ($1 and $2 coins)
• Toy items with price tags ($1 or $2)
• Small baskets or bags for “shopping”
• Number lines or 10-frames to visually represent coins (if available)

Activity Steps:

• Demonstrate: Show how to group coins to make amounts (e.g., two $1 coins make $2). Use clear step-by-step explanations (deliberate acts of teaching).
• Hands-on Play: Children take turns as shoppers and shopkeepers in a mini-market. Shoppers choose an item and pay using play money coins.
• Counting and Grouping: Assist students to group coins and count totals. Encourage them to subitise small groups (recognise number without counting).
• Language Focus: Use specific mathematical vocabulary such as more, less, same, groups, combine, separate, total.
• Teacher Conditions: Circulate, scaffold learners’ thinking by asking guiding questions such as “How many $1 coins do you need to make $2?”, “Can you find more or less coins to pay for this?”

3. Reflecting and Connecting (5 minutes)

• Group Discussion: Gather children and ask them what they learned about money.
• Prompt Questions: "How did you know how much money you needed?", "Did you find it easy or tricky to count the coins?"
• Recap: Reinforce vocabulary and concepts from the lesson.
• Encourage Sharing: Invite students to show their favourite part of the activity.

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Differentiation Strategies

• For students needing support: Provide smaller groups of coins to count and use real objects alongside coins to support counting. Use visual aids such as number lines or 10-frames.
• For advanced learners: Challenge with making $3 or $4 using combinations of coins. Introduce simple addition with coins.
• Dyslexia-friendly options:
  • Use large, clear fonts on price tags.
  • Display coins and numbers with high contrast.
  • Use multi-sensory activities (handling coins, verbal repetition, visual cues).
  • Speak slowly and clearly, allowing processing time.

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Extension Activity

• Create a 'Coin Sorting' challenge where advanced students sort a mixed pile of play money coins into groups by denomination and count totals.
• Introduce simple story problems such as "If you have two $1 coins and want to buy an item worth $3, how many more $1 coins do you need?" (using images and coins).

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Teaching Considerations & Deliberate Acts of Teaching

• Use clear, manageable steps with think-aloud strategies during demonstrations.
• Engage students in active recall and connection to prior knowledge using games and physical interaction with coins.
• Support problem-solving by modelling counting strategies and grouping aloud.
• Provide meaningful contexts connected to everyday experiences such as shopping, fostering curiosity and resilience.
• Use mathematical vocabulary consistently to connect informal and formal language.
• Adapt and notice individual student responses to guide instruction in the moment.

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This lesson plan integrates the New Zealand Curriculum Refresh priorities for early childhood maths, emphasising active learning, hands-on engagement with money, mathematical communication, and foundational number concepts through financial literacy contexts . It employs deliberate acts of teaching by scaffolding and modelling, engaging multiple senses, and connecting learning to real-world situations in age-appropriate ways.