In a previous lesson, students recognized pennies, nickels, and dimes, and learned their values. They used different strategies to find the value of a mixed set of coins.

In this lesson, students recognize the quarter and learn its value. They find the values of groups of coins and look for ways to represent the same value with different coins. Throughout the lesson, students make connections between quarters and combinations of other coins and notice that if they look for ways to use coins with greater values first, they can be more certain of using the fewest amount of coins (MP8).

In both activities, students continue to practice finding the values of coin collections, using methods for adding within 100. Throughout the lesson, look for the different ways students find the values of coin collections and organize their thinking. While some students will continue to group like coins and add to find the total value, others will count on from the greatest value (25, 35, 45, 50, 55, 56, 57, 58) or look for other ways to use ten (25, 30, 40, 50, 55, 56, 57, 58).

Which students impressed you with their ways of organizing coins and finding total values? How can you leverage what these students know to ensure they develop strategies to solve story problems in the context of money in the upcoming lessons?