Today we started Unit 4 and the first Big Idea works on counting money amounts.  When children count money amounts, they draw on their ability to skip count or to add quickly, and they learn to shift the counting amount when counting different coins.  At 2nd grade level, children are given coins in order from greatest to least value.  At home, you could practice counting money with your child by first collecting a group of coins and sort them.  Please then point out that ordering the coins before counting makes it easier to count the coins quickly.

Finding and learning the coins combinations that are equivalent to a nickel, a dime, a quarter, and a dollar gives children much practice in adding within 100 and is important as a real life skill.