Day 1: Spending and Receiving Change-Dollars and Cents
Title: Subtraction- Dollars
and Cents
Day One: Content
Development
Grade Level:
3-5
Resources for Lesson:
High Yield Routines: Alike and Different
Origo Fundamentals: Red Level Pages 40-43
Lesson: Dollars and Cents simulates the procedure
Guiding (Focus) Question:
for spending and receiving change by adding and
How can I find out how much change I should get
subtracting. At this level calculations will bridge
after spending money?
across a whole dollar.
Unit Learning Targets:
Solve multiple step problems to add and subtract dollars and cents.
Success Criteria:
I can use strategies to correctly add and subtract money accurately.
Mathematical Practices
Content Standards:
Time for Lesson:
SMP 1
2.MD.C.8
Warm Up: 10 Minutes
SMP 2
4.MD.A.2
Content Development: 20 Minutes
SMP 3
4.NF.C.7
Game: 20 Minutes
5.NBT.B.7
Reflection: 10 Minutes
Content Objectives:
Language Objectives:
I can determine the amount of money when I add dollars
and cents together.
I can determine how much change I should get when I
subtract the money I have by the money I spend.
(Throughout unit make sure all four language modalities,
reading, writing, speaking and listening are addressed)
Key Vocabulary
Amount Saved
Amount Spent
Amount Left Over
Names of Coins
 Quarter
 Dime
 Nickel
I can discuss how I calculated the change I will receive.
I can record and discuss the amount spent and the
amount left over.
Lesson Supports
Manipulatives:
Coins (nickel, dime, quarter, small bills)
Strategies chart
Add total money then
subtract
Take one money
amount at time off the
total value
Start with the amount
rolled and add up to
the amount spent.
Other Strategy
The strategies on the chart reflect some
ideas. Use this idea to develop your own
class’s strategies and record them as
students share.
Materials:
Dollar and Cents Game Sheet
(Page 42)
Three (3) money cubes for each
pair of students (see page 40)
Coins (real or play)
Student Engagement: Leadership
How will this lesson develop leadership skills for our
migrant students?
3. I am healthy and plan financially.
Strategies to develop leadership skills:
Discuss saving and spending money. Prompt students with
example such as…
How can you earn extra money?
What can you save money for?
What are some items that cost around $5.00?
Warm Up: Alike and Different
Provide students with two money amounts: $1.25 and $0.75. How are these two values alike? How are
they different?
Content Development:
How can I determine how much money I have? As a group roll the three number
cubes needed for the game. Have students discuss with their partners the total
on the three number cubes. Next discuss how you would write that total using
money notation. Roll One: $2, 25c, and 10c-total and how do I write this total
(example)
Ask how do they know this? Do several more times.
Suppose I have $9.25 cents and I roll $5, 25c and 10c number cubes. How much
money would I have left over? (Have students suggest different ideas).
Possible strategies include (but are not limited to):
 Add the value of the number cubes and subtract from the original
amount
 Have $9.25 then take away values of coins one at time ( take away $5.00
and then I would have $4.25, then take away a quarter and I have $4.00,
then take away 10 cents and I have $3.90)
 Start with the value on the cubes $5.35 and add up until you get to 9.25
(First I go from $5.35 to $8.35-that’s $3.00, then it is 10 cents less than
one more dollar, so it would be 90 cents or $3.90.
Notes:
Have dollar and cents Player
One and Player Two as a
chart.
Provide “play” money for
students as a model to use.
*If students are proficient at
the game they can use the
Beyond the game for an extra
challenge.
Game Activity:




Model the game by using the game chart from page 42, play 2 rounds with your students. Roll the three number
cubes, add together and place in the amount spent.
Determine how much the item was from the game sheet and discuss ways you could find the amount you had left
over. (Allow students to discuss different ways to find the difference.) Repeat until 2 rounds are complete.
Have students work with partners to play entire round.
Students who need an extra challenge can play “Dollars and Cents Again” where students shift their thinking to
how much more money will I need to save.
Reflection:
What were some of the subtraction strategies did you
use to play the game?
Ask students to justify true and false statements such
as:
Is $2, 25c and 10c equal to $2.40?
If I have $8.35 and spend $2.50, can I have $6.80?
Review and Assessment:
Exit Ticket:
You have $7.25. What could I roll on my number
cubes to subtract the amount mentally? What
amount would I have?
Example includes: I could roll $1, 10c, and 10c and
would have $6.05 because I took away one dollar
and 20 cents.
Home School Connection
Materials to Send Home:
Send number cubes and game sheets home for students to play with other Number cubes
family members.
Game Sheet/Pencil
Problem Solving-Finding Change
Title: Subtraction- Finding
Change
Day Two: Problem Solving
Grade Level:
3-5
Resources for Lesson:
High Yield Routines:
Illustrative Mathematics: Margie Buys Apples
Worksheets: Determining Change and Buying with
Change
Lesson:
Guiding (Focus) Question:
Using operations to solve word problems including
How can I find out how much change I should get
simple decimals. Represent measurement quantities after spending money?
using diagrams such as number line diagrams that
feature a measurement scale.
Unit Learning Targets:
Solve multiple step problems to add and subtract dollars and cents.
Success Criteria:
I can use strategies to correctly add and subtract money accurately.
Mathematical Practices:
Content Standards
Time for Lesson:
SMP 1
2.MD.C.8
Warm Up: 10 Minutes
SMP 2
4.MD.A.2
Content Development: 20 Minutes
SMP 3
4.NF.C.7
Problem Solving: 20 Minutes
5.NBT.B.7
Reflection: 10 Minutes
Content Objectives:
Language Objectives:
(Student Friendly)
(Throughout unit make sure all four language modalities,
reading, writing, speaking and listening are addressed)
Key Vocabulary
Receipt
Change
Change
Amount Left Over
Amount Spent
Lesson Supports
Graphic Organizer:
What important
information do I
know?
3 apples
50 cents each
Show Work:
Materials:
Problem Solving
Worksheets
Diagram/Model
See diagram on illustrative
worksheet with tape
diagram.
Answer Statement:
Margie will get back ___
money after buying three
apples.
Equation:
Margie Buys Apples
Determining Change
Buying with Change
Exit Ticket
Student Engagement: Leadership
How will this lesson develop leadership skills for our
migrant students?
3. I am healthy and plan financially.
Strategies to develop leadership skills:
Discuss saving and spending money. Prompt students with
example such as…
How can you earn extra money?
What can you save money for?
What are some items that cost around $5.00?
Warm Up: Alike and Different
Provide students with two money amounts: $0.55 and $0.80. How are these two values alike? How are
they different? Have students build upon the work they did with other money amounts. Also strive for your
students to try the ideas from other members of the class.
Content Development:
Pose the following question (orally and written): Margie bought 3 apples that
cost 50 cents each. She paid with a five dollar bill. How much change did
Margie get back?
 What is the question being asked? How can the question be turned
into a statement without an answer. (Example Margie got back ___ in
change.)
 What are the important pieces of information in the problem?
 How could we show our thinking in a diagram of some kind?
 What equations may I need to solve?
Notes:
I do, we do, we do, we do,
you do considerations of
scaffolding instruction.
Work through problem with entire group as a model.
Problem Solving Activity:
There are two problem solving experiences with change your students could engage with.
 First problem requires students to calculate the change received after buying four items with $20.00.
 The second problem requires students to determine the change from one item then assessing which
other item they could then buy.
Reflection:
Review and Assessment:
Share your groups’ thinking about either of the
Exit Ticket…
problems they chose to answer.
Hamburger Shack!
How much change did you get back (in either answer)
What additional item where you able to buy?
(Problem 2)
Home School Connection
Materials to Send Home:
Send number cubes and game sheets home for students to play with other
 Home School
family members.
Connection
 Dollars and Cents
Estimate how much change you would get back if you bought common grocery
Game Sheet
store items and paid for that item with different size bills.
 Number Cubes
Determining Change:
Find the change for the store receipt.
John’s Groceries
Eggs
$4.31
Milk
$4.25
Cheese
$4.99
Bread
$1.89
If you paid with a 20 dollar bill, how much change would you receive? Give a reason for your answer.
Buying with Change:
The table below shows the prices of several items at the movie theater.
Item
Candy
Water
Popcorn
Nachos
Soda
Price
$1.45
$1.85
$3.70
$2.35
$2.95
Evelyn had $5.00 when she went to the theater. If she bought one candy, what is the most expensive item she
can buy with the money she has left?
Justify your answer.
Exit Ticket:
Hamburger Shack
Hot Dog
$4.15
Burger
$3.75
Soda
$4.50
Shake
$1.75
At the Hamburger shack you bought some items. If
you paid with a $20 bill how much would you get
back?
Justify the amount you spent and the amount of
change you got back.
Exit Ticket:
Hamburger Shack
Hot Dog
$4.15
Burger
$3.75
Soda
$4.50
Shake
$1.75
At the Hamburger shack you bought some items. If
you paid with a $20 bill how much would you get
back?
Justify the amount you spent and the amount of
change you got back.
Home School Connection
Dollars and Cents: Calculating Change
Goal of the Game:
Your child will add and subtract money to determine how much they spent and how much change they will get back.
Money can be a useful way to learn about place value of decimals. By calculating change students are solving problems
with many steps.
Materials:
Dollars and Cents Game Sheet
Number Cubes with the following amounts:
 Cube A: $1, $1, $2, $2, $5, $5
 Cube B: 25c, 25c, 10c, 10c, 5c, and 5c
 Cube C: 25c, 25c, 10c, 10c, 5c, and 5c
How to Play:
The aim is to have the greater amount of change after each round.
1. Read aloud the amount of money you saved for the first round. (This is on the game sheet).
2. Roll the three number cubes and add those amounts together. Record this as the amount spent on the score
sheet.
3. Subtract the amount saved from the amount spent. Record the total in the “Amount Left Over” this is the
amount of change you should get.
4. The other player has a turn.
5. The player with the most change (money left over) at the end of each round scores one point.
6. The player with the most points at the end of all of the rounds is the winner.
Questions I could ask my child:
How can you tell quickly how much money you spent?
What is the greatest value you could roll?
What is the smallest value you could roll?
Can you calculate the amount left over in your head, or mentally?
Other Activities:
When you are at the store, ask your child what the different values there are for items. Ask them to estimate if you
subtracted that item from $5.00 how much change should you get.
Examples include:
Salsa sells for $3.99. If I rounded that to $4.00 and subtracted from $5.00 I would get back about a dollar.
Having your child estimate in the grocery store builds stronger number sense.