HOW TO USE COUNT MONEY AS A TEACHING TOOL

Learn the Names of Coins

Name coins

To learn the names of coins choose the Identify Coins or Count Coins activities in the Count Money program. In each of these activities a group of coins appears in the large window. Pictures of quarters, dimes, nickels and pennies show on the screen. You can have the student learn the names of coins by showing one coin at a time, or by naming selected coins from the group.

To show one coin at a time, instead of in a group, choose a New Problem in the Identify Coins activity. The directions tell you to choose a coin. Select the correct coin and the other coins disappear leaving the one coin. Tell the student the name of the coin. To emphasize the name of just one type of coin, you can show the same coin repeatedly by choosing New Problem until the direction calls for the coin you are trying to emphasize. After you have told the student the name of the coin ask the student to name that coin when you have it shown in isolation.

To practice naming coins in the group, in either the Identify Coins or Count Coins activities, point to each coin individually and tell the student the name of the coin. Ask the student to tell you the name of each coin as you point to each coin. When the student can name each coin individually, point to more than one coin and prompt with "These coins are all ___". The student should be able to recognize that all the same coins have the same name.

Choose the Count Coins activity to be able to isolate coins from the group while the group is still visible. With Count Coins you can click on one coin from the group on the left side of the screen and move it to a clean field on the right side of the screen. Ask the student to name the coin you moved. Move all the coins of one type to the right side of the screen and ask the student what all these coins are called.

Read the names of the coins

When doing any of the activities in Count Money start by having the Allow Talking option turned on. After the student hears the direction, ask the student to read the direction. Tell the student to point to the word naming the coin. Or, point to the word and ask the student what coin that names. Once the student can read the words with the help of the talking prompt, turn off the talking option and have the student read the direction that is written on the screen.