Money Word Problems: What can I buy with the change in my pocket?

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SWBAT choose items to buy given costs of the item and the amount of money at hand.

Big Idea

Students determine what items they can buy with the coins that they have on hand.


5 minutes

 I start class by posting  the following coins on the board.  (You could also place coin manipulatives underneath the document camera). 

 On your white board, write down how much money I have.

 I allow students 1-2 minutes to determine the total. 

Introduction to New Material

10 minutes

I ask a student to share his/her answer.  

I have $.71!  Now, I went to the store this morning and saw some items that I want to buy:



Cereal-- $.70


On your white board, help me figure out what items I can buy using my $.71.

I allow students 3-4 minutes to work.  I circulate as students work to determine understanding of the problem and what strategies students are using.  When students have finished working I ask them to turn to a partner. 

Turn and Talk:  What items can I buy using my $.71 How do you know?

As students share, I circulate to determine understanding of the problem and what strategies students are using. I  ask guiding questions: How do you know that I can only buy those items?  Is there another combination of items I can buy?  How did you figure out which items I can buy with my $.71?

After a 1 minute share, I bring students back together and have students 2-3 students share how they figured out which items I could buy. Some students might use mental math to add the items up and determine which items equal $.71.  Some students might add the various items up until they get $.71. I notate student strategies on the board for future reference.

Guided Practice

10 minutes

Now that we have had the chance to work as a whole group, you are going to work as partners to solve a problem similar to our problem of the day.

I divide students into heterogeneous partners and have them work on the guided practice problem.  I circulate as students work to check on strategies and understanding.

When finished, I bring the class back together and have students share their work and what strategies they used to find their answer.

Independent Practice

10 minutes

During the independent practice, students work alone on practice problems similar to the problems that were done as a whole group during the introduction to new material and in partners during the guided practice.

As students work, I circulate to check for understanding and support students who are struggling with this assignment. 

See: Student explaining work


5 minutes

Today we worked on determining what items we could buy based on the amount of money we have. Let’s close today’s lesson by sharing out our work on our first independent practice problem.  Turn to your partner and share your work. 

When students are finished sharing, I ask 1-2 students to share the strategies that they used to the entire class.