Counting Coins

Freddie and Zuri are so excited! "I can't believe we found three piggy banks in the dump today, we're going to be millionaires!" "I'm going to get a race car with my coins!" "Well, I'm going to get a diamond ring with mine!" Hold on just one second, Zuri and Freddie. Don't you think you should learn about counting coins before you go spending that money? Remember, coins are little, flat pieces of money made from metal. The coins we use are a range of colours, shapes and sizes. They all have different values. In the United Kingdom we use eight main coins. Six of them are worth pence and two of them are worth pounds. To represent pence we use a letter p and to represent pounds we use this symbol. The coins we use are a one p, a two p, a five p, a ten p, a twenty p, a fifty p, a one pound and a two pound coin. Let's use the first piggy bank to review the steps for counting coins. First, order the coins from greatest to least by writing the value of each one below it. How could we order the amount here from greatest to least? Fifty p, twenty p, ten p, ten p, five p and one p. Next, set up an equation by adding all of the values together. Then, solve the equation by adding up the values. Finally, put a p next to the answer to represent pence. Now that the first piggy bank is sorted, let's count the coins in Freddie's bank. First, order the coins from greatest to least by writing the value of each one below it. Freddie's order is twenty p, twenty p, five p, five p, two p, two p and one p. Next, set up an equation by adding all of the values together. Then, solve the equation by adding up all of the numbers. Finally, put a p next to the answer since this represents pence. Freddie has fifty-five pence to spend! Let's help Zuri count her coins! What is her first step? First, she must order her coins from greatest to least by writing the value of each one below. Zuri's order is fifty p, ten p, five p, two p, one p and another one p. What will Zuri do next? Next, she'll set up an addition equation to add the values of each coin together. How can Zuri solve the problem? She can add up all of the values to get sixty-nine. There's one last step Zuri needs to remember, what is it? She must remember to put a p next to sixty-nine. Zuri has sixty-nine pence! Before we see what Freddie and Zuri can afford, let's remember! Today we learnt about counting coins in the United Kingdom. The coins we use are a one p, a two p, a five p, a ten p, a twenty p, a fifty p, a one pound and a two pound coin. To count coins, first, order them from greatest to least by writing their values beneath. Next, set up an addition equation to add the values of each coin together. Then solve by adding all of the values together. Don't forget to write p after your total to represent pence! "Well...we might not have had enough for exactly what we wanted ... " Yeah....but we got pretty close!"