Instructor Notes:

For materials preparations, click ‘Back to Main Menu’ button and select ‘Getting Started – EDC Setup’.

Read Every Day Counts Teacher’s Guide, Kanter and Gillespie, Great Source, 2005 or 2012 edition, p. 42-44.

See T.E. p. 42-44 for suggestions on introducing all the coins and getting the Coin Counter started. When introducing the quarter you might pass around a few of the newer quarters with the state designs to help students become familiar with them.

Some classes have tried to collect them all, researching which states are in circulation and which are yet to be minted, noting the results on a map.

Each day invite suggestions of different combinations of coins that add up to the number of the Day of School on the Counting Tape, displaying the fewest possible coins in the top pocket. For example, on the 25th Day of School, students will be coming up with ways to show 25 cents. This activity could be extended to homework with students engaging their families in helping them make a list of all the ways they can think of to make 25 cents. The next day you might model using a chart to help them reorganize their random lists into one organized list that will help everyone see if all the ways to make 25 cents have been found or if there are still some left to discover.