iboard: Shopping to a Budget

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What it is: Shopping to a Budget is another of iboard’s offering.  Students are given a set amount of money to spend.  They can choose to “purchase” a variety of candies to spend all of their money.  This is a UK site so all of the coins are British (not US dollar).  There are 3 levels of difficulty to choose from.  With each level of difficulty, the amount to spend increases.


How to integrate Shopping to a Budget into the classroom: Shopping to a Budget helps students practice budgeting and counting coins.  Shopping to a Budget gives students the opportunity to use and practice addition and subtraction.  Students also practice using math language (“you’ve spent 10p, how much more to 27p? What is the difference?”)  This is a fun little activity for practicing counting money, addition, and subtraction on the interactive whiteboard.  Split students into teams and reveal the target numbers.  Students can work within their teams to decide what their team would buy.  Invite one team up to the board to demonstrate how they solved the problem.  Other teams can offer ideas about how they solved the problem differently.  Shopping to a Budget would also make a great practice center on classroom computers or in a computer lab setting.


Tips: iboard has a variety of activities for the interactive whiteboard that can be purchased.  Shopping to a Budget is one of their freebie samples.


Leave a comment and share how you are using iboard: Shopping to a Budget  in your classroom.

Math Nook: Counting Money

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What it is: Math Nook is a website with a collection of great flash based math games.  Counting Money is a fun little game from this website.  In this game students man a cash register and are given a target number to give change for.  This game allows for multiple solutions.  For example, if the target is ten cents, students could give a dime, two nickels, or ten pennies.  Any of these answers would be considered correct.  Target numbers are given in number and written form (0.10 and ten cents).

How to integrate Math Nook: Counting Money into the classroom: Counting Money would make a great math center on classroom computers.  Students can take turns manning the cash register.  Keep a class tally of the high score for this game and see how high the students can go.  If you have an interactive whiteboard, students could take turns returning change.  After the student at the board gives the solution, ask students what other coin combinations would have worked to solve the problem.  You could also turn Counting Money into a whole class game by splitting your class into teams and keeping score separately.

Tips: Thanks to @cwebbtech for sending me the ad free version of this game! Update: The ad free version URL does not always work so I changed the links back to the ad supported version.

Leave a comment and tell us how you are using Math Nook: Counting Money  in your classroom.