Pig Day

Objective:
The students will count money.

Materials

• Piggy Bank Worksheet
• Piggy Bank Story Problems Worksheet
• Money or manipulatives used to represent money.  The number and types of coins will depend on how much the students have worked with money so far.  For example, Kindergarten students may only each need 10 pennies to manipulate.  Second grade students may need a wider variety of quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies.  If it is not possible to supply students with money or representations of money, draw a "piggy bank" on the chalkboard.  Then as the story problems are read to the students, draw the "money" in the piggy bank for the students to look at and use for a visual.
• A list of money story problems appropriate for the class, prepared by the teacher.  These problems will be read to the students.

Procedure

1. Give each student a Piggy Bank Worksheet to use as their "piggy bank" and money or money manipulatives. (Or draw the piggy bank on the chalkboard.)
2. Read story problems for the students to complete using their money.  Some examples for younger students may be: "You have 3 pennies in your piggy bank, you add 3 more.  Now how many pennies do you have?"  Some examples for older students would be: "You have 2 dimes in your piggy bank, you add a nickel.  How much money do you have now?"
3. Give each student a Piggy Bank Story Problems Worksheet and have them work in pairs and record some of their own money math problems and answers. 
4. Allow the pairs to share one of their problems with the rest of the class.  The complexity of these problems will depend on the age of the students.

Other Lesson Ideas

1. Similar to above, have the students practice counting by 1's, 5's, and 10's using pennies, nickels, and dimes.  How many of each does it take to reach $1.00?
2. Find a see-through container to label your "piggy bank".  Fill it with pennies and have the students estimate how many pennies are in it.  Work as a class to determine how many there actually are.
3. Play a "Piggy Bank Game".  Have the students play in pairs.  Each student is given 1 dice and a "Piggy Bank".  They take turns rolling.  For each roll, they may place that number of pennies in their "bank" (use the Piggy Bank Worksheet).  Whoever has the most pennies at the end of the game is the winner.
4. Have a geometry lesson.  Give each student the following shapes cut from paper: a large oval (for the body), 2 circles (one larger than the other) (one circle is the head and the other is the snout), 2 small triangles (ears), 4 small squares (legs), and 1 long rectangle (tail).  Have the students use these shapes to create a pig. 
5. Use the following link to complete the given story problems Math Stories (Most appropriate for older students.)