1. JoAnna Blair Young—Information Literacy Collaborative Unit
Title of Unit Money Master Grade Level 1st
Curriculum Area LA/ Math/ Inf. Lit. Length of Unit 3 lessons @ 50
min. each
Pathfinder URL:
http://sqworl.com/tov98m
Stage 1—Desired Results
Established Goals:
M1N1. Students will estimate, model, compare, order, and represent whole numbers up to 100.
e. Exchange equivalent quantities of coins by making fair trades involving combinations of pennies, nickels,
dimes, and quarters up to one dollar; count out a combination of coins needed to purchase items up to one
dollar.
ELA1R6 The student uses a variety of strategies to understand and gain meaning from grade-level
text. The student
a. Reads and listens to a variety of texts for information and pleasure.
b. Makes predictions using prior knowledge.
f. Makes connections between texts and/or personal experiences.
g. Identifies the main idea and supporting details of informational text read or heard.
h. Self-monitors comprehension and rereads when necessary.
AASL Standards for the 21st Century Learner
1.1.6 Read, view, and listen for information presented in any format (e.g., textual, visual, media, digital) in
order to make inferences and gather meaning.
Understandings: Essential Questions:
Students will understand that…  How is money made?
 Money is important to US citizens  Why do we need to know how to count
 When you pay for something you have money?
to count your money and make sure  Why do we need to take notes and read
you have the correct amount. more than once?
 Taking notes and reading more than
once can help understand what we are
reading.
 To count coins, you will may need to
count by 1s, 5s, 10s, and 25s.
Students will know… Students will be able to…
 How coins and bills are made  Count coins
 The value of coins and bills  Gather meaning from text, video, and
 Money is made at the US Mint in games
Washington DC.  Use strategies to comprehend text and
 Taking notes helps comprehension media
 Reading more than once helps
comprehension
Stage 2—Assessment Evidence
Performance Task: Other Evidence:
You are now hired as the Money Master at Money R Observation of note-taking
Us. You have to know how money is made, how to Observation of computer activities
county money, especially coins, and know how to
use money to buy goods. You will have to participate
in activities involving money in order to be trained
for your new job. (Rubric for this task is at the
bottom of this lesson plan).

2. JoAnna Blair Young—Information Literacy Collaborative Unit
Stage 3—Learning Plan
Learning Activities:
Day 1
1. Go over the performance task.Introduce book by asking students if they have ever had
their faces painted. Get a few responses.
2. Hand out sticky notes and pencils to each child.
3. Introduce the book, “The Penny Pot” by Stuart J. Murphy.
4. Divide students into groups by the characters in the story. There should be a group for:
Miguel, Sam, Jonathan, and Annie. Instruct the students to listen for their character and
write down how much money he/she had for the face painting. Also, write down how much
extra money each person had that got their faces painted. We will add it up before the story
reveals the amount left for Jessie.
5. Read “The Penny Pot” and remind students to write on their sticky notes. As reading,
urge the students to make connections. Stop at pg. 25 and allow students to calculate how
much was in the pot to see if Jessie has enough with her 39 cents for a face painting.
6. Allow the groups to go to the smart board to show their calculations.
7. Finish reading the book to reveal the amount and to see if Jessie got her face painted.
8. Go over how note taking helps us remember the story and even helped figure out the
ending.
Day 2
1. Review briefly the previous lessons. Briefly discuss why coins are important to everyone
in the Unites States.
2. As a whole group, watch the “Birth of a Coin” video on how coins are made. Read the
captions at the video plays.
3. In the same groups as the 1st lesson, have the students re-watch the video and answer
the questions on the Glogster found athttp://jbyoung.glogster.com/coinquestions/. They
may answer on paper.
4. Bring the students back together and go over the answers to the questions and write on
SMART Board.
Day 3
1. Watch the video from Kids.gov on a field trip to the money factory,
http://www.kids.gov/video/money_factory.shtml.
2. Have students create their own money at this website,
http://www.newmoney.gov/newmoney/dyob/index.html. Show them as a whole group on
the projector screen how to play the game.
3. Have students play these money counting games.
http://www.myschoolhouse.com/courses/O/1/11.asp (with a partner)
http://www.mrnussbaum.com/cashout/index.html
http://www.lizardpoint.com/fun/java/buyit/BuyIt.html

3. JoAnna Blair Young—Information Literacy Collaborative Unit
Student took the correct notes on the reading of “The Penny Pot”. YES 
NO 
Answered questions from the Glogster on the video, “Birth of a Coin”. YES 
NO 
Used comprehension strategies throughout activities and increased YES 
comprehension. NO 
Student completed all tasks and was able to follow directions. YES 
NO 
Student worked cooperatively with their partner. YES 
NO 
Student was able to acquire needed information from the games in order YES 
to know how to buy goods using coins and counting them correctly. NO 

4. JoAnna Blair Young—Information Literacy Collaborative Unit
Resources
http://www.mrnussbaum.com/cashout/index.html
http://www.kids.gov/video/money_factory.shtml
http://www.kids.gov/k_5/k_5_money.shtml
http://www.internet4classrooms.com/skill_builders/counting_coins_math_first_1st_grade.htm
http://www.mathwire.com/money/money.html
http://www.usmint.gov/kids/
http://jbyoung.glogster.com/coinquestions/
http://www.newmoney.gov/newmoney/dyob/index.html
https://docs.google.com/open?id=12oWiXFMgAKBPbE1-
uMImmRvFJRFSJpFM5sjCjTMffhgLgXn2DTHlIj31Ff2n

5. JoAnna Blair Young—Information Literacy Collaborative Unit
Reflection
My collaboration with Mrs. Combs began with email. We emailed back and forth a bit
discussing her class and their strengths and weaknesses. We finally got to sit down and
discuss this unit further. She instantly stated that she knew on previous tests like the CRCT,
students had trouble with comprehension. I knew right then that would be a great
information literacy skill to use. The MS at Shirley Hills has a chart with all of the
information literacy skills for each grade. Mrs. Combs suggested that she would love for me
to incorporate money somehow. Since this lesson’s main goal is to increase test scores, I
took on the challenge to combine money and comprehension. We also looked at test data
together that she had from previous years, but she knew from going over the data before
what areas students usually missed more questions. Going over the data reminded me of
being a teacher and the stress of standardized tests. It made me realize even more that the
MS can play a big part in aiding the teachers in working on skills that need improving.
Mrs. Barfield, my MS mentor, gave me a few books to look through for possibly using for
the lessons. I read “The Penny Pot” and thought it would work great. Kids go to the school
fair to get their faces painted and it costs 50 cents. The book goes over how many coins
each had and how many left over after paying which went into a pot for a little girl that
didn’t have enough money. I thought this book had a lot of great elements. I decided to go
with several comprehension strategies throughout the unit. I wanted to use note taking
with this book using sticky notes. All children love sticky notes. Also I thought all of the
students could definitely relate to this book and make real-life connections. I found a cute
video/slideshow on the US Mint Kid’s website. It tells the story of how coins are made. I
created a Glogster with comprehension questions to go with that and allowed students to
come up to the SMART Board to answer the questions. I would discuss and demonstrate
the strategy of going back in the text to look for answers. The last day, the students would
do fun things such as money games that involved reading text.
I have to admit. The first lesson did not go as planned. The students seemed to have
difficulty with understanding what they were to take notes on. They liked getting the sticky
notes but the activity with them didn’t go well. I had to help them a lot in understanding
what to do. I learned a lot myself from this activity. I should have modeled the note taking
first with an example from the book. I don’t know what I was thinking in not doing this. We
did use the SMART Board to explain the concept of how much money was in the pot and
that they girl had more than enough to get her face painted. The students did do wonderful
with making connections with the book. The other days of the unit went as planned. The
students had a great time using the SMART Board throughout the lesson. I think it was
motivation for them to do the activities correctly. I hope that Mrs. Combs found that the
instruction did assist her in her coins unit.