Wednesday, February 13, 2013
How can we make playing with money more understandable and meaningful for young children?
The observations on pages 48-51 interested me very much when reading it. When I looked at the pictures after I had read each observation, I wondered how old these children must be. I thought maybe they were five, six or seven, which in fact when I looked back on the first page of "The Right Price" I noticed that the children were five years old. It kind of shocked me how much interest they had on counting money and playing the shop game. One of the classes I used to work in a couple of years ago, the teacher had a wall full of circle time things (calendar, weather, pictures, coins, numbers, jobs, colors, sign language, etc.). But what interest me was that of the coins she had taped to the wall. I never really asked her about it, but I remember she went over the names of the coins and what they meant with the children. The assistant teacher in this class would create different themes in the dramatic play center (airport, salon, post office, hospital, shoe shop, etc.). She would build these things using creativity with boxes and recycled and donated materials. When she was done creating the center it was absolutely amazing. I would fine myself playing with the kids in it and taking on different roles. If I had fun, then I wonder how much fun the children had...probably 100% more fun. She would put the money inside of the center when she opened up the shoe shop. I don't really remember how the children reacted with the money, but I think they understood the concept of it but not the actual meaning of the coins. The classroom I work in now has a container full of one, five, ten, and twenty dollar bills and pennies, nickles, dimes, and quarters. I observe them playing with the money but not really counting it. Is this normal for their age? Is this how children of four years old learn the concept of money? By just playing with it and not really understanding the value or real meaning behind money? I really like this quote from the text (pg 48), "Playing the shop game allows the children to give shape to these conventional meanings, putting them in relation to one another. The children exchange money and goods, but also competencies, where each player generously offers to the others his or her personal wealth of coins, ideas, and abilities." That is where my question comes into play, "How can we make playing with money more understanding and memorable for young children?"
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Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteAn interesting question in regard to the documentation depicted in the text. How are children viewed in the documentation? Are children viewed a capable and contributing? Are children viewed as "not ready" or with a lack of readiness? How does the view of the child develop the relationship between child and teacher, between child and child, and between child and materials? Can a focus on relationship building as well as teachers listening and responding to children help to create opportunities for children to engage deeply with materials and concepts (as illustrated in the documentation)?
Jeanne
Ashley,
ReplyDeleteHello, you must have a very interesting and learning of full experiences at the school which you used to work. The class’s teacher that made the learning center not only thought a lot about how children can best learn but also how the teachers could give students opportunities to learn about the value of money or how to use them. I wonder what kind of conversation they had between the lead teacher and the assistant teacher while they were deciding how they want to teach the concept of the money and how they want to use the exercise with the learning center. It would be really great if you could share the pictures for the class room because I am really interested in how the classroom’s wall looked like. When the teacher taught about the money to the children, did she teach one coin or bill at a circle time? Once she taught the children, did she talk about it again?
You mentioned in the blog that you do not think children understood the meaning of each coin or how to count them but they may understand about the CONCEPT of the money. What kind of actions did the children make that made you feel that way? My friend always told her children that their father is working really hard so that he can bring money to their home for living. Therefore, they can buy things that they want and pay for the bill and food. She also gave them couple of dollars and told them that “you can buy your snack for today with that money but if you get any change, you can keep it. So if you want to save some for later, it is your choice to use all of them today or not.” Her children (one of them were still in the preschool at that time) took their time and chose their snack if they have enough money to pay for what they have. Also, when she gave children money she held it in her hand and did not let it go until they said “THANK YOU.” She told me that they need to know that everything has cost and we need money to buy everything and because of their father’s hard work we can survive their life, so she want them to appreciate their daddy. My point here is that even the age is really young, children can understand if we teach them correctly and make them experience those situations. Using money is our daily life situation so this exercise shows young children the concept of money and gives them a connection when they are watching how their parents or caregivers are using money at the stores. Making money or saving them will be part of their life as well eventually…
Somehow, when we use money to count numbers, many children can easily add and subtract better than doing it on the paper as their math class. Why do you think when money gets involved things get more interesting for children and they are actually really good at using math??
Miwa ;)
Hello Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI found your blog really interesting. It is kind of funny because I had to attend IEP meetings this week and we were discussing money. Although the child of the IEP’s that I attended is much older, it was really interesting to figure out the best way possible for him to understand the concept of money. This student has Cerebral Palsy so he has difficulties with his fine motor skills. During a purchase he struggles with the whole process of taking our his wallet, taking out his money, counting his money, putting his change back into his wallet and putting his wallet back into his backpack. The idea of getting this student a prepaid credit card was a great suggestion, but then we had to figure out how we were going to teach this student the concept of the credit card when he doesn’t really understand the value of money. (This student learns best using visuals, and by him using a credit card, he wouldn’t have a visual of how much money he had left and understand that he may not have enough money to purchase an item.)
I think it is great that the teacher has money around the classroom (on the wall & in jars) and finds opportunities to teach children the value of money. I also think it is great that the children learn to identify the value of the coins and understand the concept of “paying” for items through play. I think it is possible for students to learn the concept of money when you break it down simply. For an example children know that their parents have to go to work, they work so that they can get money, and use this money to buy us things. I think the most difficult part of the whole money concept is getting children to understand the value of money as to how much you have. At that age children think if you have three one dollar bills and someone else has one $20 bill, they have more because of they have more bills. Thank you for sharing, I really do enjoy reading about your hands-on learning experiences.
Hello Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed reading your post and strongly feel that money in bills and coins should still be taught and learned by today's children. I'm finding that shopping with my daughter and seeing these young teens as cashiers have a challenge with giving back change. In today's society, I find that charge cards and debit cards are more commonly used and that cash transactions are less common. My daughter is 15 years old and I have talked to her about counting back change and to make sure she gives correct change back to customers, since I also run a craft business on the side of my full-time teaching job. She understands that concept and shakes her head in disapproval when she sees her peers having challenges with the concept that she finds simple. She also realizes that everyone's experiences are different and appreciates the fact that she was provided these experiences of money exchange since she was younger in elementary and intermediate school days.
It's not only the counting back of monies that is the concern these days as well. I find that with the society going "high tech" that the machines and registers are doing all the adding and subtracting so that people are lacking the mathematic skills needed, since the "high tech" is doing the thinking for them. Have you been experiencing this at all when going to the market or fast food chains? How do you think we should continue this teaching approach in our classrooms and build as a foundation for the children's future?
Thanks for sharing what others are doing in their classroom. These are ideas are great!
myra
Hi Ashley,
ReplyDeleteI learned so many great ideas from your blog this week and definitely will borrow some of the ideas in your blog to develop my classroom environment. As you mentioned about your observation that children just play with money and not really understanding the value or the real meaning behind money. I felt that same way as i observed children play in my center as well. As you asked, "How can we make playing with money more understanding and memorable for young children?" This is the same question I ask myself. Well in my classroom, we do pretty much that same by providing the money into dramatic area but we are not actually teach all the children in our classroom about money concept because at my center we have children from age 2 and a half year old to 5 year old in one classroom, so there is a huge learning gap. So we normally explain that money concept just in a 4-5 year old small group rather than doing a large group.