TITLE:  SHOPPING

AUTHOR:  Cheryl J. Pembroke-Webster
         Elementary Special Education; Anchorage, Alaska

OVERVIEW:  I use this lesson to give the children a chance
to apply what they have learned about money.  I also use it
to provide variety and incentive during review time of other
skills.

GRADE LEVEL/SUBJECT:  Grades K-2, Math.

PURPOSE:  Students are often taught money skills through the
use of worksheets.  They're seldom given a chance to apply
the skill in a realistic manner and often become bored with
the drill of worksheets.  This lesson provides them with
practice opportunities prior to going into the community to
shop.

OBJECTIVE(s):  Students will be able to:
1.  Determine how much money they have in hand.
2.  Find and read the price of a product.
3.  Determine which product they would like to buy.
4.  Determine if they have enough money for the item.
5.  Count out the exact change or determine how much
    change they are due.

RESOURCES/MATERIALS:  Clean trash (empty soup cans, cereal
boxes, vegetable cans, etc.) and stickers to use as price
tags on items or index cards with prices to label the shelf
the item is on.

ACTIVITIES AND PROCEDURES:
1.  Each child is given a set amount of change.  The
particular coins each is given is determined by which coins
have already been introduced to them and which ones they
have prior experience counting.  Beginners start with
pennies only.
2.  Each child is given a set amount of work in any subject
that they need extra practice on.  I usually use
computational math skills.  How many problems need to be
completed before visiting the store is determined on an
individual basis by the difficulty of the work for each
child and how long it will take them to complete it.
3.  As the student completes the assigned number of problems
(i.e. three addition problems), they bring the work and
their change to the "store" where they count their money and
decide what to buy while the teacher corrects the problems.
The teacher or a student helper is then the store clerk and
takes the change from the student.  The student must tell
the clerk how much change they are due, if any.  The student
then returns to their seat and completes another three
addition problems (or whatever their assignment is) before
returning to the store.

TYING IT ALL TOGETHER:  After each child has progressed at
least through counting quarters, I like to take them on a
field trip to practice these skills in the community.  Each
child is responsible for paying the correct fare upon
boarding the city bus and if they can bring a small amount
of money, they can actually buy something in the store.  If
they can't bring money they window shop and compare prices.
This activity is good just before winter break as it affords
the children a chance to shop for gifts without the family
members around they want to buy for, although some years the
children are not quite ready that soon in the school year.