Money

In second grade math, children will continue to learn about money and will continue to practice using money. This is a skill that they will use throughout their lives and it’s important that they build a solid foundation. When it comes to money, second graders will be asked to do several things. They’ll need to be able to identify money. This includes pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and half dollars. In addition to simply counting money, second graders need to understand that coins represent a value. They’ll answer questions such as "What does it mean to have a nickel?" and "What is a quarter worth?"

At this point, students can show different amounts of money in various ways. They might show ten cents using ten pennies, two nickels, or one dime. They’ll also be asked to model the amount using the fewest possible coins. For example, to show twenty cents with the fewest number of coins, they would have to use two dimes, even though there are other possible combinations to represent twenty cents. Students will need to begin adding and subtracting money. This includes using symbols such as a dollar sign and a cent sign. Since word problems are an important skill students will be working on, they will most likely have practice doing word problems with second grade math vocabulary involving money.