2nd Grade · 2.MD.C.8

Counting money in 2nd grade

Counting money means finding how much a group of coins or bills is worth. In 2nd grade, your child learns what each coin is worth and counts coins and dollars. Your child also writes amounts with the dollar sign or the cent sign and solves simple money word problems.

What the standard says

The official Common Core wording, quoted exactly. The plain version follows.

2.MD.C.8 Solve word problems involving dollar bills, quarters, dimes, nickels, and pennies, using $ and ¢ symbols appropriately.

What it means, in plain words

A cent is the smallest amount of money. A penny is worth 1 cent, a nickel 5 cents, a dime 10 cents and a quarter 25 cents. The size of a coin does not match its value: a dime is smaller than a nickel but worth twice as much. Dollar bills come in 1, 5, 10 and 20 dollars, and one dollar is worth 100 cents.

To count coins, children start with the coins worth the most and count on. For 2 quarters and 3 dimes, they say 25, 50, then 60, 70, 80, so 80 cents in all. Sorting the coins into piles first makes this easier.

In 2nd grade, cents and dollars stay separate. An amount in cents has the cent sign after the number, as in 75¢. An amount in dollars has the dollar sign in front, as in $\text{\textdollar}12$ . Children do not write amounts like 0.75 yet, so counting money in 2nd grade means amounts in cents or in whole dollars.

Your child should be able to:

Name the penny, nickel, dime and quarter and say what each is worth
Count a mix of coins by starting with the coins worth the most
Write amounts with the cent sign or the dollar sign in the right place
Solve word problems about buying something or putting money together

Example

How much money is 1 quarter, 2 dimes, 1 nickel and 3 pennies?

Start with the quarter: 25.
Count on the dimes by tens: 35, 45.
Count on the nickel by five: 50.
Count on the pennies by ones: 51, 52, 53.
The coins are worth 53 cents, written 53¢.

Example

A kite costs $\text{\textdollar}12$ . Is one $\text{\textdollar}10$ bill and three $\text{\textdollar}1$ bills enough to buy it?

Start with the 10-dollar bill, then count on the 1-dollar bills: 11, 12, 13.
The bills make $\text{\textdollar}13$ .
$13 - 12 = 1$ , so 1 dollar is left over.
Yes, $\text{\textdollar}13$ is enough for the kite, with $\text{\textdollar}1$ left.

Where children usually get stuck

Your child counts 1 quarter, 1 dime and 3 pennies as 5 cents, one cent for each coin.
Counting objects one by one is a strong habit from kindergarten. With money, each coin stands for its value, not for 1.
What helps. Play store with real coins and small prices. Ask for 12 cents and see whether your child hands over a dime and 2 pennies or 12 separate coins.
Your child says a nickel is worth more than a dime because the nickel is bigger.
Children expect bigger things to be worth more. Coins do not work that way, so the value of each coin has to be learned with the coin itself.
What helps. Put 2 nickels next to 1 dime and trade them back and forth. Seeing that the small dime is worth 2 bigger nickels helps the values stick.
Your child starts with the pennies, counts 1, 2, 3, then reaches a quarter and loses track.
Counting on 25 from a small number like 3 is hard to do in your head. When the quarter comes first, the count starts at 25, and the dimes, nickels and pennies are easy steps from there.
What helps. Sort the coins from the most valuable to the least valuable before counting, and count them in that order.

Try four practice questions

Real 2nd grade questions from our question bank, easiest first. Answer them right here, check each one, and see a worked solution for any question.

1Warm-up
A toy costs 10 dollars. Liam wrote the price as 10¢.
Pick the statement that best describes what Liam wrote.
A
Liam wrote ¢ but should have written $.
B
Liam wrote $ but should have written ¢.
C
Liam wrote the symbol on the wrong side.
D
Liam wrote it correctly.
Show the answer and how to solve it
Liam wrote 10¢, but the correct way to write 10 dollars is $10. He used the wrong symbol, so the answer is "Liam wrote ¢ but should have written $."
1. 1The toy costs 10 dollars. The correct way to write 10 dollars is $10 — the dollar symbol goes BEFORE the number.
2. 2Look at what Liam wrote: 10¢. He used the cent symbol ¢ instead of the dollar symbol $.
3. 3Liam used the wrong symbol for a dollar amount. The answer is the option that says "Liam wrote ¢ but should have written $."
Common mistake. A common mistake is thinking the position of the symbol is wrong. Liam placed ¢ after the number — that is the correct position for ¢ — but ¢ is the wrong symbol for a dollar amount. The correct symbol for dollars is $.
The idea underneath. For money symbols, position matters: $ always goes BEFORE the number ($10), and ¢ always goes AFTER the number (10¢).
2On level
Maya has $15. She buys a marker for $3 and a notebook for $5. How much money is left?
$
Show the answer and how to solve it
Answer. 7
Maya has $7 left. She spent $3 + $5 = $8 in all, and $15 - $8 = $7.
1. 1First, find how much Maya spent in all. Add the cost of the marker and the notebook.
2. 2Now subtract the total Maya spent from the money she had.
3. 3Maya has $7 left.
Common mistake. A common mistake is subtracting only one item's price (such as $15 - $3 = $12 or $15 - $5 = $10) instead of first adding the two prices together. In a two-step money problem, always find the total cost first, then subtract.
The idea underneath. Two-step money problems combine two ideas: how much in all (addition) and how much is left (or how much more is needed). Read carefully so you know to do BOTH steps in order.
3On level
Sam earned $8 from chores and $3 for helping a neighbor, all in $1 bills. How much money does Sam have in all? Type the number and choose the unit.
Number Unit
Show the answer and how to solve it
Sam has $11 in all. Type 11 as the Number, and select $ as the Unit because all the money was paid in $1 bills.
1. 1Sam has two amounts to add together: $8 and $3.
2. 2Add the two dollar amounts to find the total. 8 plus 3 equals 11.
3. 3All of Sam's money was paid in $1 bills, so the total is in whole dollars, not cents.
4. 4The Number is 11 and the Unit is $. Sam has $11 in all.
Common mistake. A common mistake is selecting ¢ (cents) instead of $ (dollars). The problem says all the money was paid in $1 bills, so the total is in whole dollars. Another common mistake is forgetting to add both amounts and writing 8 or 3 instead of their sum.
The idea underneath. When you earn money in $1 bills, you can just add the bill counts as whole numbers, and the total is always in dollars. The Number tells how many, and the Unit tells what kind of money.
4Stretch
Maya has these coins. How many cents does Maya have?
¢
Show the answer and how to solve it
Answer. 70
Maya has 70 cents in all. A quarter is worth 25¢ and a dime is worth 10¢. Adding them together: $25 + 25 + 10 + 10 = 70$ .
1. 1Look at the coins. Maya has 2 quarters and 2 dimes.
2. 2A quarter is worth 25¢ and each dime is worth 10¢. Add the values together.
3. 3Maya has 70 cents in all. Type 70 in the box.
Common mistake. A common mistake is treating quarters as dimes. Each quarter is worth 25¢ (not 10¢), so two quarters add 50¢ to the total, not 20¢.
The idea underneath. Each coin has a fixed cent value: penny is 1¢, nickel is 5¢, dime is 10¢, quarter is 25¢. To find the total, add the values of all coins shown.