Throughout the last few weeks, I have focused my unit plan
on creating a lesson around teaching my students the importance of
understanding decimals in an attempt to teach my fourth grade students how to
count money and understand the value of money. Most adults would think that I
am probably targeting an area that fourth graders should already know about.
However, at my school, students live in extreme poverty. 98% of our students
receive free or reduced lunch. Earlier this school year, I came to the
realization that there is a major problem with my students living in the
situation they are living in. I had students in my fourth grade class struggling
to tell me how many quarters makes 25 cents, 50 cents, and even 75 cents. This
is due to the fact that my students rarely handle money. The majority of the
students don’t see their parents with money or paying for groceries with money,
instead they are used to seeing an EBT card being used. As a result, I decided
to target this area to give these students an understanding of money, decimals,
and grocery shopping to teach kids that money is another way to purchase
groceries. Throughout the GAME plan I
realized that this unit plan is one that will really teach students a life-
long skill, a skill necessary to survival because they must learn how to
purchase foods in order to create meals. The GAME plan provides an opportunity
to get the students on the right foot in an effort to show them that having money
is important not only for groceries but for bills and other things necessary in
life.
In thinking about my unit idea, it would be good to get
parental support although this is a very difficult task at my school. Parental
support is few and far between, but to get parents involved to help their child
understand money would be a good thing. It would be nice to work to get parents
to give their children an opportunity to help count money when it is available
to that our students have access and an understanding of money. This would be something
that I could send a parent newsletter home about during the unit in an effort
to give students additional practice at home with counting money and
manipulating it. It would also be good to get parents involved in their child’s
education.
Understanding that math is important to everyday life is
important. Teaching students this at an early age is vital if students are to
get off on the right foot and understand the value of a dollar and how it is
necessary for many things in life.
