Smartboard/Powerpoint Money

Last year I found myself teaching in a high school functional/life skills class. When I came in as a student teacher, I found that all of the students were really struggling with identifying and counting money. Worksheets had just not been working. (How well do they ever really work anymore?) Kids, even the students with significant learning needs, LOVE and THRIVE from using technology. I just believe that some sort of technology in the classroom is so essential. It's something that I feel teachers should be really taking advantage of. I personally don't know how teachers survived with out it years ago. But anyways...back to money! Although the students in the class have already been introduced to coins, repetition couldn't hurt. I made a smart board presentation for my students to help hit some of those different learning styles. I started by introducing all of the coins individually.

The green dots help students when they are counting groups of coins. The dime has two dots. They will POINT and SAY "5, 10" as they touch each dot. Seems super simple, but it is extremely effective.

My kids loved, loved, loved this!! It was a change from what their normal teacher did on a daily basis, so they were really engaged. The presentation gives several opportunities for an "I do, we do, you do" method. Feel free to download the presentation FREE by clicking HERE and use in your own class. I know, as teachers, we can be quite busy during the day so sharing resources is a must. 

And again, please let me know if it worked well in your classroom!

Being a first year special education teacher, I have found myself using the trial and error method over and over again. Because I currently work in a full inclusion school, I find myself chasing my students around trying to get them to turn in their missing assignments. What I have found that works the best with having my students to stay on top of their grades is having my pizza party reward system set up. All of my kids know that if they can keep all of their grades a C or above they will get to participate in our pizza party at the end of the quarter. I know that this sounds like such a small thing, but for a bunch of 9th graders food can be the motivator for almost ANYTHING!

I chose to use a pizza pan for the base of the chart. I mean its for a pizza party....it only makes sense, right? :) I made the name tags look like pizza because, again, it's a stinkin' pizza party. It makes sense! (To download the editable versions of the name tags for free, click on the following link:)

https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B34-fBjybmhYcTRjYjU2VHU3ZzQ/view?usp=sharing

My absolute favorite part about this project is that, because the pizza pan is metal, it's magnetic. Having magnets on the back of the pizza slices make it so easy to take the names on and off as the weeks go on. 

My students love coming in each week to check to make sure that their name is still up on the chart. It has been a good starting place for me to try to implement other things to help my students self regulate their own grades instead of me having to chase them down several times a week. Try it yourself and let me know how is works for you! :)