Learning about Coins (I Can Do Math Series)

A group of children demonstrates how to count pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters.

What can you do with a few shiny coins? You can buy a new toy - or do magic tricks! A magic box and coins of all kinds illustrate how to presto your "change-o," using different coins to make same amounts.

Julia Beiker - Children's Literature

Magic and children go together well and let learning be a fun concept for all. How many pennies make up a nickel? How many nickels make up a dime? How many nickels and dimes make up a quarter? How many quarters make up a half-dollar? In Learning About Coins, the use of a magic box helps young readers to understand how pennies, nickels, dimes, and quarters work together to create small and large sums of money. Students also get exposed how to count by ones, fives, tens, and twenty-fives. Too bad there is not any instruction on how to make your own magic box so each reader could put on their own money magic show. It is such a cool idea that should have been shared. Williams does do a super job of using simple text to teach a tough idea. The bright photographs and cute kids work together to demonstrate how fun math can be. Do not forget to take the quiz at the end of the book to see if you understand what each coin represents. It does seem strange though that the publishers did not add a chart showing each coin and what it represents. That would have been a super visual aid for students. Regardless, this is a super book to have on hand as students learn the value of money. Part of the "I Can + Do Math" series. 2004, Gareth Stevens Publishing, Ages 4 to 7.