F. Financial Literacy · Counting Money to $200

Counting Coins up to 200¢

F1.1 A1About 35 minutes

Learning goals

I can name each Canadian coin and say what it is worth.
I can count a group of coins by starting with the coin worth the most.
I know that 100¢ is the same as $1 and 200¢ is the same as $2.
I can write an amount of money with the ¢ sign.

Words to know

cent (¢)
A small unit of money. The sign ¢ goes after the number: 25¢.

dollar ($)
A bigger unit of money. 1 dollar is worth 100 cents. The sign $ goes before the number: $2.

value
How much a coin or bill is worth.

skip count
To count by jumps of the same size, like 5, 10, 15, 20 or 25, 50, 75, 100.

count on
To start from a number you already have and keep counting from there.

total
How much all the money is worth when you put it together.

Let's get started!

All winter, Noah dropped coins into his piggy bank. Now it is spring, and he pours them all out on the kitchen table. Clink, clink, clink! There are nickels, dimes, quarters and even a loonie.

How can Noah find out how much money he has? Counting one coin at a time would be slow and confusing. Today you will learn a smart way to count coins, all the way up to 200¢.

Remember from Grade 1

¢ means cents. It goes after the number: 25¢.
$ means dollars. It goes before the number: $2.
A coin's size does not tell its value. The dime is the smallest coin, but it is worth more than the nickel.
Canada stopped making the penny (1¢) in 2012. So the smallest coin we use now is the nickel (5¢).

Coin	Value	Picture on the back	Count by...
Nickel	5¢	a beaver	5s: 5, 10, 15, 20...
Dime	10¢	a sailing ship (the Bluenose)	10s: 10, 20, 30, 40...
Quarter	25¢	a caribou	25s: 25, 50, 75, 100...
Loonie	$1 = 100¢	a loon	100s: 100, 200
Toonie	$2 = 200¢	a polar bear	200

The coins we use most in Canada. (There is also a fifty-cent piece worth 50¢, but it is very rare.)

The five coins you will use most: nickel 5¢, dime 10¢, quarter 25¢, loonie $1 and toonie $2.

100 cents make 1 dollar

This is a very important money fact:

100¢ = $1

A loonie is worth 100 cents. A toonie is worth 2 dollars, so it is worth 200 cents.

In this unit we count coins up to 200¢. That is the same as $2, or one toonie.

4 quarters make 100¢, the same as 1 loonie. 2 loonies make 200¢, the same as 1 toonie.

How to count a pile of coins

Sort the coins into groups: toonies, loonies, quarters, dimes, nickels.
Start with the coins worth the most.
Skip count each group. Keep going from where you stopped. This is called counting on.
Say the last number. That is the total. Write it with ¢.

Worked example

Example 1: A quarter, 2 dimes and 3 nickels

Noah finds 1 quarter, 2 dimes and 3 nickels. How much money is that?

Sort the coins. The quarter is worth the most, so start with it: 25.
Count on by 10s for the 2 dimes: 35, 45.
Count on by 5s for the 3 nickels: 50, 55, 60.
The last number is 60. Check by adding the groups: 25 + 20 + 15 = 60.

Noah has 60¢.

Count on: 25 (quarter), 35, 45 (dimes), 50, 55, 60 (nickels). The total is 60¢.

One big jump of 25, two jumps of 10 and three jumps of 5 land on 60.

Count by 25s

Quarters are easy to count once you know this pattern:

25, 50, 75, 100, 125, 150, 175, 200

Say it out loud a few times. It is like a song! 4 quarters make 100¢, and 8 quarters make 200¢.

Counting by 25s. 4 quarters land on 100¢. 8 quarters land on 200¢.

Worked example

Example 2: Counting past 100¢

Ava has 1 loonie, 2 quarters, 1 dime and 1 nickel. How many cents is that?

The loonie is worth the most. It is worth 100¢, so start at 100.
Count on by 25s for the quarters: 125, 150.
Count on 10 for the dime: 160.
Count on 5 for the nickel: 165.

Ava has 165¢. That is 1 dollar and 65 cents.

Worked example

Example 3: Lots of dimes and nickels

Leo has 7 dimes and 4 nickels. How much money does he have?

Dimes are worth more than nickels, so count the dimes first by 10s: 10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70.
Count on by 5s for the nickels: 75, 80, 85, 90.
Check: 7 dimes are 70¢ and 4 nickels are 20¢. 70 + 20 = 90.

Leo has 90¢.

Why start with the biggest?

If you start with the coins worth the most, you make big jumps first and small jumps last. The numbers stay easy to count. You can start with any coin and still get the right total, but starting big is usually easier.

Just for fun

Why wouldn't the quarter roll down the hill with the nickel?

Because it had more cents! 🪙

Hands-on activity

Coin sort and count

You need: a handful of real coins (or paper coins you draw and cut out), and paper and a pencil.

A grown-up puts out a small pile of coins worth 200¢ or less.
Sort the coins into groups by type.
Line up the groups from the coin worth the most to the coin worth the least.
Touch each coin as you count on. Write the total with ¢.
The grown-up counts the same coins in a different order. Did you both get the same total?
Switch jobs! You make a pile for the grown-up to count.

Math talk: "Which coins did you count first? Why?"

Safety: coins are a choking hazard for little brothers and sisters. Put them away when you finish.

Your turn

What is the value of a quarter?

How many cents is a loonie worth?

Count: 3 dimes and 2 nickels.

Count: 2 quarters and 3 dimes.

Count: 1 loonie, 1 quarter and 2 nickels.

How many cents is a toonie worth?

Ella counts 1 dime, 1 quarter and 1 nickel like this: "10, 35, 40." Is she right? Can you think of an easier way?

More practice: warm-up

Count by 5s: 5, 10, 15, __, __

Count by 10s: 50, 60, 70, __, __

How much are 4 nickels worth?

How much are 5 dimes worth?

Which coin is worth $2?

More practice: on your own

Count: 3 quarters and 1 dime.

Count: 1 loonie, 4 dimes and 1 nickel.

Count: 6 quarters.

How many cents are 2 loonies worth? What one coin has the same value?

Count: 1 quarter, 5 nickels and 2 dimes.

Challenge

Count: 1 loonie, 3 quarters, 2 dimes and 1 nickel. What do you notice about the total?

Sam has 4 coins. Together they are worth exactly 100¢. None of them is a fifty-cent piece. What are the coins?

Lia has 1 toonie. Ben has 1 loonie, 3 quarters and 1 dime. Who has more money? How much more?

Check your understanding

Quiz

How many cents make one dollar?

How much are 2 quarters and 1 dime worth?

Which coin is worth the most?

How much are 1 loonie and 1 quarter worth?

Which is worth the same as 200¢?

Count by 25s: 25, 50, 75, __

For parents and teachers

What your child is learning: to count collections of Canadian coins up to 200¢ (F1.1), building on the Grade 1 work of naming coins and their values. The key ideas are sorting coins, starting with the coin of greatest value, skip counting (by 5s, 10s and 25s) and counting on, and knowing that 100¢ = $1 and 200¢ = $2.

Common mistakes:

Counting each coin as "one". Some children count 3 coins as 3¢. Ask, "What is each coin worth?"
Switching skip-count patterns too early or too late. Have your child sort the coins into rows first and touch each coin while counting.
Getting stuck counting by 25s. Practise "25, 50, 75, 100" like a chant. Linking it to quarter hours (later) or to 4 quarters = 1 loonie helps.
Counting on from a dime after a quarter (25, 30 instead of 25, 35). Remind them to count on by the value of the coin they are touching.

About the penny: Canada stopped making pennies in 2012. When you pay with cash, the total is rounded to the nearest 5¢, so all amounts in this unit are counted in 5s. Grade 2 uses whole-cent amounts like 135¢; decimal notation ($1.35) comes in later grades.

How to help: Let your child count your loose change, or the coins in a piggy bank, in small handfuls (up to $2). Ask them to explain which coins they counted first and why. Supervise young siblings, since coins are a choking hazard.