Which Purse Has More Money? Compare and Circle

This Grade 1 page shows three rows, and each row holds two purses side by side. The child counts the money in both, decides which one is worth more, and circles it — no totals have to be written down, though most children write them anyway. The two purses in a row never hold the same amount, and they rarely hold the same number of coins, which is exactly where the interest lies.

Comparing is where the biggest money misconception surfaces. Asked which is more, five pennies or one dime, a great many first graders confidently choose the five: more coins looks like more money, and nothing in their everyday counting has ever contradicted them. A page that deliberately sets a small pile of valuable coins against a large pile of cheap ones forces that question into the open. Once a child has been surprised by it two or three times, the idea that value and quantity are genuinely different things tends to stay put for good.

Print the PDF free and ask for the reason rather than just the circle, because how do you know is the whole lesson here. Coin counting practice builds the adding that this comparison rests on, and counting money with all the coins is the page to visit next once totals come quickly and reliably.