The Dollar Game: A Tool for Promoting Number Sense among Kindergartners

Hoover, Holly M., Teaching Children Mathematics

When my oldest grandson, Dusty, started kindergarten, I attended an orientation in an effort to familiarize myself with his school and become acquainted with school personnel. After introducing her faculty and staff, the principal announced that she and the classroom teachers encouraged parents and grandparents to get involved. As a college mathematics instructor, I have shared several ideas for classroom activities with my colleagues and students taking my Mathematics for Elementary Teachers course. Among them is a game that introduces base-ten grouping and trading.

This article describes the Dollar Game and what happened when I brought the game to my grandson's classroom.

The Game

The Dollar Game gives children an opportunity to make and trade groups of ten. To play the game, children need the following materials:

* an 8 1/2" x 11" game mat for each player, on which three columns are labeled Dollar, Dimes, and Pennies;

* one number cube per group or table of players

* enough pennies to allow several players simultaneously to reach a count of ten;

* one dollar per player; and

* one "banker" per group of players (groups of four players worked best for us).

Game mats can be made out of unlined paper and covered with clear contact paper for …

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Publication information: Article title: The Dollar Game: A Tool for Promoting Number Sense among Kindergartners. Contributors: Hoover, Holly M. - Author. Magazine title: Teaching Children Mathematics. Volume: 10. Issue: 1 Publication date: September 2003. Page number: 23+. © 1999 National Council of Teachers of Mathematics, Inc. COPYRIGHT 2003 Gale Group.

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