This was another of those weird weeks in the Winter where we have less than a full week of school.  Oh, yeah, and we celebrated Valentine’s Day today which made for a funny schedule.  AND then you add in ridiculous Missouri weather and an accident (oh, no, not mine–just one that added an hour to my commute!) and this week has already been the longest in ages.  What? It’s only Thursday? Well here’s to a professional development day tomorrow, then. 🙂

So…a short week and a crazy day today means I have only three warm-ups to share.  I think they’re pretty good ones, though.  Made for great conversations.  Enjoy!  Oh, yeah, they’re all about money again.

Monday

This was the first time I’d asked a money question written in equation form.  Many were confused by seeing cents written as dollars (they kept saying “Why did you put a dollar sign there?”), and so we had to clarify that during our debrief.

Tuesday

This was a challenge to think of amounts in more than one way.  They did pretty well with it, though.

Wednesday

When we talked about this one, we had some great conversations about efficiency when counting coins, and how making piles of dollars (starting with the biggest coins) is a quick way to figure out the total.  We also practiced making $.25 in multiple ways (not just a quarter).  We called it “Mickey Mouse” when we found 2 dimes and a nickel, so 2 Mickeys and a 2 quarters makes a dollar, as does 2 Mickeys and a half dollar.  Just so you know. 🙂