Tell students that they are going to act out going to a bargain store to purchase items. Have them bring to school items or pictures of items for the make-believe store. Distribute coins to each student before they begin shopping. Give each student an amount of money. This amount will determine each student's budget.
Students can make purchases from only two different departments.
The customer selects an item to purchase, selects the correct amount of money from his or her collection of coins, and gives it to the store clerk, who will check the amount. If a student wants to purchase two items from the same department, he or she may use the calculator to find the total cost. Each student can take a mathematics journal to the store and write down the items and the coins used to pay for each item. Have students make a chart showing how many pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters were used to purchase each item. Have students make a chart showing other coin combinations that could be used to purchase each item.