Creative Thinking in Action

I gave my kids an activity today to help them practice counting money in 50's, 25's, 10's, 5's, and 1's. I asked them what were the least amount of coins one could use to make $0.47, what were the greatest amount of coins (pennies, of course), and how would you do it if you had to use 7 coins. In my own head I had thought of 4 dimes, 1 nickel, and 2 pennies. I was completely surprised when my students came up with 1 quarter, 4 nickels, and 2 pennies. Then they explained how they came to the solutions and some started big and got smaller, and some started with the knowledge that there would have to be at least 2 pennies in the mix. I was completely blown away by their strategies and they were very attentive to each other wanting to come up with yet a different way. This stuff actually works!