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Counting Up to Make Change

2nd grade nonfiction passage about making change at a sale: 136 words, five questions, an answer key and vocabulary.

2nd grade nonfiction making change at a sale 136 words

Counting Up to Make Change

Sam is selling pencils at the school sale. One pencil costs sixty cents. A girl hands Sam a dollar. A dollar is worth one hundred cents. Sam must give her some change.

Change is the money you give back when someone pays more than the price. How can Sam figure it out?

Sam can count up. He starts at the price, sixty cents. He adds a nickel. A nickel is worth five cents. Now he says sixty-five. He adds another nickel to make seventy. Then he adds a dime and says eighty. Another dime makes ninety, and one more makes one hundred.

Sam gives back two nickels and three dimes. That is forty cents in all. The girl smiles. She paid one hundred cents and got forty cents back, so the pencil cost sixty cents.

Questions

  1. How much does one pencil cost? in the text

  2. What is change? in the text

  3. How much is a nickel worth? in the text

  4. How much change does Sam give back in all? in the text

  5. Why does Sam start counting at sixty cents? think about it

Words to know

change
the money you get back when you pay too much
nickel
a coin that is worth five cents
price
how much money something costs
sale
a time when things are sold
Share

One passage, three levels

The same topic and facts written three ways, so a mixed class can read and talk about one text. Each group’s sheet shows only a shape; the key says which is which.

● Easier · 103 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1

Sam sells pencils at the school sale. A pencil costs sixty cents. A girl gives Sam a dollar. A dollar is one hundred cents. Sam gives her change.

Change is the money you give back. It is for when someone pays more than the price.

Sam counts up. He starts at sixty. He adds a nickel. A nickel is five cents. That is sixty-five. He adds a nickel. That is seventy. He adds a dime for eighty, a dime for ninety, and a dime for one hundred.

Sam gives back two nickels and three dimes. That is forty cents. The girl smiles.

▲ This passage · 136 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 1.7

Sam is selling pencils at the school sale. One pencil costs sixty cents. A girl hands Sam a dollar. A dollar is worth one hundred cents. Sam must give her some change.

Change is the money you give back when someone pays more than the price. How can Sam figure it out?

Sam can count up. He starts at the price, sixty cents. He adds a nickel. A nickel is worth five cents. Now he says sixty-five. He adds another nickel to make seventy. Then he adds a dime and says eighty. Another dime makes ninety, and one more makes one hundred.

Sam gives back two nickels and three dimes. That is forty cents in all. The girl smiles. She paid one hundred cents and got forty cents back, so the pencil cost sixty cents.

■ Harder · 139 words · Flesch-Kincaid grade 3.9

Sam is selling pencils at the school sale, and each pencil costs sixty cents. A girl hands Sam a dollar, which is worth one hundred cents, so Sam has to give her some change.

Change is the money you return when a customer pays more than the price. How can Sam work out the right amount?

He can count up, beginning at the price of sixty cents. First he adds a nickel, which is worth five cents, and says sixty-five. He adds another nickel to reach seventy. Then he adds a dime and says eighty, another dime for ninety, and one more dime to make one hundred.

Sam gives back two nickels and three dimes, which is forty cents in all. The girl smiles. She paid one hundred cents and received forty back, so the pencil cost sixty.

Download as one PDF

How to use it

  1. Press Read it big (or B) to put the text on the projector, or Full screen (F) to fill the whole screen.
  2. Ask the questions one at a time and use Show answer when the class has decided. A shows or hides every answer.
  3. Print student copy for the class, or Print with answers for yourself.

Ideas for class

  • Before reading, put change, nickel, price and sale on the board with their meanings from the Words to know section and have students predict what the text will be about.
  • Read it aloud once while students follow along, then have them reread it alone or with a partner. At a calm 100 words a minute it takes about 1 minute to read aloud.
  • Use the Read it big button (or B) to put the text on the projector, and Show answer on one question at a time so the class commits to an answer first.
  • Question 5 asks the reader to infer. Ask students to point to the words in the passage that led them to their answer.
  • Ask students to write one question the passage did not answer, then look for the answer in a book or on a classroom screen.
  • Print the student copy for independent work and keep the answer-key copy for yourself.

Related

Questions

What reading level is "Counting Up to Make Change"?

It was written for 2nd grade. It has 136 words and works out to a Flesch-Kincaid grade level of about 1.7. That is a formula's estimate from sentence length and syllables, and it is not a Lexile or a guided reading level, so check it against your students.

What do the questions ask?

There are five. 4 ask for something the text says directly and 1 ask the reader to work something out from clues. Each has an answer in the key, and the answers are written as a teacher would accept them, not as the only possible wording.

How long does it take to read?

About 1 minute read aloud at 100 words a minute. For a one-minute fluency check, paste it into the fluency timer and use the word count.

Can I print it?

Yes. Print student copy gives the passage, the questions with lines to write on, and the word meanings. Print with answers gives the same page with the answers filled in. Both are made in your browser.

Is this passage from a published book?

No. It was written for Peabody Teach, so there is no book to buy and no login to read it.

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