Help your students build real-world money skills with this hands-on, structured Counting Change Unit designed for life skills, special education, and Access Points learners.

This resource teaches students how to:
✔ Count up to find exact change
✔ Use the dollar-up strategy to estimate change
✔ Check if change is correct
✔ Build independence in real-life money situations

Students practice through clear routines, visual supports, and repeated practice, making it perfect for learners who need structure and consistency.

🧠 Why This Resource Works

This unit focuses on functional math skills, not just solving problems.

Students learn to:

• Use real-world strategies (used by cashiers)
• Recognize when change is incorrect
• Develop independence and confidence

The structured approach supports:
✔ Special Education
✔ Access Points
✔ Intervention
✔ Life Skills classrooms

📦 What’s Included

• Change Mats (2 versions)
• Home Store Activity Guide
• Price Tags (cut and use)
• Count-Up Strategy Pages
• Dollar-Up (Rounding) Strategy Pages
• Guided Practice Pages
• Independent Practice Pages
• Error-Checking Activities
• Real-World Word Problems

🎯 Skills Covered

• Counting money
• Making change
• Estimation (rounding)
• Problem solving
• Error detection
• Functional life skills

👩‍🏫 Perfect For

• Special Education (ESE)
• Access Points
• Life Skills Math
• Resource classrooms
• Small group instruction
• Intervention

🧩 How to Use

1. Teach the strategy (Count-Up or Dollar-Up)
2. Model using the visual examples
3. Practice using structured worksheets
4. Reinforce with the Home Store activity
5. Build independence with error-checking

⭐ Why Teachers Love It

• Easy to implement
• Real-life application
• Differentiated practice
• Builds independence
• Minimal prep

Print and go!
Optional: laminate change mats for repeated use.