Hi,

Name: Deborah (parent)
Level: First grade

I am looking for ways to tutor my daughter in money counting and handwriting skills.

Dear Deborah

I'm no expert but it seems to me that you can combine money and counting. Remember that kids have to go through the stage where they will prefer a nickel to a dime because it is bigger and shinier. Until they are through that then you are spinning your wheels to have them work with coins. I would consider starting by teaching your child how many pennies are equivalent to a nickel and a dime. Set out a nickel and have her put 5 pennies under it. Ditto for a dime. This will teach counting skills. (You may wish to 1st line up the 5 pennies under or above the 10 pennies and she can see that a dime is worth more than a nickel. Maybe even that a dime is worth 5 cents more than a nickel.) If you want them to see that 2 nickels is equivalent to 1 dime, you can set out 5 pennies and 5 pennies on one side and 10 pennies on the other and have her count how many in each side. You might have her count out 25 pennies for a quarter and then set them out as 2 groups of 10 (since we have 10 fingers) and a group of 5. This might lead to 2 dimes and a nickel. Make sure that your daughter works with things that she can touch. The rest will follow. I'm not presumptuous enough to offer advice on printing since my writing is very bad!
   Your daughter is very lucky that you are working with her. Keep on doing it.
Good luck!

Jack