Your Name's Value: Ka-Ching!

 

Today's Snack: Have a snack with a lot of that "green stuff." No, not money! Have a bowl of lettuce with a drizzle of your favorite salad dressing. Or flatten out a big lettuce leaf (pretend it's a $100 bill) and blob a spoonful or two of tuna salad or chicken salad on it, then roll it up like a big cigar . . . and don't smoke it, eat it!

 

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Supplies:

Pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, dollar bills

Scratch paper and pencil | whiteboard or blackboard for a group

 

 

Whether you are doing this in a group, or by yourself, start by writing the alphabet on a piece of paper or the whiteboard or blackboard.

 

Now decide how much money each alphabet letter is going to be worth. You might decide to make "A" be worth one cent, "B" two cents, "C" three cents and so on . . . or you may decide that common letters such as the vowels should all be worth one cent, but unusual letters such as "x" should be worth a dollar.

 

Once you have decided the monetary value of each alphabet letter, write your full name, including your middle name, on a piece of paper.

 

Underneath each letter of your name, write down how much money you have decided that letter is worth, according to your code.

 

Add up all the amounts, and that's how much your name is "worth."

 

You can go to the collection of coins and bills, and "pay" yourself how much your name is worth.

 

Now have fun finding out how much your city, state, country, favorite sports team, favorite music stars, and others are "worth."

 

That's the good news - having fun with numbers.

 

The BAD news is - you don't get to keep the money! Put it back at the end of the activity for next time!