Customer Reviews

Rock 'N Learn: Money & Making Change

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This DVD teaches kids aged six and up how to recognize and count American currency, with a focus on the coins.

The presenters of this musical cartoon are Penny Money (get it 007 fans?) and Bill Dollar. Penny is a coin (naturally) and wears high topped boots that go a lot further than she can, while Bill rocks it with his bass guitar.

After meeting Penny and Bill, the next video introduces the clinkable coinage, describing the features and sizes. It includes the JFK half-dollar, the silver Susan B. Anthony dollar and the golden Sacajawea dollar, as well as the Presidential dollar coins.

The DVD goes on to count pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars and bills, before teaching notation, equivalents, and how to separate your money for counting. Counting practice continues with a couple of games, and then the DVD wraps up with a section on making change before the closing music video.

If you're not from the USA, but use coins with similar denominations, some parts of the DVD can be used to teach counting and making change, but the focus here is on US currency.

This is a good tool for teaching kids how to be penny wise.



Amanda Richards, July 5, 2008

The animated characters of Penny and Bill will show children ages 6 through 8 just how they can count money and make change in the lively, colorful, entertaining and instructive Rock 'N Learn DVD "Money & Making Change". This 57-minute DVD teaches how coins relate to each other, the technique of 'skip counting', how to express money in written terms, strategies for making change, and more! From 'The Coin Song', to the 'Count the Coins Game', to 'Penny & Bill Live in Concert', "Money & Making Change" is as entertaining as it is informative. A perfect addition to home schooling curriculums, this is one 'kid friendly' educational DVD that truly deserves to be a part of every school and community collection.

My second grade students love this DVD.It teaches them in a fun and new way besides the traditional worksheet.I think all teachers should use Rock N Learn to enhance their classroom curriculum.

My 3-1/2 year old son was showing some interest in "silver money," starting to want to help pay for items and collect the change. I decided to get him a video, but I didn't know whether he would be old enough to enjoy or understand this one. After previewing it on the Rock 'n' Learn web site, I sprung for it on Amazon -- and my boy LOVES it! He started out just repeatedly watching the first 5 minutes or so (a gripping narrative about "Penny Money" and "Bill Dollar" rehearsing for a gig, blowing a speaker, and needing money to repair it)... and quickly started watching it in longer and longer sessions. He now sits raptly through the entire hour if I let him. He has learned to distinguish pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, half dollars, and dollar coins. (In fact, we made a special trip to the bank to get a Sacajawea dollar, and it was the highlight of his day.)

This video has also taught him some key math concepts, like counting to 100 ($1.00) by twos (this is how they recommend counting pennies), by fives, by 10s, and by 25s. He now knows the names and faces of all the people on currency up to $100. And he is learning how to actually count up coins and make change! He sings the catchy, silly little tunes from the DVD frequently, and recites Bill and Penny's groan-worthy vaudeville-style puns by memory. The best part is that he's thrilled to be learning big-boy concepts that he sees adults dealing with, he's highly motivated to understand more and more, and he delights in showing off his new math and money knowledge to anyone who'll listen.

If you're trying to teach your child about money or basic mathematics, I heartily recommend supplementing this video with the Learning Resources Teaching Cash Register. After about a week with the video, I gave my boy the cash register, and he has played with it for HOURS each day for a couple weeks now. It's really helped reinforce the counting-money concept, and his friends, aged from 2 to 12, also love the thing.

In Rock `N Learn's Money & Making Change, computer animated hosts Penny (a go-go boot-sporting penny) and Bill (a dollar bill) introduce children over the age of six to all of the skills and concepts needed to perform simple money counting and change making skills. The 54 minute DVD opens with Penny and Bill in a bit of a conundrum - these rockers have blown their speaker and need to find a way to replace it before their big show! In their quest to replace or repair the speaker they need to count their money and discover if they have enough.

The stage is set for introducing the coins and lower bills of American currency and sharing some of the history of the composition and weights of each coin. Bill and Penny then proceed to teach the standard techniques for counting pennies, nickels, dimes, quarters, and half dollars using primarily skip counting, with an introduction to grouping techniques. The coins slide across the screen as they are counted, providing a visual similar to that experienced when counting money.

All of the common equivalencies are taught, such as 20 nickels equals one dollar, and extensive practice is given in counting money. A brief introduction to writing money is also included, covering using words, dollar signs, decimal places and cent signs. Shopping simulations are used to teach how to determine if enough money is on hand to make purchases, and a garage sale simulation is used to teach how to make change. With such a wealth of concepts taught, Money & Making Change is a comprehensive teaching tool for dealing with currency. An easy to use navigational menu makes it easy to focus in on specific lessons and practice sessions.

Even though we're Canadians, we love this DVD; it's one of my six-year-old's favourites. The teaching segments are interspersed with rock-inspired tunes, and at the end of the disc children are rewarded with a short performance from Penny, Bill, and their band, "The Changemakers". The songs included on the disc feature money-focused lyrics and are heavy on guitar riffs living up to the name Rock `N Learn. They never fail to get our children dancing and clapping.

Viewers familiar with Rock `N Learn's older DVD's will appreciate the improved animation quality on this newer disc. The characters are more three-dimensional and express a wider range of lateral motion and fine motor movements. With the higher production quality and an ongoing narrative throughout the disc, we've been seeing a lot of Penny and Bill on our television screen.

My children aren't the only ones who are impressed. I love the quality of the animation - it's wonderful for an educational DVD, and the fun, light-hearted theme and examples have made the disc my six-year-old's favourite, so how can I not love it? So much educational value is packed into the DVD that I'm sure it's a resource our family will be using for years to come.

Lessons Included:

1. Meet Penny & Bill
2. The Coin Song
3. Counting Pennies
4. Counting Nickels
5. Counting Dimes
6. Counting Quarters
7. Counting Half Dollars
8. Dollars & Other Bills
9. Writing Money
10. Equivalent Forms
11. Counting Money
12. Counting Practice
13. Count the Coins Game
14. "Do I Have Enough Money?" Game
15. Making Change
16. Live in Concert

A video sample from this DVD can be found on the Rock `N Learn website.

This was the first Rock n Learn DVD we purchased. My kids love the fun characters. I am so happy with the content of these DVDs. If you like this one, try the Rock n Learn videos with Marko the Pencil - they are content rich and entertaining also.

I love the video and the animation. There is some history about the coins in this dvd which is a plus. The problem is that they could do better with the songs and the singing. There is no rhytm or poetry in the songs. They should hire people with good voices to sing. Music is very important in learning and remembering concepts.

This DVD is excellent. It's so extensive and thorough that I even learned some new things! My 7-year-old son loves it.

this product was sent in a timely manner and brand new as i purchased will purchase again from buyer. and i would reccomend to parents with children that are behind in math and counting. it is very thorough!!

Okay, so maybe I was pushing it but I got this DVD for my 3-year-old. Mainly had the goal of just teaching her the basic money denominations which she already knew a lot of them.

Well she loves it. She asks for this DVD by name.

Before turning 4, she learned how to count to 100 by 1's, 2's, 5's, 10's and 25 just from watching this video.

She knows who "Sacajawea" is and what types of pictures are on the different coins. Now, I find her playing with real coins at home and pretending to add them up.

Excellent video and it teaches things (i.e., the different types of coins, what they are made out of) that I wasn't even expecting.