Which Pile Has More Money Coin Comparison Task Box

About this resource

EVERYTHING INSIDE — 22 pages, 151 type-in fields

• 33 coin-pile comparison cards across 3 levels (12 rounds: 6 rounds of 2 cards, 3 rounds of 3 cards, 3 rounds of 4 cards). Every card shows a LEFT pile of coins and a RIGHT pile of coins, side by side, each coin printed with its own cent value; the child adds up both piles and sorts the card into a LEFT PILE bin or a RIGHT PILE bin
• Every card twice: accent-colored copper and silver coins for a laminated classroom box, and outline-only coins for the photocopier — the same 33 comparisons both times
• A two-bin sort mat (color and ink-saver), LEFT PILE and RIGHT PILE, each with a plain-language line ("The LEFT pile is worth more." / "The RIGHT pile is worth more."), one worked sample pair and six card-sized slots
• An answer key listing every card by level: both piles in a short coin-count code (1Q+1D, 4N+1P) with their real totals, and the bin
• A task box data sheet (16 rows: date, level, rounds given, cards correct, cards given, percent, help given, initials)
• A percent graph, 14 sessions across, with a level box under each session
• A filled example — an invented student, 8 sessions, every percent re-counted from its own row
• A family practice page with six of the same cards and the two bins, cut apart as one 6-across strip
• A phrase bank: spoken lines for running the box and written starters for the note afterward, 25 lines in 6 groups
• Start Here, a contents page with page thumbnails, and a "what's next" back page

The skill in one card: two piles of coins, side by side — which one is worth more? Not naming one pile's own total (that is a different task box, already in the collection) and not comparing a pile to a printed target (a different task box too) — this is two piles, counted and compared, every time, the gap in the collection in between those two.

Three Levels, And The Difficulty Is The Gap Between The Two Piles' Totals

• Level 1 — 6 rounds, 2 cards each, 2 coins per pile. Every gap is at least twenty cents: one pile is obviously bigger in value, and at this level it is also the bigger-looking pile, so a look already points the right way.
• Level 2 — 3 rounds, 3 cards each, 3 coins per pile. The gap narrows to ten to nineteen cents — close enough that a look is not reliable; both piles have to actually be added up.
• Level 3 — 3 rounds, 4 cards each, cut as one strip. One to five coins per pile (the two piles are not always the same size), every gap one to six cents. 9 of the 12 cards are built so the pile with FEWER coins is worth MORE money — a one-coin pile (one quarter) can beat a five-coin pile (four nickels and a penny) by four cents. That is the one mix-up this level exists to head off.

Nothing on a card says its level or its bin except a dot code in the corner (one, two or three dots), so a mixed-up box sorts itself back together.

What This Is, And What It Is Not

It is a fillable PDF: type into the data sheet, the graph header, the family page and the example-style notes, or print and use a pen. The card pages and sort mat print on cardstock or plain paper and cut along dashed lines. It works offline with no account or subscription. It is NOT an editable online slideshow or word-processor document, and it is not a test of anything.

It carries no prompt hierarchy, fading schedule or mastery rule, and it does not decide what a percent means for a student or when to move up a level. The goal line and the criterion field are blanks for your district's own wording and your team's own number. It measures one thing: cards sorted into the pile that is actually worth more.

Who This Is For

Special education teachers and paraprofessionals running independent work stations or task box rotations with students working on money, counting and comparison skills, case managers who need that practice to show up as data, and the families who get the practice page sent home.

More In The Collection

This is one set in the Task Box Collection; more sort, counting and life-skills boxes are being added to the collection regularly, all on the same cards-plus-data shape.