Money - Vocabulary

The vocabulary for Year 3 students learning about money includes terms related to the currency system and the arithmetic operations associated with handling money. The currency used in the UK is made up of pounds and pence, with 100 pence equalling one pound. Children are taught to recognize and use coins and notes to pay for items. They learn that the symbol '£' represents pounds and 'p' for pence, with various denominations such as 1p, 2p, 5p, 10p, 20p, and 50p. Although Year 3 students do not formally use the decimal point, they are introduced to the concept of partitioning, which is the method of separating pounds from pence, such as £6 and 12p.

In addition to understanding the physical money, students are taught to convert pence into pounds and vice versa, and they explore the concept of equivalent values, like how two 50p coins are equivalent to £1. They learn to order amounts of money by value, either ascending from smallest to greatest or descending from greatest to smallest. Estimation skills are also developed, allowing children to make reasonable guesses about amounts of money. When it comes to rounding, they learn to round down or up to the nearest pound or ten pence, depending on which is closer. These foundational concepts in money vocabulary set the stage for more advanced financial literacy as they progress in their education.