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Year 2

Find the most efficient way to make a given value

I can find the most efficient way to make a given value.

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New
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Year 2

Find the most efficient way to make a given value

I can find the most efficient way to make a given value.

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These resources will be removed by end of Summer Term 2025.

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Lesson details

Key learning points

  1. £2 coins, £5 notes, £10 notes and £20 notes can be used to pay for items in pounds.
  2. It is more efficient to pay for items using fewer coins or notes.
  3. When deciding how to pay efficiently, the tens and the ones in the price can be we can partitioned to help us.
  4. When making a given value, it is more efficient to use coins or notes with a greater value when you can.

Keywords

  • Efficient - Not wasting time or effort. An efficient strategy is one we can carry out easily.

  • Value - Where referring to money, value refers to how much something is worth.

Common misconception

Because children are focusing their attention on the values of the coins, they may revert to inefficient strategies when adding coins.

Model and draw attention to efficient strategies for addition as coins and notes are added, such as the use of doubles, multiplication facts or strategies for adding more than two numbers.


To help you plan your year 2 maths lesson on: Find the most efficient way to make a given value, download all teaching resources for free and adapt to suit your pupils' needs...

When making values with different coins and notes, encourage children to work logically, thinking about the coins or notes with the greatest value first.
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Licence

This content is © Oak National Academy Limited (2025), licensed on Open Government Licence version 3.0 except where otherwise stated. See Oak's terms & conditions (Collection 2).

Lesson video

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Starter quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which set of coins has the greatest value?
A
B
Correct answer: C
Q2.
What is the value of this set of coins? p
An image in a quiz
Correct Answer: 98
Q3.
Which of the sets of coins show a value of 50 p?
Correct answer: A
B
C
Correct answer: D
Q4.
Match the expressions to their sum.
Correct Answer:20 p + 5 p + 20 p + 2 p,47 p
tick

47 p

Correct Answer:50 p + 5 p + 20 p + 2 p + 1 p,78 p
tick

78 p

Correct Answer:20 p + 10 p + 5 p,35 p
tick

35 p

Q5.
Which of the following shows how 83 p could be represented with coins?
20 p + 20 p + 20 p + 20 p + 3 p
40 p + 40 p + 2 p + 1 p
Correct answer: 50 p + 20 p + 10 p + 2 p + 1 p
Q6.
Which expression shows the most efficient way to make a value of 64 p?
20 p + 20 p + 20 p + 4 p
10 p + 50 p + 2 p + 1 p + 1 p
Correct answer: 50 p + 10 p + 2 p + 2 p

Exit quiz

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6 Questions

Q1.
Which of the following shows the most efficient way to make 86 p?
20 p + 20 p + 20 p + 20 p + 2 p + 2 p + 2 p
20 p + 20 p + 20 p + 20 p + 5 p + 1 p
Correct answer: 50 p + 20 p + 10 p + 5 p + 1 p
Q2.
Which of the following is the most efficient way to make 67 p using the coins shown?
50 p + 10 p + 2 p + 2 p + 2 p + 1 p = 67 p
Correct answer: 50 p + 2 p + 5 p + 10 p = 67 p
20 p + 20 p + 20 p + 5 p + 2 p = 67 p
Q3.
Which equation shows the most efficient way to pay for this toy cap?
An image in a quiz
50 p + 10 p + 10 p + 5 p + 2 p + 1 p = 78 p
Correct answer: 50 p + 20 p + 5 p + 2 p + 1 p = 78 p
20 p + 20 p + 20 p + 10 p + 8 p = 78 p
Q4.
Which equation shows the most efficient way to make £7 using both £2 and £1 coins?
Correct answer: £2 + £2 + £2 + £1 = £7
£5 + £2 = £7
£2 + £1 + £1 + £2 + £1 = £7
Q5.
Which of the following shows the most efficient way to make £47 using both notes and coins?
£10 + £20 + £10 + £5 + £2
Correct answer: £2 + £5 + £20 + £20
£40 + £5 + £2
Q6.
An item costs the same as 45 one-pound coins. If we want to pay for it in the most efficient way, which of the following options shows the most efficient way to pay?
£40 + £5
£10 + £20 + £10 + £5
Correct answer: £20 + £20 + £5