Identify the Nickel

A nickel is silver-colored and larger than a dime.

It is worth five cents.

Read it: Count on from the biggest

Priya has two quarters, a dime and a penny on a tray. Counting them as four cents is tempting. Start with the biggest coin instead.

1. Start at the biggest coins: twenty-five, then fifty.
2. Count on the dime from fifty: sixty.
3. Count on the penny and name the total: 61c.

Counting four coins as four cents works if they are pennies, but it is wrong the moment a quarter is in the pile.

Two quarters make fifty at a glance, so you start from a number you already trust and only count on the small coins.

The dime adds ten and the penny adds one, so fifty, sixty, sixty-one is the money, not the number of coins.

Count on from the biggest coin; each coin adds what it is worth, not one.

A quarter is 25c, a dime 10c, a nickel 5c and a penny 1c. How many cents is 5c + 1c? — 6. Count on from the biggest: 5, 6.