Differentiating in Counting BIG MONEY

In my field work I was teaching second grade students how to count money. 
I laminated a quarter, dime, nickel, and penny but made them big so all the students could see which one I was holding up. Within just a couple of days with working with the students I could figure out which students needed extra help and what kind of help they needed. Some students it was just them wanting my approval of their answer. Others they did not know the name of the coin but knew how much it was worth and vice versa. 
Before I started my lesson every day we go over the name of coins and amounts. I would then call on students to tell me how much I would have if had a certain amount of change. With my students who I knew I could give a bit more of a challenge to I would make sure make the amount of change greater. For those who were struggling a little bit I would make sure to make it easier for them to solve and I knew that would get it correct.
It can sometimes be embarrassing for students if they get the answer to a question wrong. I wanted to make sure that none of the students got the answers wrong when we were using the BIG MONEY. 

Towards the end of teaching this unit all of the students were able to independently count money on their own. 

Finding Ways to Differentiate

You never know as a teacher at the beginning of the year what kind of students you will have in your class.
What happens if you get a student who will not listen and cooperate?
What will you do help struggling readers?
What kind of discipline will you have to come up with for your students?
Sometimes the discipline you have planned out for the year will not work for some students. Sometimes you will have to find another way to help those students cooperate.
To help struggling readers you will have to find their strengths and weaknesses. You will most likely do this for all of your students. You will then have tier some of your lessons.
What happens if you get a student who is of a certain religion and cannot participate in some activities?
This happened to me as I was student teaching. I was teaching my lesson and was about to read a Christmas story and a little came up to me and said that she cannot read stories about Christmas. I had to think fast of what to do. I did not know this before, but because of her religion she cannot celebrate any holidays. I had the little girl choose her own book from the classroom library to read and gave her choice to read it in the hall or on the other side of the classroom. She went out in the hall to read. After we had finished reading the book I went to help her understand the meaning of the lesson that we were doing.
I feel like this is a hard situation for the teacher to deal with. The girl cannot celebrate birthdays, holidays, say the pledge or sing the National Anthem. If I were the teacher I would try my hardest to respect her religion but it sometimes hard for when students bring treats to share with the class for their birthdays, she cannot have one.
The teacher and the parents found a way to help this, the girl has her own bag of treats that her mother provided for her and it kept in the teacher's desk. Whenever someone brings a treat for their birthday the girl can have her own treat from her own bag that her mother provided her.
It is definitely hard to differentiate for this little girl especially during the holiday seasons, but I think my cooperating teacher has done a great job so far figuring out how to differentiate for the girl.