Lesson Plan

Penny Stories

Main Subject Area: Language Arts

Additional Subjects: Social Studies, Technology

Duration of Lesson:  45 minutes

Keywords:

• Communication
• Creative Writing
• Penny
• Project
• Research
• Technology
• Writing

Brief Description:

Students will use the Internet to learn about the creation of coins. They will then work collaboratively, with pen pals, to develop stories about the life of a coin.

National Standard(s):

• Demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process
• Demonstrate competence in the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing
• Use grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions

Additional Subject Area Standard(s):

• Global Connections
• Technology communications tools
• Technology research tools

Objectives:

Students will learn about the way coins are made.

Students will write a creative story.

Students will collaborate with students from another class (if possible, using email) to write their story.

Materials (online):

Advance contact with another class (and their teacher)

Access to a computer lab

Internet access

The U.S. Mint's H.I.P. Pocket Change Web site

- The Minting Process Revealed: http://www.usmint.gov/kids/index.cfm?FileContents=/kids/coinnews/tour/blanking1.cfm

- Birth of a Coin: http://www.usmint.gov/kids/index.cfm?Filecontents=/kids/cartoons/index.cfm

Materials (offline):

Coins Used in Lesson:

Circulating U.S. pennies

Grade Level(s):   3-5  

Procedures (online):

1. Start by asking the students if they know how coins are made.

2. Walk your students through the “Birth of a Coin” cartoon or “The Minting Process Revealed” section available on the U.S. Mint H.I.P. Pocket Change™ Web site (You may want to bookmark these pages prior to starting this project with your students). These areas explain the process of making coins.

3. Tell your students that they are going to write a story based on the life a penny. The average penny lasts 25 years.

4. Students in your class will write the beginning of the story, which includes creating of the penny.

5. Your students will then pass their stories to the pen pals from another classroom (if possible, via email), which will write about the first 10 year of the penny’s life after it was created. This class should then send their story additions back to your students.

6. When your students get their stories back, they can finish the story by adding 15 more years on to the life of the penny.

7. They can send their final stories back to their pen pals.

Procedures (offline):

Assessment / Evaluation:

Students can be give a group grade based on the stories they wrote. The class can develop a rubric together based on the elements that need to be included.

Differentiated Learning Options:

n/a