classroom activities-dime

Once Upon a Dime by Nancy Kelly Allen,

Classroom Activitiesfor

Once Upon a Dime by Nancy Kelly Allen

Facilitate whole class participating in shared reading and discussion of Once Upon a Dime. Read aloud the story. Stop reading at various points and ask students to make predictions, such as, What will grow on the tree when pig squish is used as fertilizer? Sheep biscuits? Bull chips?

Ask the following open-ended questions:1. What did you think about the story?2. Did the story remind you of anything you have heard, seen, or read?3. What did you like about the story?4. What did you learn from listening/reading the story?5. Which character was your favorite? Why?6. What passage in the story did you like the most? Why?7. Did you notice a pattern in the book? Explain the pattern you noticed.8. Can money really grow on trees? 9. What is the relationship between plants and animals in this story? In

real life?

Have students complete one or more of the following based on the book:

1. Write a letter to other students persuading them to read the book.2. Write a book review persuading readers to either read the book or not

read the book. Include a description of the story, but do not include the ending. What was the author’s message and purpose in writing the book? Give your opinion of the book (Did you like it? Rank it from one to five. One is the highest ranking).

3. Write a poem about a farm or money.4. Write a newspaper article about the events that happened on the farm.5. Write a letter to Farmer Worth suggesting what fertilizer he should

use on the tree. Explain what you think would grow if the fertilizer is used. A mixture of two fertilizers can be used.

Students will demonstrate what they have learned through performance or activities.

1. Write and perform a commercial about an “unusual” farm.

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2. Divide students into several groups of three. Each group retells the story with a beginning, middle, and an end. Each member of a group is assigned a segment of the story to retell.

3. Create a word quilt. Each student writes the name of a farm animal or a coin, such as “dime” on a square of paper. Draw a picture of the animal or coin. Piece the papers together on the wall to make a quilt.

4. Students will act out events in the story in the order in which they happened.

Discuss fiction and nonfiction. 1. Ask the students if a money tree could really grow on a farm? 2. Is this story fiction or nonfiction? How did you decide on your

answer?3. Cite example passages that indicate the story is fiction.4. Have students write or express orally an “unusual” farm they would

like to own or visit.

Math Connection1. Students will decorate a tree (a branch of a tree held upright in a tree

stand) with plastic coins. Attach a paperclip to a string and tie strings to branches on the tree. Slip plastic coins in each paperclip. Let students have a picking party. Students will add the value of the coins they picked. One or two students picking at a time is recommended. Variation: Students picks only pennies or dimes, to learn to recognize that particular coin.

2. Most of the animals on the farm were plain and regular, also know as average. Take a few measurements of the students in class. Share the data to find the “average” in the following:

Head Circumference____________Arm span from fingertip to fingertip_______________Pulse rate (at rest)______________Shoe size____________Height_____________Weight_____________Age_____________Number of vehicles in household_____________Number of pets______________

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Find the Mean, Median, Mode, and Range of the data collected.

Mean-_____________ Mean is the same as finding the average of a group. To get the mean, add up all the numbers for any category, such as Shoe Size, in your data collection. Divide that number by the number of students that participated.

Median-____________Median means the middle number. To find the medial, organize the numbers for any category, such as Pulse Rate, in your data collection so they are listed from smallest to largest. Find the number exactly in the middle. If you have an even number of items, you will have to find the number that comes between the two middle numbers.

Mode-____________Mode means the number which occurs the most often. To find the mode, list the numbers for any category, such as Age, in your data collection. The number that appears most often is the mode.

Range-____________Range is the difference between the largest number and the smallest number in your data collection.

Do you think the people on Bird Haven Hollow were full of hot air when they told the story of money growing on trees? Could you also be full of hot air? A balloon will give you an idea of just how much hot air you exhale with each breath. For demonstration, give one student a balloon. The students will blow one breath into the balloon. Hold the stem of the balloon closed while another student measures the circumference (distance around) the balloon. Have student blow one more breath into the balloon. Take second measurement. Keep blowing one breath at a time, measuring after each. What did the balloon measure after one breath_____? Two_____? Three____? Four_____? How many breaths did it take to fully inflate the balloon______?

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Give each student a balloon and a partner. Just how full of hot air are the students? Let them measure to find out. Make a chart to record data from each student.

How many quarters are in a quarter of a quart of quarters? Fill a quarter of a quart with quarters and count the number. Does the size of the quarter-of-a-quart container make a difference? Does a tall, narrow quarter-of-a-quart container hold more quarters than a wide, shallow quarter-of-a-quart container? Does the shape of the container make a difference? Why or why not?

Discuss fiction and nonfiction. 1. Ask the students if a money tree could really grow on a farm? 2. Is this story fiction or nonfiction? How did you decide on your answer?3. Cite example passages that indicate the story is fiction. 4. Have students write or express orally an “unusual” farm they would like to own or visit.

Core Content

RD-04-2.0.7Students will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is read.

RD-04-3.0.1

Students will explain a character’s or speaker’s actions based on a passage. RD-04-4.0.1 Students will connect information from a passage to students’ lives (text-to-self), real world issues (text-to-world) or other texts (text-to-text - e.g., novel, short story, song, film, website, etc.).

RD-04-5.0.2Students will identify literary devices such as foreshadowing, imagery or figurative language ( similes, metaphors, and personification).

WR-04-1.1.2In Personal Expressive Writing,

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Students will communicate the significance of the writer’s life experience by narrating about life events or relationships.

Students will apply the characteristics of the selected form (e.g., personal narrative, personal memoir).

Students will create a point of view.Students will sustain a suitable tone or appropriate voice.

WR-04-1.1.2In Literary Writing,

Students will communicate to an audience about the human condition by painting a picture, recreating a feeling, telling a story, capturing a moment, evoking an image, or showing an extraordinary perception of the ordinary.

Students will apply characteristics of the selected form (e.g., short story, play/script, poem).

Students will create a point of view. Students will use a suitable tone or appropriate voice.

Students will apply a fictional perspective in literary writing when appropriate.

MA-EP-1.3.1Students will analyze real-world problems to identify the appropriate mathematical operations, and will apply operations to solve real-world problems with the following constraints:

add and subtract whole numbers with three digits or less; multiply whole numbers of 10 or less; add and subtract fractions with like denominators less than or equal to

four and add and subtract decimals related to money.

MA-04-4.1.1Students will analyze and make inferences from data displays (drawings, tables/charts, tally tables, pictographs, bar graphs, circle graphs, line plots, Venn diagrams).

MA-EP-1.2.1Students will apply and describe appropriate strategies for estimating quantities of objects and computational results (limited to addition and subtraction).

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MA-EP-1.3.1Students will analyze real-world problems to identify the appropriate mathematical operations, and will apply operations to solve real-world problems with the following constraints:

add and subtract whole numbers with three digits or less; multiply whole numbers of 10 or less; add and subtract fractions with like denominators less than or equal to

four and add and subtract decimals related to money.

MA-EP-4.1.2Students will collect data.

MA-EP-4.1.3Students will organize and display data.

MA-EP-5.1.1Students will extend simple patterns (e.g., 2,4,6,8, …; ◊∆◊∆ …).

SC-EP-4.6.1 Students will describe basic relationships of plants and animals in an ecosystem (food chains). Plants make their own food. All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the plants. Basic relationships and connections between organisms in food chains can be used to discover patterns within ecosystems.

AH-05-4.3.2Students will improvise to tell stories that show action and have a clear beginning, middle, and end. (Literary elements)

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