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Classroom Activities

                by Nancy Kelly Allen 

Facilitate whole class participation in the 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).  Make a chart to display the rankings.

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.  What two fertilizers do you recommend?  Explain what you think would grow with the two fertilizers and how much of each.

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

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

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 Connection

1.  Students will decorate a tree (a branch of a tree held upright in a tree stand or flower pot) with plastic coins.  Attach a paperclip to the end a string and tie other end of string to a branch on the tree.  Tie several strings to the branches. 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 known 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______________

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

v  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. 

v  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. 

v  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. 

v  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 student 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______?

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?

National Curriculum Content Area Standards

(at http://cnets.iste.org/currstands/cstands-ela.html)

1. English Language Arts:

& “Students apply a wide range of strategies to comprehend, interpret, evaluate and appreciate texts. They draw on their prior experience, their interactions with other readers and writers, their knowledge of word meaning and of other texts, their word identification strategies, and their understanding of textual features (e.g., sound-letter correspondence, sentence structure, context, and graphics).”

& “Students employ a wide range of strategies as they write and use different writing process elements.”

Correlations to National Standards

Languages Arts: English NL-ENG.K–12.1 Reading for Perspective

Languages Arts: English NL-ENG.K–12.2 Reading for Understanding

Languages Arts: English NL-ENG.K–12.3 Evaluation Strategies

Languages Arts: English NL-ENG.K–12.4 Communication Skills

Languages Arts: English NL-ENG.K–12.5 Communication Strategies

Languages Arts: English NL-ENG.K–12.6 Applying Knowledge

Languages Arts: English NL-ENG.K–12.12 Applying Language Skills

 Kindergarten:

ü      With prompting and support, ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

ü      With prompting and support, identify the main topic and retell key details of a text.

 Grade 1

ü      Ask and answer questions about key details in a text.

ü      Identify the main topic and retell key details of a text

 Grade 2

ü      Ask and answer such questions to demonstrate understanding of key details in a text.

ü      Identify the main topic of a multi-paragraph text as well as the focus of specific paragraphs within the text.

 Grade 3

ü      Ask and answer questions to demonstrate understanding of a text, referring explicitly to the text as the basis for the answers.

ü      Determine the main idea of a text; recount the key details and explain how they support the main idea.

 Grade 4

ü      Refer to details and examples in a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

ü      Determine the main idea of a text and explain how it is supported by key details; summarize the text.

 Grade 5

ü      Quote accurately from a text when explaining what the text says explicitly and when drawing inferences from the text.

ü      Determine two or more main ideas of a text and explain how they are supported by key details; summarize the text.