Presidents' Day Activities

1-2-3 Come Do Some Presidents' Day Activities With Me

Because February is packed with so many special celebrations, I do President's Day throughout the week and tie Presidents in with our study of coins.

Recognizing a penny, nickel, dime and quarter are part of our report card standards, so I designed some quick, easy and fun ways to practice.

Here are four of my students' favorities.

The coin “Popsicle stick puppet paddles” are a simple way for me to review various facts about the coins, as well as whole-group assess.

Students need just two Popsicle sticks, as they glue the penny & nickel back-to-back, and the dime and quarter back-to-back.

Since size is one of the ways my kiddos differentiate the coins, I designed the coins on a background circle.

Children color, cut and glue to the top of two different colored Popsicle sticks. I’ve included small, medium, and large pattern choices.

They can simply write the names of the coins right on the sticks using a marker, or have them trace, trim and glue the labels.

Teacher reads clues from the poster. Kiddos hold up their coin “puppet paddle” when they know which coin is being described. You can see at a glance who is having difficulty.

Number puzzles are a quick, easy and fun way for students to practice sequencing numbers from 1 to 10, counting backwards from 10 to 1, as well as skip counting by 2s, 3s, 5s & 10s.

By featuring a penny, nickle, dime, quarter, half dollar and dollar coin on the puzzles, they are also a way to reinforce differences, to help students identify and remember the various coins.

Print, laminate & trim and use as an independent math center. I've also included trace & write ones as well, so that students can color & cut up their own puzzle. There are 42 coin puzzle options in all.

Next up, is the "Money Matters Mobile". There’s nothing like a “hands on” craft to get my students excited about learning something new. This craftivity will help your kiddos learn to identify the fronts and backs of coins.

I’ve also included coin templates for the half dollar and dollar, and scanned in a real dollar bill, then adjusted it to use as a header for our mobile, giving our “dangler” a bit more color.

Finally, the "Flipping Over Coins" is another crafty option. I truly believe this visual helps students differentiate, helping them to remember which coins are which.

I not only wanted my kiddos to be able to identify the coins, but tell a little bit about them. In so doing, they have additional ways to remember each one.

I've included a variety of options for you to choose from, including a 4-coin flip up, as well as one with 5 coins.

Students color, cut and glue the coins to the front, then snip on the dashed lines to make a "flap" which they flip up to reveal the name, color and value of each coin, as well as which president appears on the coin.

Finally, they tally how much it's worth, as a fun way to get in a little more math practice.

Today's featured FREEBIE is a sweet "You are cent-sational" craft, which would be fun for students to make after they have learned to identify all of the coins.

To add some writing, have students write why they feel they are "cent-sational" on the back. To tie the craft into Presidents' Day, have them choose a President that they felt was awesome and write why they think he was the best.

Well that's it for today. Thanks for stopping by. The wind is howling outside my office window, but the sun is shining in; so I might venture out in this 2 degree weather, or not . . . Wishing you a super-duper day.