16 pages.

A file folder flip for facts activity, is a nice introduction to doing research, finding facts and putting them in your own words. It's a great precursor to doing a report and is simple enough for kinders to do.

10 pages.

Help your students learn to identify the fronts and backs of coins by making this mobile.  Also includes coin templates for the half dollar and dollar.  You can include the paper dollar at the top with a student's photo over George Washington's, or leave it at just a penny, nickel, dime and quarter coin dangler. 

11 pages

These 30 coin cards are a fun way to review coin facts as well as grammar.  Students circle letters that should be capitalized and add end punctuation.  You can do this with a pocket chart and call on students, or pass one card out to each child, to correct with a dry erase marker.  After eveyone has shared their card, have students choose 3-6 cards and rewrite the sentences correctly.  This is a great Daily 5 word work activity.

10 pages.

Students practice counting by 1's, counting backwards from 10 to 1 and skip counting by 10's to 100, with these 10-piece puzzles, that will help them learn to identify various US coins.

1-2-3 Come Do Some More Coin Activities With Me

The more opportunities you give students to experience coins, the better chance they have of latching on to some sort of comparison, fact or piece of trivia that will help them identify the coins. 

Making the Coin Autograph Booklet is a fun way to do that.  Run off copies for all of your students, or simply make one for yourself and share your teacher’s copy with them.

I did a bit of research to see if I could find the the President’s signatures, and found them extremely interesting. Washington and Jefferson wrote with feather quills, so set up a center activity where your students can write their name with a feather-dipped in paint.  

I did this for a Constitution Day activity and have a template for that you can use.  Click on the link to view/download the quill page from Activities For Constitution Day.

To get some name writing practice in, include an extra page with the booklet and have students collect some autographs of their friends, or to expedite things, have each student sign one paper, and  run off copies for everyone, entitled Your Classmate’s Autographs. Click on the link to view/download the Coin Autograph Booklet.

Set up a center with these 6 coin puzzles and help your students practice counting, counting backwards from 10 to 1, and skip counting by 10's to 100, as they review the various coins.  Click on the link to view/download the coin puzzle packet.

Another way to review coins as well as skip counting by 2's, 3's, 5's, and 10's is with these President trace and write skip counting skip counting cards. 

I used nickels for students to count by 5's with, and dimes when they count by 10's. 

Covers are included if you want your kiddos to make Itty Bitty Coin Counting booklets. Click on the link to view/download the coin cards. 

When I'm studying something with my students, I try and cover several standards. 

With that in mind, I designed 30 grammar coin cards.  Use them as pocket cards and read them as a whole group.   This is an interesting way to review facts about the various coins.  

Using a dry erase marker, call on students to circle any letters that should be capitalized and have them add end punctuation as well.   I made enough cards so that you can pass one out to each student. 

When everyone has shared their corrected card, put several on the board and have children rewrite the sentences correctly on a sheet of paper.  Click on the link to view/download the 30 grammar coin cards.

The Dollar Shapes Up is another money-themed easy reader that reviews shapes.  Click on the link to view/download it.  

Finally, My Buck Book is an easy reader as well, and reviews ways students can make a dollar.  Click on the link to view/download it. 

That's it for today.  Thanks for visiting.  I hope you found a few things that will help your students with coin identification.   To check out lots more money-themed FREEBIES, click on the link to zip on over to that section of my site, and feel free to PIN away.    

" If you are resolutely determined to make [something] of yourself, the thing is more than half done already." -Abraham Lincoln

1-2-3 Come Do Some Coin Activities With Me

Since our money features US Presidents, and Presidents Day is in February, I started our study of coins during this time.  Our week of President-themed activities, particularly Washington and Lincoln, made them aware of these famous individuals, so they could then recognize them on our currency.

Being able to identify coins and their value, was one of my Y5's report card standards.  This was not all that easy for some of my kiddos.  I think one of the reasons things were confusing, is that they felt the nickel should be worth more than a dime, simply because it was larger.

I found that the best way to help my students identify coins, was to plan a variety of activities that immersed them in hands-on activities.

Through discovering and explaining the differences when they "played" with the coins, (sorting by size and color; making patterns, flipping them and making tally marks, playing games, singing songs, as well as making crafts) the light bulb eventually came on.

To help my students with recognition, I designed a set of coin posters that show the front and back of the coin as well as how much they are worth.  Print them off and mount them on construction paper and then laminate.  Gluing a real coin to the posters is also helpful.

I've included several pages of coin conversion worksheets, as well as a template of each coin, so that you can run off manipulatives for your students.

Another set of anchor charts are the Coin Poster Poems .  My students quickly learned the chants with just a few repetitions. 

These really helped them remember the value of the coins. Click on the link to view/download the Coin Poster Poems

Making a Venn diagram is also a quick, easy and fun way for students to compare coins. I've made one for each type of combination for a penny, nickel, dime, quarter, half dollar and dollar.  Click on the link to view/download the coin Venn diagram packet.

To be able to use size as a comparison, I had my students make the small-medium and large "sorting coins" craftivity.

Another way for them to see size differences was by making a Coin Flip Booklet. 

Each month my Y5's enjoyed making a flip booklet of some sort.  I think it was the secretive and surprise element of discovering something hidden under a flap that they found intriguing. 

The Coin Flip Booklet, helped them see the size differences of the coins as they colored, cut and glued them to the front, arranging them from smallest to largest.

We'd discuss the other attributes of the coins , jot the answers on the board, and then students would write these facts underneath the appropriate flap, referring to the board for spelling help.  

I also wanted to review tally marks as an easy way for children to practice the value of the coins.  To help my kiddos remember how to make tally marks, I made a visual for them and hung it on our white board. 

Using glue dots, I glued 4 Popsicle sticks of one color on a sheet of construction paper, numbered them and then crossed the 5^th one over using a different color stick.  I demonstrated this in front of them and then left the poster up.

The coin "flip" book activity, was an excellent segue to flipping a coin and keeping track via tally marks, so once again, I'd refer to the Popsicle stick tally mark poster. 

Students chose a partner and flipped a penny as many times as they could for 30-seconds, making tally marks each time they flipped heads, and each time they flipped tails, then we'd review our results.

Click on the link to view/download the "It makes 'cents' to _________ " Coin Flip Booklet.

I also used Popsicle sticks to make coin "puppet paddles."  I find that students learn so much better with manipulatives, all the more if they make their own, because they are reinforcing concepts as they put their projects together. 

Not only will your kiddos enjoy making their coin paddles, they'll have fun playing the "What am I?" coin game.  It's interesting for them, and a quick and easy way for you to whole-group assess as well. 

Run off the coin templates on white construction paper.  Students color, cut and glue their paper coins to the top of a Popsicle stick.  Have them glue the penny and nickel back-to-back and the dime and quarter back-to-back. 

The photo shows the front as well as the back of the coin sticks.  This way you can review all 4 coins, but your students only have to manipulate 2 paddles. 

I made a set with real coins for me to use, so that students were able to see the real coins as we played the game.  I used 4 different Popsicle sticks.

After I gave the clues, I would hold up the appropriate coin paddle and ask: "Do you have the penny paddle showing?" so that students could self-correct before moving on to the next coin.

I've included a page of clues that you read one at a time.  When students think they have identified the coin, they raise their coin paddle, so that the correct coin faces the teacher.

As the teacher continues to read the clues, students can change their mind one time, but not after the teacher reads: "What am I?"  With just a glance, you can see who has the correct answer.  Play continues 'til you have given all of the coin clues.   

Have students keep their coin sticks in their desks/cubbies, so that you can play the game daily/weekly. When the novelty has worn off, or when students can identify the coins they can take them home.

You can also use the coin paddles to help students with spatial directions.  i.e. "Hold the penny paddle in your left hand. Show me the quarter stick in your right hand. Put the dime beside the nickel etc."

Likewise, you can review body parts and have children put the penny on their thigh, the nickel on their wrist, the dime on their hip etc.  Click on the link to view/download the Coin Popsicle Stick Puppets. 

Finally, once your students can identify all of the coins, reward them with a certificate of praise.  Click on the link to grab it.

Thanks for visiting today.  Be sure and stop back tomorrow for lots  more coin FREEBIES.  Feel free to PIN away.

"In the end, it's not the years in your life that count, but the life in your years." -Abraham Lincoln

18 pages.

There are a variety of writing activities in this packet with an Olympic theme. 

4 pages.

A word search is a quick, easy and fun way to build vocabulary and reinforce spelling.   Four word searches include 88 words associated with the Olympics.

1-2-3 Come Do Some Olympic Word Work With Me!

I had no idea that the Olympic Alphabet Card packet would take me over two days to finish, but I think you'll really find it worth while. 

You can use the ABC cards for games like Memory Match or "I Have; Who Has?" or make an extra set to cut up, to make puzzles. 

As you can see by the photo, there are 4 parts to each Olympic alphabet card, where you could make a cut: uppercase letter, both letters together, lowercase letter, and bottom word card. 

Cutting them up also allows you to play more alphabet games. I've included "Kaboom" cards to make things more fun, as well as a 3-page tip list of how to use the alphabet cards.  

Also in the packet, is over 300 Olympic words on mini cards, so that students can alphabetize them, sort them and put them under that appropriate letter card, or pick several cards and then write sentences incorporating the words they have drawn. 

I've included a worksheet for this + a blank word-card template if you want to make some up of your own. 

Since the words include all sorts of parts of speech, I made a noun, verb, adjective sorting mat.  Students pick 10 word cards and arrange them under the appropriate column. 

For another extension, have students think up synonyms and/or antonyms where appropriate.

There's also a cover for an Olympic Words Journal, where students write words that are associated with the Olympics and then look up their definitions, if they aren't familiar with them. 

I've also included an alphabetical list of over 500 words associated with the Olympics.  Click on the link to view/download this whopping 48-page packet of Olympic Word Fun. 

There aren't too many Olympic-themed books for children out there, but one that would be a great introduction to your Olympic alphabet activities would be Brad Herzog's G is for Gold. 

Herzog showcases athletes and events that set sports records, and impacted history.  He has some different choices and includes quite a bit of interesting information. 

My all-time favorite book to read for an Olympic-themed day, is Tacky and the Winter Games, by Helen Lester.  I have all of the Tacky books, and this is one of her best. 

It's simply laugh-out-loud silly, as is Tacky the penguin.  If you don't want to buy the book, you can click on the link to hear it being read by Joe Tilly on YouTube.

Since the word searches have been so popular, I designed 4 different Olympic ones with an alphabetical list of about 20 words per word find.

A total of 88 Olympic-themed words are used.  Word finds are a quick, easy and fun way to build vocabulary and reinforce spelling. Click on the link to view/download the 4 Olympic Word Searches.

Besides word searches, the How Many Words Can You Find? worksheets have also been downloaded a lot, so I made one for the Olympics. 

Challenge your students to make up as many words as they can (before the timer rings) using the letters in the word Olympics. 

I've included my list of 77 words, as well as a worksheet + certificates of praise.  Click on the link to view/download the How Many Words Can You Make Out Of The Word OLYMPICS? packet. Any of these lessons make nice Daily 5 word work activities.

Finally, in the Olympic Writing Activities packet, I've included an Olympic KWL, an Olympic acrostic poem template, an Olympic parts of speech graphic organizer, an Olympic Venn diagram comparing the ancient Olympic games with our contemporary events.

There's also an Olympic Flip For Facts file folder activity.  I designed the folder flip files, as a way to introduce early elementary students to doing research and putting facts that they find interesting into their own words. 

These are a great precursor to reports that they'll later be writing. 

I broke down a page into eight parts. Students glue it on the front of their file folder and cut on the lines.  There's a blank 8-sectioned page, where they will record their final-draft facts.  I've included a filled-in page with some facts, so that you can easily make a sample to share with your students. 

When they come across something they want to include in their report they put it in their own words.  I suggest using a sheet of scratch paper, so they can edit, and then write their final-draft facts on the template. 

As with any factual reporting they also need to include their sources.  (I assign at least a 3-source minimum and have included an example of how you cite internet sources, along with some helpful websites. ) 

This bibliography if you will, can go on the back of their folder.  So you know which material came from what source, have students number their sources and then include that number at the end of their fact.

The Olympic Writing packet also includes a class book that is made up of three Olympic writing prompts. Students can choose one, or assign all of them on 3 different days.  Click on the link to view/download the Olympic Writing Packet. 

Thanks for visiting today.  Feel free to PIN away. 

"I expect I shall be a student to the end of my days." -Anton Chekhov

4 pages.

Challenge your students to make a list of words using the letters in Olympics.  I've included a recording sheet, certificates of praise + my list of 77 words.