Presidents & Pennies

Learning goal: Every country has a leader (president, king or queen). National leaders appear on coins and money.

• Reading= Duck for President by Doreen Cronin (or Follow the Leader by Emma Chichester Clark), The Princess and the Pea by John Cech and Caps for Sale by Esphyr Slobodkina. Letter of the day= Q is for queen and quarter.
• Art= Make silhouette self-portraits by tracing a shadow of your profile. This should look similar to presidents' faces on American coins. Paste child's silhouette onto a large paper circle. Fine art: Show George Washington Crossing the Delaware by Emanuel Gottlieb Leutze and the Lincoln Memorial by Henry Bacon. Tell a story about these presidents. I recommend reading The Story of George Washington (and Abraham Lincoln) by Patricia A. Pingry.
• Science= Learn the value of different coins. Sort coins into piles of pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters. Count out the number of pennies that match the value of one nickel, dime, quarter, etc. Then clean your dirty pennies using a Q-tip and a variety of liquids (vinegar, lemon juice, soda, water, pickle juice, pineapple juice, milk, tomato juice, etc.). Which solution made your pennies the shiniest? Does adding salt or soap make a difference? Have a penny toss with your shiny new pennies!
  
• Play= See how many caps you can balance on your head then assign a price to them and pretend to sell them to someone you know. Or, play follow the leader, build a log cabin with Lincoln logs, and put together a puzzle of the United States of America.

Fun fact: Abraham Lincoln appears on the penny and five dollar bill. George Washington appears on the quarter and one dollar bill.