Back to School 2011
Happy New Year! Do you have your confetti and noise makers ready to celebrate the new school year? We're happy too!
The United States Mint H.I.P. Pocket Change™ Web site will continue to be your ongoing education resource this year. You'll find that our fun and creative instructional ideas and tools can enrich and extend your standards-based curriculum in many core content areas.
Lesson Plans
Explore the rich history of national sites across the country with the new America the Beautiful Quarters® Program lesson plans! The plans are geared to grades K through 12. Click the icon for the plans!
The Presidential $1 Coin Program honors all the past Presidents of the United States who have been deceased for at least two years, in the order in which they served in office.
The four new Presidential $1 coins struck during 2011 honor 19th-century presidents Jonson, Grant, Hayes, and Garfield. Download our
free lesson plans (for kindergarten through twelfth grades).
Running concurrently with the Presidential $1 Coin Program is the Native American $1 Coin Program. Each year, a new design is created for the back of the coin, highlighting Native American contributions to the growth of the United States. And each year, a new set of free Native American $1 Coin lesson plans is created around the new design, for grades K through 8. The theme for 2011 is the Wampanoag Treaty of 1621, perhaps the first written treaty between Native Americans and English settlers.
These plans relate directly to the popular 50 State Quarters Program.
A collection of Kindergarten to 12th grade lesson plans covers all 50 quarters plus a bonus plan for each grade group each year.
Activities
Be sure to check out the Classroom Gadgets for useful, fun class activities. By projecting these, the whole class can take part in deciphering secret codes, playing Bingo, and more!
This interactive activity will transport your students into the middle of historic events.
Time Machine adventures begin with the colonial era and continue through 1976 during the American Bicentennial celebration.
Want students to learn more about past presidents?
While testing their knowledge of the presidents that are featured on U.S. coins, students use their fast re-call skills to navigate this trivia game.
This activity can be used in conjunction with the Presidential $1 Coin lesson plans.
In Quarter Explorer, students help Bill the Mint Buffalo earn enough quarters to travel across the country.
Students will employ knowledge of United States geography and the quarters in the 50 State Quarters® Program to complete the tasks.
Looking for a quick, engaging activity to introduce a topic or idea?
The Teacher Feature Stockroom is full of them.
Browse them by content area—Language Arts, Math, Social Studies, Science, and Technology.
A few that support instruction in early US history are "History in the Making," "Declaring Democracy," and "Time to Honor."
Set students’ sights on circulating coins at the Coin Curricula center. One by one, the six circulating coins are described and linked to features on the site that provide interaction and learning.
Need large, detailed images of the coins you’re studying? Consider using the coloring pages! These outline images are clear and larger than lifesize—perfect for perspicacious perusal!
Would you like to receive updates by e-mail on new lesson plans and activities created to help you in the classroom? Join the Teachers' Network, an online community for educators!
