All the lesson plans that appear in the Teachers area of the United States Mint H.I.P. Pocket Change^™ Web site were created by practicing teachers and tested in their classrooms.  These teachers gave careful thought to what children will know and be able to do as a result of completing each learning experience.  For this reason, you will see notes about which content and process standards each lesson addresses.  Against these keywords and phrases, teachers can measure a student's learning.  In addition, seeing them here gives teachers, parents, and students another way to remind themselves of the content standards increasingly used to advance achievement by educators in the 50 states.

Standards Listed On This Site

The core team of teachers who designed this site's initial lesson plans investigated and weighed the many ongoing dialogues about standards on both the state and national level.  Using that foundation, they decided on a set of standards that best fit the activities they were developing.  These standards are listed below, grouped in their five current content areas (social studies, language arts, math, science, and technology).

Social Studies Standards

The standards used for these lesson plans reference the "10 Thematic Standards in Social Studies" developed by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS):

• Culture
• Time, Continuity, and Change
• People, Places, and Environment
• Individual Development and Identity
• Individuals, Groups, and Institutions
• Power, Authority, and Governance
• Production, Distribution, and Consumption
• Science, Technology, and Society
• Global Connections
• Civic Ideals and Practices

Language Arts Standards

The standards used for the language arts lesson plans reference a number of organizations that require lesson plans to do the following:

• Demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process.
• Demonstrate competence in the stylistic and rhetorical aspects of writing.
• Use grammatical and mechanical conventions in written compositions.
• Gather and use information for research purposes.
• Demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies of the reading process.
• Demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of literary texts.
• Demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts.
• Demonstrate competence in speaking and listening as tools for learning.

Mathematics Standards

The standards used for the math lesson plans reference the content and process standards discussed in the "Principles and Standards of School Mathematics" developed and released by the National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM) in the year 2000:

Content Standards

• Number and Operations
• Algebra
• Geometry
• Measurement
• Data Analysis and Probability

Process Standards

• Problem Solving
• Reasoning and Proof
• Communication
• Connections
• Representation

Science Standards

H.I.P. Pocket Change contains numerous teacher resources that directly reflect the content standards discussed in the "National Science Education Standards" developed by the National Research Council in 1996:

• Unifying concepts and processes in science
• Science as inquiry
• Physical science
• Life science
• Earth and space science
• Science and technology
• Science in personal and social perspectives
• History and nature of science

Technology Standards

Although not directly applied through the H.I.P. Pocket Change lesson plan categories, the use of this Web site may also address many of the National Education Technology Standards.  The standards addressed below reflect the "Technology Foundation Standards for Students" as defined by the International Society for Technology in Education (ISTE):

• Basic operations and concepts
• Social, ethical, and human issues
• Technology productivity tools
• Technology communications tools
• Technology research tools
• Technology problem-solving and decision-making tools

To Learn More About Standards

You can find a great deal of information about academic and skill standards on the United States Department of Education Web site.

In addition, the following sites have been recommended by teachers:

• National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS)
• National Council of Teachers of English (NCTE)
• National Council of Teachers of Mathematics (NCTM)
• National Science Education Standards (NSES)
• NCTM E-Standards (NCTM)
• Technology Foundation Standards for Students (NETS)
• Eisenhower National Clearinghouse
• Council of Chief State School Officers
• National Science Foundation
• Center for the Improvement of Early Reading Achievement
• International Reading Association