Once Upon a Dime by Nancy Kelly Allen, 1

Classroom Activities
for
Once Upon a Dime by Nancy Kelly Allen

Facilitate whole class participating in shared reading and discussion of

Once Upon a Dime. Read aloud the story.
Stop reading at various points and ask students to make predictions,
such as, What will grow on the tree when pig squish is used as
fertilizer? Sheep biscuits? Bull chips?

Ask the following open-ended questions:

1. What did you think about the story?
2. Did the story remind you of anything you have heard, seen, or read?
3. What did you like about the story?
4. What did you learn from listening/reading the story?
5. Which character was your favorite? Why?
6. What passage in the story did you like the most? Why?
7. Did you notice a pattern in the book? Explain the pattern you noticed.
8. Can money really grow on trees?
9. What is the relationship between plants and animals in this story? In
real life?

Have students complete one or more of the following based on the

book:
1. Write a letter to other students persuading them to read the book.
2. Write a book review persuading readers to either read the book or not
read the book. Include a description of the story, but do not include
the ending. What was the author’s message and purpose in writing the
book? Give your opinion of the book (Did you like it? Rank it from
one to five. One is the highest ranking).
3. Write a poem about a farm or money.
4. Write a newspaper article about the events that happened on the farm.
5. Write a letter to Farmer Worth suggesting what fertilizer he should use
on the tree. Explain what you think would grow if the fertilizer is
used. A mixture of two fertilizers can be used.

Students will demonstrate what they have learned through

performance or activities.
1. Write and perform a commercial about an “unusual” farm.
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2. Divide students into several groups of three. Each group retells the
story with a beginning, middle, and an end. Each member of a group
is assigned a segment of the story to retell.
3. Create a word quilt. Each student writes the name of a farm animal or
a coin, such as “dime” on a square of paper. Draw a picture of the
animal or coin. Piece the papers together on the wall to make a quilt.
4. Students will act out events in the story in the order in which they
happened.

Discuss fiction and nonfiction.

1. Ask the students if a money tree could really grow on a farm?
2. Is this story fiction or nonfiction? How did you decide on your
answer?
3. Cite example passages that indicate the story is fiction.
4. Have students write or express orally an “unusual” farm they would
like to own or visit.

Math Connection
1. Students will decorate a tree (a branch of a tree held upright in a tree
stand) with plastic coins. Attach a paperclip to a string and tie strings
to branches on the tree. Slip plastic coins in each paperclip. Let
students have a picking party. Students will add the value of the coins
they picked. One or two students picking at a time is recommended.
Variation: Students picks only pennies or dimes, to learn to recognize
that particular coin.

2. Most of the animals on the farm were plain and regular, also know as
average. Take a few measurements of the students in class. Share the
data to find the “average” in the following:

Head Circumference____________
Arm span from fingertip to fingertip_______________
Pulse rate (at rest)______________
Shoe size____________
Height_____________
Weight_____________
Age_____________
Number of vehicles in household_____________
Number of pets______________
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Find the Mean, Median, Mode, and Range of the data collected.

 Mean-_____________ Mean is the same as finding the average of a

group. To get the mean, add up all the numbers for any category, such
as Shoe Size, in your data collection. Divide that number by the
number of students that participated.

 Median-____________Median means the middle number. To find the

medial, organize the numbers for any category, such as Pulse Rate, in
your data collection so they are listed from smallest to largest. Find
the number exactly in the middle. If you have an even number of
items, you will have to find the number that comes between the two
middle numbers.

 Mode-____________Mode means the number which occurs the most

often. To find the mode, list the numbers for any category, such as
Age, in your data collection. The number that appears most often is
the mode.

 Range-____________Range is the difference between the largest

number and the smallest number in your data collection.

Do you think the people on Bird Haven Hollow were full of hot air
when they told the story of money growing on trees? Could you also
be full of hot air? A balloon will give you an idea of just how much
hot air you exhale with each breath. For demonstration, give one
student a balloon. The students will blow one breath into the balloon.
Hold the stem of the balloon closed while another student measures
the circumference (distance around) the balloon. Have student blow
one more breath into the balloon. Take second measurement. Keep
blowing one breath at a time, measuring after each. What did the
balloon measure after one breath_____?
Two_____?
Three____?
Four_____?
How many breaths did it take to fully inflate the balloon______?
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Give each student a balloon and a partner. Just how full of hot air are
the students? Let them measure to find out. Make a chart to record
data from each student.

How many quarters are in a quarter of a quart of quarters? Fill a

quarter of a quart with quarters and count the number. Does the size
of the quarter-of-a-quart container make a difference? Does a tall,
narrow quarter-of-a-quart container hold more quarters than a wide,
shallow quarter-of-a-quart container? Does the shape of the container
make a difference? Why or why not?

Discuss fiction and nonfiction.

1. Ask the students if a money tree could really grow on a farm?
2. Is this story fiction or nonfiction? How did you decide on your
answer?
3. Cite example passages that indicate the story is fiction.
4. Have students write or express orally an “unusual” farm they
would like to own or visit.

Core Content

RD-04-2.0.7
Students will make inferences or draw conclusions based on what is
read.

RD-04-3.0.1
Students will explain a character’s or speaker’s actions based on a
passage.
RD-04-4.0.1
Students will connect information from a passage to students’ lives
(text-to-self), real world issues (text-to-world) or other texts (text-to-
text - e.g., novel, short story, song, film, website, etc.).

RD-04-5.0.2
Students will identify literary devices such as foreshadowing, imagery
or figurative language ( similes, metaphors, and personification).

WR-04-1.1.2
In Personal Expressive Writing,
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• Students will communicate the significance of the writer’s life

experience by narrating about life events or relationships.
• Students will apply the characteristics of the selected form (e.g.,
personal narrative, personal memoir).
• Students will create a point of view.
Students will sustain a suitable tone or appropriate voice.

WR-04-1.1.2
In Literary Writing,
• Students will communicate to an audience about the human condition
by painting a picture, recreating a feeling, telling a story, capturing a
moment, evoking an image, or showing an extraordinary perception of
the ordinary.
• Students will apply characteristics of the selected form (e.g., short
story, play/script, poem).
• Students will create a point of view.
• Students will use a suitable tone or appropriate voice.
Students will apply a fictional perspective in literary writing when
appropriate.

MA-EP-1.3.1
Students will analyze real-world problems to identify the appropriate
mathematical operations, and will apply operations to solve real-world
problems with the following constraints:
• add and subtract whole numbers with three digits or less;
• multiply whole numbers of 10 or less;
• add and subtract fractions with like denominators less than or equal to
four and
• add and subtract decimals related to money.

MA-04-4.1.1
Students will analyze and make inferences from data displays
(drawings, tables/charts, tally tables, pictographs, bar graphs, circle
graphs, line plots, Venn diagrams).

MA-EP-1.2.1
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Students will apply and describe appropriate strategies for estimating

quantities of objects and computational results (limited to addition and
subtraction).

MA-EP-1.3.1
Students will analyze real-world problems to identify the appropriate
mathematical operations, and will apply operations to solve real-world
problems with the following constraints:
• add and subtract whole numbers with three digits or less;
• multiply whole numbers of 10 or less;
• add and subtract fractions with like denominators less than or equal to
four and
• add and subtract decimals related to money.

MA-EP-4.1.2
Students will collect data.

MA-EP-4.1.3
Students will organize and display data.

MA-EP-5.1.1
Students will extend simple patterns (e.g., 2,4,6,8, …; ◊∆◊∆ …).

SC-EP-4.6.1 Students will describe basic relationships of plants and

animals in an ecosystem (food chains).

Plants make their own food. All animals depend on plants. Some
animals eat plants for food. Other animals eat animals that eat the
plants. Basic relationships and connections between organisms in
food chains can be used to discover patterns within ecosystems.

AH-05-4.3.2
Students will improvise to tell stories that show action and have a
clear beginning, middle, and end. (Literary elements)