After reading about the 2004 American Eagle series, students will explore the reasons that people start collections and complete a writing activity about their own collections.
After reading the July 2004 Coin of the Month page, ask your students why coin collectors would find American Eagle coins important additions to their collections. Then, as a class, generate a list of items that they collect or save. Afterwards, have students identify reasons that people collect different items. If necessary, explain that we collect things for fun or because the collection itself could become valuable (or for both reasons).
Write the following list on the board:
- Money for vacation
- Baseball cards
- Soda cans
Ask students to discuss why a person would decide to collect or save each of these items. Be sure to point out (if necessary) that some of these items could be collected for reasons of fun and value.
Have students discuss why collecting coins might be worthwhile. Then, have students discuss why collecting coins might be fun. Instruct students to write a descriptive paragraph about something special they collect (or would like to) and why they (would) collect it. Have students add an illustration to their paragraphs and display them on a bulletin board.
Challenge students to enroll in Inspector Collector's Coin Course to learn more about collecting coins!
The project described above reflects some of the national standards of learning as defined by the National Council for the Social Studies (NCSS), the National Council for Teachers of English (NCTE), and the International Society for Technology in Education. These standards are listed below:
Language Arts Standards
Demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies for reading a variety of informational texts. Students will be able to read an informational text and draw conclusions from it.
Demonstrate competence in the general skills and strategies of the writing process. Students will construct a descriptive paragraph based on a collection they have, or would like to have.