- Coin Examples

sheet

- Creating Coins

sheet

- Student scissors

- Colored pencils

© 2015 Zeno, All Rights Reserved

Divide the crew into pairs. Pass out a Coin Examples sheet to each pair.

Have them first examine the US coins. Ask for volunteers to describe the

coins.

? What do you notice? (e.g. They have portraits of famous historical

figures on them, they are all different sizes, they have words such

as “liberty” and dates such as “2003” on them.)

Now have them look at the examples of old Spanish coins (pieces of

eight). Point out that to pay for things with these coins, people would

actually break them into up to 8 pieces. These fractional pieces could be

spent in a number of different ways.

Now pass out a Creating Coins sheet, a pair of scissors and some colored

pencils to each pair. Explain they are going to create their own

coinage using the blank coins on the Creating Coins sheet.

To create their coinage, each pirate should create at least four coins of

different values. There are a number of things to decide before creating

the coins. For example:

What names do they want to give the coins?

What will be their values? (i.e., will they be based on US coins or on

another set of values?)

What will they look like? (i.e. colors, designs)

What will be on the front of the coins? (e.g., portraits of historical

figures, portraits of themselves and their friends, pictures of other

objects such as their favorite animals)

After they have resolved the above questions, have one pirate in each

pair cut the Creating Coins sheet in half along the vertical dashed line.

Then have each pirate design and color their coins using the blank circles

on one half of the sheet. When they have competed their coins, have

each pirate cut them out.

Ask for volunteers to share information about their coins with the crew.

Have them discuss each coin’s value as well as the design.

US Coins

Old Spanish Coins (Pieces of Eight)

Lincoln Penny Jefferson Nickel Roosevelt Dime

Washington Quarter Kennedy Half Dollar Sacajawea Dollar

© 2015 Zeno, All Rights Reserved

Zeno: Adventures in Arrrghrithmetic:

© 2015 Zeno, All Rights Reserved