(Don’t forget about the discussion questions and activities already included with each book! Use these extra ideas as a springboard to further enrichment of student learning.)

Activities for Meghan Rose Takes the Cake
LANGUAGE ARTS

• Brainstorm a list of words in the -AKE word family. For an extra challenge, use the word list you make (oh—MAKE is in the -ake family!) to write a poem.
• In the story, Meghan wrote a slogan. (A slogan is a motto or jingle like you hear in advertisements.) Write your own slogan for a favorite toy, your school, the Meghan Rose books, or whatever else catches your fancy! Draw a picture to show your idea.

SCIENCE

• Meghan’s school had a Penny War. Do you know how to make a dirty old penny look shiny and new again? Try this experiment. You will need lemon juice, vinegar, soda pop, ketchup (or taco sauce), dish soap, five small cups or bowls, and six dirty pennies. Now, put a small amount of each ingredient—enough to cover a penny—into separate cups. (Just for fun, you might predict which liquid you think will do the best job cleaning pennies!) Once each cup holds a different liquid, set one penny aside so you can remember how dirty the pennies started out. Take the five remaining pennies and place one in each cup. Wait for ten to fifteen minutes. Then remove the pennies, rinse them off in water, and set them on a paper towel to dry. What did you discover? If you search online, you may find a great scientific explanation for what happened.
• Meghan rolled pennies on the floor in a straight line. Try this experiment to see how something called centripetal force keeps pennies moving in a circle. Take a round balloon (clear or white colored ones work best) and a penny. Slip the penny into the balloon. Ask a handy adult to blow the balloon up for you. (It’s a safety issue! You might accidentally suck the penny out and choke on it!) Once it’s full, tie off the balloon. Hold the balloon with your palm down and with your fingers and thumb reaching down the sides of the balloon. Swirl it in a circular motion until the penny rolls like a top. Once the penny is rolling, use both hands to stop and hold the balloon still. The penny will keep rolling! (For fun, you can try different coins and see what happens. Plus you can look online to find out what centripetal force means.)

SOCIAL STUDIES

• Look at the people featured on our American coins. Once you name them, read a biography about them or look online for more information about these amazing people. Here is a link about coins you may enjoy (but please, please, please come back to visit me—your very own Meghan Rose): US coins.
• Collect food to donate to your local food pantry. Encourage your friends and family to help you. Here is a great link with suggestions for other ways kids can help their community: ZOOM

MATH

• Gather a handful of coins. Ask students how many ways they can make ten cents? Twenty-five cents? Fifty cents? The age of their moms in cents?
• Flip a penny twenty times. Make tally marks to keep track of how many times it lands on heads and how many times it lands on tails. Talk about what students discover.
• Buy a bag of colored mini-marshmallows and a box of toothpicks. (Save the leftovers for an art activity listed below.) Make a marshmallow pattern. (For example, pink, pink, green, pink, pink, green.) Students can eat their work when they are done!

 

ART/MUSIC

• Make a penny shaker noise maker! Students will need an empty plastic container or bottle with a lid, strong tape, stickers for decorating, and several pennies. Put the pennies into the container. Put the lid on and seal it with tape. Decorate the outside with stickers. Then SHAKE IT UP—and listen to the coins rattle.
• In the story, Meghan made a marshmallow mascot. Ask students to design a mascot for your school, your church, or a sports team. Have them draw and color their idea or build it out of handy recycled materials, like an empty water bottle.
• Provide students with marshmallows, toothpicks, and a package of fruit snacks. Let them use these things to build an animal or thing. Then they can eat it!