How Coins are Made
Hi Kids!
Once again Winter is here! Put on
your hats, scarves, and gloves, it’s
time for some fun in the snow.
I like to go sledding with my
friends, making snow-penguins,
having ice-skating parties, and
drinking lots of hot chocolate
with marshmallows!
We also get to celebrate the
start of a new year in January.
I hope you enjoy your winter
and have fun learning with all
the fun activities I found for you.
Your friends,
Pee Wee & Piper
Check out these drawings sent
in by my friends. They drew me doing
fun activities! Don’t forget to
keep mailing us your drawings
of Piper, myself, and your
Artists’
favorite activities. We will try to
put your drawings in the next issue.
Corner
(Don’t forget to include your name, age, and the name
of your credit union.) Mail your drawings to: Pee Wee
Penguin - MACUA, PO Box 7250 , Bismarck, ND 58507.
Emily, (age 8)
Western Cooperative
Credit Union
Williston, ND
Kaela Joy, (age 7)
Grand Forks, ND
Sierra, (age 7)
Capitol Educators
FCU
Kuna, Idaho
River, (age 8)
Oahe FCU
Pierre, SD
Wi n t e r
2 0 1 0 / 2 0 11
Source: http://www.factmonster.com/ipka/A0854844.html
Step 1: The U.S. Mint buys strips of metal about 13 inches wide and 1,500 feet
long to manufacture the nickel, dime, quarter, half-dollar, and dollar. The strips come rolled in a coil. Each coil is fed through a blanking press,
which punches out round discs called blanks. The leftover strip, called
webbing, is shredded and recycled. (To manufacture the cent, the Mint buys ready-made blanks after supplying fabricators with copper and zinc.)
Step 2: The blanks are heated in an annealing furnace to soften them. Then, they are run through a washer and dryer.
Step 3: The shiny blanks are sorted on a “riddler” to screen out any that are the wrong size or shape.
Step 4: Next, the good blanks go through an upsetting mill. This raises a rim
around their edges.
Step 5: Finally, the blanks go to the coining press. Here, they are stamped with the designs and inscriptions, which make them genuine United States coins.
Step 6: A press operator uses a magnifying glass to spot-check each batch of new coins. Then all the coins go through a coin sizer to remove any misshapen
or dented ones.
Let’s be Crafty
Color Me!
3-D Winter Scene
Source: http://crafts.kaboose.com/winter-scene.html
A great winter craft to use up all those Christmas cards
is to let your kids cut out the pictures and make their own
winter scene!
What you will need:
• Blue construction paper
• Christmas card or other print that can be cut up
• White craft glue
• Embellishments of choice (we used cotton balls, a pom-pom and craft jewel)
• Scissors
How to make it:
Color Me
1. Cut out the pieces of the Christmas card that you want to appear in your winter scene. We chose a snowman for ours.
2. Glue the picture(s) to your construction paper to create a new scene.
3. Embellish your scene with craft supplies. We added a pom-pom to our snowman’s hat and a craft jewel for the nose.
4. Add snow to your scene by opening a cotton ball and gluing strips to the ground. You can add snow in the sky by balling up small pieces of cotton ball and gluing to the construction paper.
Tips:
• You can purchase craft jewels in variety bags at your local craft supply store.
• Embellishments can be anything you can think of. Try stickers, sand, glitter, pom-poms, craft form, etc.
• Frame your winter scene by adding a white or black construction paper border!
Joke of the Day
Question: What do snowmen like to eat for breakfast?
Answer: Frosted flakes.
Color by Math Penguin
Did You Know?
1. Before the days of paper money, Americans traded animal skins, including deer and elk bucks, for goods and services. Hence the word “buck” to describe money.
2. A piece of currency can be folded forward and back 4,000 times before it will tear.
3. Coins usually survive in circulation for about 30 years.
4. A $1 bill is 0.004375 inches thick. If you place one
million of them in a neat square, it would measure
about four feet tall, four feet tall, four feet wide,
and four feet thick.