Dear Grandchildren,

Let's talk about money today. We all like money, so that we can buy things, don't we? Some of our money is made of paper, and some of our money is metal circles that we call "coins". Can you find a penny so we can look at it and talk about it? We can't buy much with just one penny, maybe just a little piece of candy, but if we have many pennies, we can buy more. Look at the side of the penny with the picture of a man's head. That man's name is Abraham Lincoln. He used to be one of the presidents of our country. A bad man named John Wilkes Booth, shot Abraham Lincoln and he died.

Over Abraham Lincoln's head are the words, "In God We Trust". Can you see those tiny letters? There are also numbers that tell when the penny was made. Mine was made in Denver, in 1982. My penny is very old ! How old is yours? Maybe it is older than you are.

Turn the penny over. There are more tiny letters that say, "The United States of America." My penny has a picture of a big building in Washington D.C. called the Lincoln Memorial . Inside the building is a huge statue of Abraham Lincoln sitting in a huge chair. Some pennies have a picture of the shield of the United States. What does your penny have? At the bottom of the Lincoln Memorial are the words, "One Cent". A cent is another name for a penny.

Here's a poem about a boy who didn't have enough money to buy a pie. Not even a penny.

The pie man was afraid that Simon would eat a pie ,and then not have the money to pay for it. Poor Simple Simon didn't get to buy a pie. If we were there, we would have had compassion for Simple Simon, and given him one of our pennies, wouldn't we? We will have a picture of Simple Simon to color.

Let's talk some more about trees. Is a tree a plant or an animal? It is a plant, and maybe you have seen trees move in the wind, but they are not moving by themselves. Trees get some of their food and water from their roots. Also, the tree's leaves make food for the tree. They make food from sunshine and air. When the sun doesn't shine so warm and it gets colder before winter comes, the leaves stop making food. They change colors and aren't green anymore They start to turn yellow, red or brown. Then many trees start to go to sleep for the winter, and don't need the leaves anymore and the leaves fall off. We call this time of the year "Fall". We also call this time of year the same name of one of our other grandchildren.. Can you guess who it is? Think hard! That grandchild's name is Autumn! Autumn and Fall are the names we call the time of the year when leaves change colors and fall to the ground. It is lots of fun to walk on the dry leaves and hear them crunch. It is like walking on cornflakes! Crunch, crunch, crunch!

You can print out the picture of all the different kinds of leaves and color them red, yellow and brown.

Do you help Mama and Daddy take care of the work around the house? I know you put your toys away. I know you put your clothes and kissing shoes away. Can you still sing the Cowboy Ned song? Here is another thing you can do to help. You can fold up the washcloths and dishcloths when they come out of the dryer. Have Mama show you how, and where to put them, and you can fold them every time they come out of the dryer. You can sing, "This is the way we fold the towels, fold the towels, fold the towels. This is the way we fold the towels, early in the morning." You will be a happy helper. Let's sing, "When we're helping, we're happy, and we sing as we go. For we love to help Mommy, for we all love her so." Now get your tongues ready to do all the tra la,la's.

Guess what! You have worked so hard on your ice cream pages, that today we will finish them. Today's ice cream will be black. I had some licorice ice cream once that was black. Spy with your little eye and find black, like tires, shoes, hair. What can you see?

Be happy and do good work,

Love, smiles and squishie hugs,

Grandma

Click on an image then click again to print it.