Synopsis:
Benny has five new pennies and he asks "what should I buy?".  After getting some suggestions from his mother, brother, sister, cat and dog, he leaves to spend the pennies.  In the end, everyone is happy when Benny returns with gifts for all.

Reading the story:
            Ask the children to think about what five pennies could buy.  Write their ideas on a whiteboard or chalkboard.  After the list is made, re-read the list using the intial letter to cue the children what the word might be. 
(candy--/c/, /c/. . . . ) 

After reading the story:
Ask the children:

• How did Benny feel when he had the five pennies. 
• How did he feel after he spent the five pennies? 
• Why?

Literacy:
Since the text is repetitive, the children easily role-play the story with the 5 family members, Benny and the 5 people who sell the gifts.  Five gift props would help to make the story 'come alive'.
Print a list of the family members and a list of the gifts.  Using a pocket chart, place all of the family members on the left side.  Ask the children to 'read' the gift word and match it with the family member.
 
 

Each child will make their own book and decide how to spend five pennies using the sentence frame: 
I  bought         classmate's name         a        gift name      for a penny. 
Encourage the children to choose five classroom friends for whom they would like to buy a gift.  Draw an illustration that represents their friend and the gift.   Use the child's own name in the title  (ex.  Ashley's Pennies).

Math:
Make money stories and ask the children to solve the problem using penny manipulatives. (Ex. Benny had 5 pennies to buy 5 gifts.  He bought 2 gifts.  How many pennies does he have left?)
Practice matching the numerals 1-5 with the penny value.  Extend the activity to numeral recognition of 10 or 15 depending of the level of the children.
 

Art:
Make penny rubbings.
Print with coin stamps over a collage of toy pictures torn or cut from magazines. (If a set of commercial coin stamps is not available, coin stamps can be made by hot glueing a coin to the bottom of an empty 'pill bottle').
 

Dramatic Play:
Label some small toys (such as car, wagon, Elmo, lego) with price tags in the range of 1-5 pennies.  Let the children 'buy' the toys with pennies.  Add a cash register, note paper, pencil, sale tickets, shopping carriage, etc.  A clerk and shopper's apparel  could, also, be added.
 

Other Books in association with Amazon.com:
Alexander, Who Used to Be Rich Last Sunday by Judith Viorst
Bunny Money by Rosemary Wells
Jelly Beans for Sale by Bruce McMillan