Sand Dollar
by Barbara Esbensen
What can we buy
with this loose
money?
It spilled
from the green silk
of the sea
a white coin tossed up
a careless gift wet
shining
at the water's edge
Who can break a dollar?
What a bargain? Five
white doves
ready to fly to your hand
Sea Change!
Extension: Explain that a sand dollar is an animal that if you break open the shell, you can shake out five white doves and when the animal was alive, these dove-shaped pieces were the animal's teeth. Read the poem again. Next have the students create their own sand dollars from clay. Have them include the etching which is on the outside of the sand dollar.