Thank you for returning your Lenten Cans. It was wonderful to hear the different ways your children earned money for their cans:
I did many great deeds. -SH
By doing my chores. -NR
I helped Momma make pancakes. -PB
I kind of messed up our house but then I cleaned it up. That's my job. -HH
When my mom makes chutney, I washed the tomatoes. -DB
I cleaned up my puzzle. -AR
I help my mommy cook dinner. When my mommy needs help, I do it. -CH
By putting on my mittens, hat and coat. -WD
We have been working hard to sort and count the coins from the cans. To sort the coins, we observed their similarities and differences. The children sorted the coins by color, into silver and copper.
We looked at the different heads on the coins, noticing that some coins had a female head and come from Canada or the UK. One coin from Mexico was made of two different colors.
This week we began to count the copper pennies. To keep track while counting, we use a "ten frame." The child puts a penny in each square to reach ten. Some children want to count every time to check that they have ten pennies; others retain the number and know that it will be the same.
Once we have ten pennies, we put them into a small cup. At this point, we start counting by tens - ten, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty. It takes five cups of ten pennies to reach the fifty pennies necessary to fill a coin roll. As the children race against each other to see who can fill the coin roll fastest, they start making calculations. "If I've filled three cups, how many more cups do I need to fill?" To count the individual pennies they pick up one at a time, but to fill the coin roll faster they can move several at once.
This is real world work and the children find great satisfaction in accomplishing their goal. We talk about how the money we collected is going to help children who don't have art supplies or schools.
We are planning on a trip to the bank to deposit our rolled pennies on Wednesday, May 2. If you would be interested in coming with us, please let me know.
