UNICEF fundraiser allows real world math questions!

Trick-or-treat for UNICEF is a long-standing tradition at The Lake and Park School.  Once again this year students collected coins while trick-or treating and we mailed a check for a total of $ 382.36.  At a time of year when children can get caught up in how much candy they are getting the opportunity to help children around the world serves as a counter balance. 

A couple of days before Halloween we met as a whole group to learn about the work UNICEF does by watching a short video and also talking and listening to each other.  At community meetings such as this you can feel the value of a multi-age setting, as older children share their experience and younger students look to older students for reassurance.  Thoughtful questions were asked and students grew in their personal understanding as they stretched to address concerns.

Coin collection boxes were a part of the school Halloween carnival.  Some children constructed their own boxes. Others stopped by the table to get a box, put their name on it and tucked it away for later in the evening when they went trick-or-treating in their neighborhood.

The week following Halloween students brought in coins, sorted, counted, recorded totals and added their money to the group collection jar.  The integration of mathematics into the daily curriculum took center stage.  For some students sorting and counting coins was the top challenge, for others counting by 5’s and 10’s and converting 15 dimes to $1.50 was an excellent use of place value.  Still other students worked on totaling all of their donations.  Math games extended our work with coins: tossing for heads or tails, recording and then making equations was one game.  Students ready for further place value work played race to $1.00 with pennies and dimes.  As we move into story problems, the money we raised and how many vaccines we helped to purchase for children around the globe will further our connection with children everywhere and bring real life meaning to mathematical problem solving.