Counting, counting, counting …

So very many 

PENNIES!

Way back during Lent, the children worked hard, collecting coins.

This picture was taken during snack when our masks are off.

They knew the coins were to buy food for people in Hoboken who were hungry

— not just babies, they would often remind us,

but kids and grownups too!

But collecting was just the beginning …

After Easter, we opened up all our cans and there were so many kinds of coins!

We knew it was our job to count pennies, so first we had to SORT …

Silver coins in one jar, gold in another, and paper money in a third…

And pennies?

Each child put pennies in their very own jar …

Once sorted, the children began to count.

They counted them out, one by one …

… using a Ten Frame

It is hard work to count to ten, touching each penny and making sure to say the next number only when we touch! 

Then each child nimbly slid each group of ten into a little cup

Until they had five cups!  Five cups of ten means we have 50 pennies!

Time to load them into the Penny Roll

AND THEN THEY DID IT ALL AGAIN! 

…which means they had 

ONE HUNDRED PENNIES! 

..which means each child, at long last, had made 

ONE DOLLAR!

This, in addition to all our other coins and paper bills, along with all the other money the other classes collected will go towards feeding so many people.

Each child (even Tommy, who somehow eluded the camera during this process) worked so hard and is so proud of helping to feed their neighbors. 

Loving each other is hard work.

It is a good thing hard work is one thing the Rivers Class loves to do!