WFHA Turns Math Lesson into Tzedakah
What began as a creative counting exercise turned into a real-life math lesson and meaningful tzedakah project for WFHA's third-grade students.
In late November, third-grade teacher Hilary Machlis brought her class a large bag of coins she had accumulated over time when her husband emptied the change from his pockets after work.
"I explained to the children that I thought I might use the money to go out for dinner, and that I needed help counting the change so I would know what the budget would be," she said. "It was a lesson in double and triple digit adding skills, as well as cooperative learning."
The children counted about $100 worth of coins, said Machlis, who returned to school the next day with news that she and her husband decided to donate the money to tzedakah instead of going out to dinner.
Fellow third-grade teacher Robin Shainberg joined in, bringing her own bag of coins for her students to count. Altogether, with additional contributions from some of the students' families, the children collected and counted $390.
WFHA had been collecting toys for a Chanukah toy drive for the Metropolitan Council on Jewish Poverty. To support the effort, the third grade students decided to use the money to purchase toys for children who would otherwise not receive Chanukah presents.
That's when Machlis and Shainberg said they decided to continue the math lesson by taking their students to a small toy store where they could shop for the toys themselves.
"Our greatest challenge as teachers is to find ways to bring the real world into our classroom," Machlis said. "In this case, we decided to bring the classroom out into the real world."
A few days prior to Chanukah the students traveled to Learning Express Toys in Rye, NY. They divided into pairs and were given $30 to spend.
"Their goal will be to come as close to the allowance as possible, without going too under or over budget," Shainberg said. "It was a hands-on lesson in estimation, adding, subtracting, and counting change."
"It's harder than you think going to a toy store and buying toys for other people. But I felt really good afterward," said third-grader Arin Pogany.
Even though staying in budget was a challenge, "it felt good to help people who don't have toys and can't afford to buy them for Chanukah," said third- grader Adam Sturza.
"It was a wonderful experience for the children," said Machlis. "It was a real-life math lesson - we took the classroom into the real world and in doing so we did a mitzvah."