Encinitas Union School District
101 S. Rancho Santa Fe Road
Encinitas, California 92024-4349
Phone: (760) 944-4300 | FAX (760) 944-4393
Students
Collect $1,400 in Coins
Charity to benefit from OPE project
Adam Kaye
Staff Writer
North County Times
Fourth Graders at Olivenhain Pioneer School, Kevin Scott,
left, and Aaron Collins weigh a roll of quarters
to determine if it has the right number of coins in the roll. The school's
students collected $1,411.50
in coins to help the homeless.
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Students at Olivenhain Pioneer Elementary have learned that loose change adds up. In two
weeks, the school's 673 students collected $1,411.50 in coins to donate to the Community
Resource Center in Encinitas, which helps the homeless and needy. Students got the money
by asking their parents for pocket change, and by harvesting coins from their laundry
rooms, glove compartments and furniture. First-grader Natalie Chan, 6, donated a
record-setting 2,000 nickels. There's a reason for all this
beyond kindness. Since the school year started, classes throughout the Encinitas Union
School District have performed so-called Service Learning Projects, activities which
combine education with acts of charity. In this project, students have learned about math,
the minting of coins and that it feels good to give money away.
Certain coins have different widths and are made with different
metals," explained Connor Underseth, 9. Students learned about coins by visiting the
U.S. Mint's web site (www.us-mint.gov). They learned a nickel weighs five grams, and is
composed of 25 percent nickel and 75 percent copper. The edges of pennies and nickels are
smooth, those of dimes and |
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quarters are
"reeded." The edge of a quarter has 119 reeds. "This helps us learn
math," said Max Kayajartin, 9. Fourth-grade teacher
Maureen Taylor hauled the back-breaking bounty to El Dorado Bank in Encinitas, only to
learn the coins had to be rolled. She drove to a nearby Vons supermarket, where she
learned that the machine that converts coins into paper money carries a 9% fee. No deal.
Taylor finally decided to enlist cheap labor, in the form of her
students, to prepare each coin to the bank's liking. For accuracy, the students weighed
each roll on a metric scale.
The fourth-graders have borrowed a wagon from a kindergarten class
to haul the money to an outdoor stage, where a spirit rally is planned for Friday. At the
assembly, the youngsters will hand over the coinage, roll after roll of it, to officials
from the Community Resource Center.
Ashley King said she looked forward to giving the money away.
"It will help people who are less fortunate pay for food and stuff they really
need," she said. |
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