December 6, 2012 – Consistent with Montessori philosophy’s focus on caring for one’s environment (including the people in it), students at MSLF are regularly faced with opportunities to help others in need. Sometimes the individual in need is a younger child in the classroom or a peer on the playground. This time of year, Mia Stompanato’s Primary classroom chose to assist a 4-year old foster child named Zamequa.

The Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) shares holiday wish lists of children enrolled in the Cook County Foster Care program. Mrs. Stompanato’s class has participated in this philanthropy in years past, and this year the class shopped for Zamequa, whose Big Wish is a new bicycle.

Not only does this project present an opportunity for children to learn how to help others in a hands-on way, but it also presents important lessons related to currency and mathematics. Counting the money was a wonderful supplement to the “bank game,” a Montessori teaching material in which students use the units of tens, hundreds and thousands. The final tally of money collected was:

72 pennies
30 nickels
37 dimes
52 quarters
54 dollars
9 fives
2 tens
6 twenties

Equaling:
$257.92

Thank you to all of the children, parents, teachers and grandparents who have contributed to the collection for Zamequa’s bicycle. Because of the community’s generosity, the class used extra funds to purchase gift cards to make additional children’s holidays a little brighter, as well.

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