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Donating Makes Cents Members of the Math Committee at Westwood creatively integrated character into the estimation activity at this year's Math Night. Students were encouraged to donate their surplus pennies the week prior to the big event, and donate they did. Two large containers were quickly filled with the one-cent coins so students could estimate how many dollars in pennies we collected. The student who comes closest to the actual dollar amount will keep a portion of the pennies and choose the charity for the bulk of this amazing donation. In Carolyn Poole's first-grade class, students worked together to brainstorm how they'd use the pennies to help others were they to win. At the estimation station, students and their parents were also invited to reflect on this service opportunity by writing a response to the question, "Where would you donate the pennies and why would you donate to this organization?" The answers to these were heartwarming and personal; most people related a connection like, "I want to donate to Save the Children because I am a child," or "I want to donate to Houston Collie Rescue because I like dogs," and "I'd donate to the Friendswood Volunteer Fire Department because Uncle Jim is a fireman." We thank everyone who donated to this outreach effort as well as Amegy Bank of Friendswood for agreeing to count the little treasures for us.

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