Found Money

I've said it before and I'll say it again…one of the best parts of my day is reading what the kids have written, be it in their journals or for a formal writing assignment.  Buried in the pile of papers is always a gem or two that makes me LOL.

The other day, our writing center prompt was "Write about what you would do if you found $5.00 on the way to school."  Interesting to note (and I'm still not sure quite how I feel about it) is the fact that not a single student said that he'd try to find the owner of the money.  Perhaps expecting altruism from a  6-year old is a bit of a stretch.  Oh well…

I am pleased to report, though, that most of my students understood that $5.00 isn't a whole lot of money, and what they wrote about corresponded to that understanding.  Some of the kids said they'd spend their found money on ice-cream, some said toys, and yet others said they'd save it.  One girl said she'd give $3.00 to her dad and keep $2.00 for herself.  Of course, when my husband heard about that one he said, "Can we adopt her?" 

A couple of girls wrote about how they'd buy their little brothers a toy, which I thought was very sweet.  One of those girls, however, said she'd buy her brother a Lego and then herself a skirt.  (Clearly, she's not one of the students mentioned above who understands the value of a dollar, because even though she said she'd buy the items at Target, even on sale she'd never be able to buy both things!  Oh well, the sentiment was there and that's all that really matters, right?)

My all-time favorite from this $5.00 prompt was:

"If I found $5.00 I would save it and yous it for colij. Then I can go to colij so I can lrn.  And maby be a techr.  I houp I fyd $5.00 in rell lif."  Not surprising, my husband wanted to adopt this student, too!  Let's see…how much interest would she have to earn to turn that $5.00 into college tuition in 12 years?  Oh brother, don't ask me…one of the main reasons I teach First Grade is that I am only required to count up to 100!

So, friends, what would you do if you found $5.00 on the way to work?