500 000 bread tabs and visitors galore!

We are half way to one million! What an exciting day! I had a high school friend, who now lives in Ontario, come to visit today. She brought along her son and daughter, who were on March Break. They wanted to see our project. They even brought a contribution of 1069 tabs. (My kiddies estimated it was 1000 before they counted. Close, very close.) What a thrill when I started asking how much they had at each table and they realized that we had made it to the halfway point. They helped us fill our new 100 000 container and then pictures were taken. Later on, a dear, sweet former student from our school stopped by. Even though he left our school in grade 1 or 2, his grandfather has been continuing to bring in bread tabs on a regular basis. I was so happy to be able to show him that we had made it halfway. How long will it take to get the next half? The majority of my students think it will take less than the three and one half years it took to collect the first half. I think they may just be right.

The Half Way Point is in Sight

Sitting here, at home, on the first day of March Break, wide awake at 6:00 a.m., what else would one do but update their bread tab blog. Our new total is 495 539 bread tabs, and there are more, at school, sitting, patiently, waiting to be counted. I am quite positive that when all are counted bagged and added (with regrouping of course)that we will be on the downhill slide towards one million. Three years and six months ago we began this crazy voyage. It continues to amaze me how people will do anything to support the education of our wee ones. I would like to give a little shout out to the university community. Over the last couple of weeks a little girl from grade one, and her dad, came to my room to deliver a 2/3 full grocery bag of bread tabs. Dad works at McConnell Hall, which is a dining hall, at the University of New Brunswick. He has been encouraging everyone there to save their little plastic closures. When the contents of the bag were counted we were 8623 bread tabs closer to our goal! Incredible! People have told me that eventually the resources will dry up, but new ones keep popping up. As well, I would like to thank some talented young music students at St. FX University who diligently put their tabs away for me. Lately, my math focus has been subtracting with regrouping, to prepare them for the adventure of long division. I fear I may have warped my students' dear sweet little minds. When I ask how many tens are in 1 234, some of them just look at me and I can see that the question is not registering. If I say, "If you had 1 234 bread tabs and divided them up into tens bags, how many tens bags would you have?", the number 123 comes tripping off of most of their tongues pretty readily. I may have to pass this information on to the middle schools they will be attending next year. On a totally non-math related topic, the kiddies and I are constantly amazed by what arrives in our baggies of bread tabs, that are not bread tabs. We decided to keep a list. Several of these things have arrived multiple times. Here is our list:a) pop can tabs (We send these to a school that is collecting them to get a wheelchair), b)twist tie, c) safety pin, d)a dog tag with the name Bailey on it (It was sent home with a student of the same name.), e)a Catholic medal of Mary, f)a 1/2 cup measuring cup, g)a square metal nut, h)a small plastic toilet (The kiddies fought over that one.),i)a button, j)a steri-strip, k)an expired coupon for a free cheeseburger at McDonalds, l)a finishing nail, m)a tack, n) a pin, o)a bobby pin, p)a teeny tiny nail (These are the students' words.), q)a paper clip, r)a red Christmas tree light, s)a screw and t)pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters which all get put in our IWK Children's Hospital bucket (Although, admittedly, not always voluntarily. Positive peer pressure always wins out, however) The journey continues, thanks for your interest in this bizarre project