Coin wars

We're in the middle of my favorite fundraiser-Coin Wars. I love coin wars. They raise a metric buttload of money, I don't have to do anything other than be enthusiastic, and the kids love the competition. Here's how a coin war works. Every teacher gets a large jar to collect funds. Any coin put in a jar earns one point per cent for that class. For example, a penny is 1 point, a quarter is 25 points, etc. But here's the fun part: bills count as negative points per cent against a class. For example, one dollar bill removes 100 points from your total, a five-dollar bill removes 500 points, etc. The idea is to boost your own class' points by dropping coins in your own jar while dumping bills in the jars of other classes. The class with the highest score at the end of a week gets a (insert your favorite cheap prize here).

Now, my class started off pitifully. For the last 2 days, we've has a measly 1 point. But it turns out, they have a plan. You see, the other classes aren't dropping bills into our jar because, with 1 point, we're not a threat. On Friday, they're all planning on dumping a large number of coins in our jar at the end of the day, after everyone else has already dropped their bills in other jars.

It almost makes me proud that they've learned to behave so deviously. Finally, I taught them something!