Tomorrow’s the first Weigh-in at my school for Penny Harvest, the annual system-wide fundraising event for charities across the US sponsored by Common Cents. I’m anxious and excited all at once to see the turnout for the first week. It’s my first time coaching, but I seem to have already caused waves.

(One of the organizers actually asked me about my blog, because it came up on Google Alerts after my Penny Harvest Math post. He asked me if I wanted to have it linked up on the Common Cents site, and to be blunt, I don’t think a non-partisan organization such as his would want  all the contents of this blog to represent his org. I’m a little left of center. A little. But he’s more than welcome to link specific portions if he wishes.)

So for my first offering to the Penny Harvest, I give you the responsibility sheet I typed up for the Penny Harvest liaisons. The way I organized my school is in circles within circles. The big ring encompasses every homeroom, and those homerooms have 2 liaisons who help promote and encourage the students in their class to bring pennies, and assist in the weigh-in days.

Penny Harvest Liaisons

The second offering I have for my Penny Harvest people is an Excel spreadsheet that will make it easier to organize the classes in your school as well as help students calculate more readily the dollar amounts. Plus, it’s pretty.

Penny Harvest Template

Tomorrow will be an exciting day for sure. I’m still rocking my Penny pin, so that’ll be dope. Secretly, I’m hoping my kids find real value in the charity they’re about to give, and not just winning. We haven’t been as effective with promoting that around the school, so that’s another goal I have for the year.

I also sent out a memo 2-3 weeks ago discussing Penny Harvest, and walking around classrooms making speeches about it. I got some kids excited about the prospects of surpassing all expectations. I then sent out a final memo this morning reminding all homeroom teachers about the schedule tomorrow. They need to be ready because I know I will …

jose, who can’t wait until the kids start doing most of the work …