I enjoyed seeing this activity repeated over two days, with different students getting inspired to count up their pocket money. The immense power and interest inherent in one's own money set off a great sequence of Sudbury learning. In one animated 10 minute episode, a more experienced student helped a younger one differentiate between the different coins and sort them in order. A pack of students descended on the coin owner, making wild guesses about the value of the money in the lineup and the number of Bionicles that could be purchased. Some left quickly, drawn by other interests, while some stayed to absorb this particular experience. The owner of the coins asked for help from a staff to count them. When they were totalled, the coin owner did some thinking about the item that he was saving for and how long it would take him to save enough for it. Then staff and students began looking at the coins, noticing the pictures on them, finding some foreign coins, some brand new coins, and some coins that were older than anyone in the group! The episode ended with a comment that sparkles with the kind of fresh, free, thinking that comes so easily to these students. "Hey! Wouldn't it be cool if we found a quarter from the FUTURE?!!"
With grins and laughter, the students scooped the money back into the jar and took off for the next big thing.
Easily and naturally figuring out the world around them, from the basics of counting to the big questions of time and space, what a joyful experience of young humans learning as they love to do!
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