Common Cents Mission: Common Cents, creator of the Penny Harvest, nurtures a new generation of caring and capable young people between the ages of four and 24 by enabling them to strengthen their communities through philanthropy and service-learning.

Penny Harvest location: 

Join the Common Cents email list!
Donate to Common Cents and the Penny Harvest!
Tell A Friend about Common Cents and the Penny Harvest!

Colorado
Run for Change!
Penny Harvest Field

Search the Common Cents and Penny Harvest web site  

Penny Harvest Report

Bookmark and Share


What's New at Common Cents and the Penny Harvest

Colorado Penny Harvest Students have collected $56,342.81 SO FAR!


38 of our Colorado sites have collected $56,342.81 so far and we're still going! This year, 5 schools are participating in a Penny Harvest pilot program, beginning their harvest in January, and depositing in February. The next steps are to identifying issues that their communities care about and interviewing potential organizations that the kids will ultimately deem worthy of their hard-earned money. 
Congratulations to all of the students, teachers, and parents who spent months collecting almost 17 tons of pennies!
Are you an organization wishing to get involved with Penny Harvest? Click on the Organization Tab, then "Organization Profiles" for information on how to fill out an Organization Profile and be featured on our website.

Join the Penny Harvest!

The Penny Harvest is a free, school-based citizenship and leadership service-learning program that integrates with the school calendar.  Students harvest “idle pennies”, use those funds to make micro-grants to nonprofit organizations, and engage in corresponding service projects. Unlike other coin harvesting programs, Penny Harvest gives students total autonomy to decide where the money should go.Currently running in 43 Colorado schools, the program has 3 main phases:

Harvest Pennies (October – December)

Make Grants (January – April)

Volunteer (April – June)

 

To Sign up your school online visit www.pennyharvest.org/signupcolorado

For more information, contact Kelly Hayes at 720-221-9218 or khayes@ypfoundation.org.

Colorado Penny Harvesters have granted more than $100,000 over the past 3 years to nonprofits, schools, and individuals in need!

Between 2007 and 2010, students from across the state gathered $114,675.29 in pennies and made 243 community grants, in addition to completing 39 neighborhood service projects. Find out where they have granted the money under the "Organization" Tab.

 

Penny Harvest Students Grant $52,159.00 to 105 different organizations in 2009/2010!

Roundtable Leaders from 43 Colorado schools spent several months researching community needs, interviewing nonprofit professionals, and making funding decisions on behalf of their entire school. In addition to the 105 organizations funded, several Colorado schools participated in the first-ever National Penny Harvest Disaster Relief Fund to benefit victims of the earthquake in Haiti. Click here for more info: www.PennyHarvest.org/HelpingHaiti

Colorado Schools Harvest $53,178.33 during the 2009/10 Penny Harvest!

43 schools collectively harvested coins for more than 2 months for this year's Penny Harvest. Each school will continue into the Roundtable phase with at least $1,000 for their grant-making budget. Stay tuned to see where the students decide to grant all of that money!

Roxborough Intermediate on TV!

Check out some of the Roxborough Intermediate students and the YPF staff on TV HERE!

 



Instant Poll
Who do you think should be responsible for teaching our children to be good citizens?
Families
Schools
Religious institutions
Educational programs (like the Penny Harvest!)
All of the above

Young Philanthropists Foundation
Young Philanthropists Foundation administers the Penny Harvest in Colorado in coordination with Common Cents

Penny Harvest Colorado
Schools|Coaches|Organizations|Families|About Us|
Home > Penny Harvest > Location > Colorado > Coaches > Curriculum
email this page | print this page

CURRICULUM

NEW Personal Financial Literacy Supplement:

We are excited to offer a NEW Personal Financial Literacy Supplement that is mapped to the Colorado Department of Education Standards. The supplement has been created in collaboration with The Young Americans Center for Financial Education and is currently geared towards K-8 Grade.

Download the Teacher Guide: Personal Financial Literacy Supplement: Teacher's Guide

Download the Student Workbook: Personal Financial Literacy Student Workbook

NEW Philanthropy & Foundations Supplemental Materials:

We are also excited to offer a brand New Philanthropy & Foundations Supplement for participating schools! These materials help to provide a context to the program, a comparison to Roundtable Leaders as Foundation Boards, and give a history of foundations and philanthropists in Colorado.

Please feel free to download the following materials:

Philanthropy and Foundations Overview

P & F Supplement for Wheel of Caring

Philanthropy in Colorado Timeline Part 1

Philanthropy in Colorado Timeline Part 2

Wheel of Caring:

Click here to view instructions for the WHEEL OF CARING exercise!

Wheel Examples:

Skyline Vista Elementary

Meiklejohn Elementary

Polaris at Ebert Elementary

 

Not a Penny Harvest Coach?  Click here.

The curriculum online mirrors the Penny Harvest: A Curriculum Guide for Educators also found in your Penny Harvest Kit.  The curriculum online includes:

  • An overview each phase of the Penny Harvest
  • Downloadable sections of the curriculum guide
  • Tips and important reminders
  • QuickLinks to standards-based Curriculum Connections, activities for students, and tools for families in multiple languages


Many coaches follow the guide "to the letter" while others interact with the guide in a less structured way, adapting where they feel necessary.  This curriculum guide is the product of 16 years of program evolution, a history of interactions with hundreds of educators who have helped to shape the curriculum from the bottom, up.  As the Penny Harvest staff, we don't just deliver the program, but we listen as well.  Give us your feedback at info@commoncents.org.


-----------------------------------------------------------
“The quality of the Penny Harvest curriculum and professional development sessions
influenced my entire school year.  I have been able to expand my curriculum...
and support my students as they got our whole school involved in philanthropy.” 
-- Claire Waistell, Penny Harvest Coach, Seattle
-----------------------------------------------------------


InTRODUCTION

Download the Introduction to the Penny Harvest: A Curriculum Guide for Educators

In this section, you fill find:

  • Year-long program overview 
  • Penny Harvest year at a glance
  • How to use the curriculum guide
  • Your role as Penny Harvest Coach
  • Tips to engage your school community

 

WHAT IS THE PENNY HARVEST?
 
NEW RESOURCES!
 
QUICKLINKS: The QuickLinks panel highlights handouts, student activities, standards-based Curriculum Connections and materials for Penny Harvest families.
 
TRANSLATIONS: For the first time ever, we are offering materials to engage families translated into eight languages:  
  • Arabic
  • Bengali
  • Chinese
  • Haitian Creole
  • Korean
  • Russian
  • Spanish
  • Urdu 
Look for the (T) in the Quick Links panel.
     
There are many programs that teach children to collect money for a good cause.  And there are a lot of programs that engage youngsters in community service.  But only the Penny Harvest puts the most important decisions in the hands of students.  The students themselves decide which community problems to tackle and how to get the job done.
 
The Penny Harvest Program is a year long program and consists of three phases:

Phase 1: Penny Harvest: Gather Pennies
Each fall, hundreds of schools, motivated by Penny Harvest Student Leaders, rally to connect students and families with neighbors, building relationship and collecting pennies by the ton.
 
Phase 2: Philanthropy Roundtable: Make Grants
Each winter and spring, student leaders undertake the important responsibility of representing their school and allocating Penny Harvest funds to causes and community organizations of their choice through a rigorous research process.  

Phase 3: Neighborhood Service: Take Action
Throughout the spring, students use more than just their Penny Harvest funds to improve their communities, they also use their hands!  Schools partner with community organizations and students plan and execute neighborhood service projects.

Finally students Party & Plan, reflecting on their learning, sharing their accomplishments and planning for an even more fruitful Penny Harvest next year!
 
Back to top
 

Home | Contact Us | Site Map | Privacy Policy | Web Credits


©2012 Common Cents New York, Inc.
Common Cents® and Penny Harvest® are trademarks of Common Cents New York, Inc.

 

Close Window
Close Window
Close Window