BRAD HORN/Nevada Appeal Christopher Fulwider, 7, and Annah Howard, 6, enjoy ice cream in Mary Kay Kinne's first-grade class at Fritsch Elementary School on Friday. Students used fake bills and coins to purchase the sundaes as a way to learn money-counting skills.
It could be said the best deal on a banana split in Carson City is available in a first-grade classroom.
The requirements for purchase are strict, however: Ice cream is purchasable only by students in Mary Kay Kinne's first-grade class at Fritsch Elementary School.
Stop and ask yourself if you're a first-grader. Next, check those pockets for money that looks nothing like true tender. Fake money, in other words, is the only dough that will purchase a succulent M&M or a squirt of whip cream in this flip of reality.
Finally, there is the whole element of being in the right place at the right time. That time-place continuum occurred Friday, and savvy consumer Caroline Gabica, 6, was one of the few who benefited in the windfall.
Heading straight from her desk to the ice cream table next to it, Caroline ignored the sign lauding ice cream for a buck, syrup for 50 cents, bananas for 20 cents and most toppings for 10 cents.
"What do you want there, little missy?" asked instructional assistant Sherry Loncar.
Caroline, smiling in some kind of ice cream freeze, didn't say a word.
"Gummy bears?"
"Yes."
"That will be $1.10. Chocolate?"
"Yes."
"That's a $1.60. Marshmallows?"
"Yes."
"That's a $1.70. Skittles?"
"Yes."
Oh yes, oh yes, oh yes. Whip cream, sprinkles and a cherry finalized her delectable dessert, bringing Caroline's purchase to $2.40.
She pulled two small dollar bills and four paper dimes out of her mock wallet - a plastic lunch bag - discovering she had a few coins left over for a second round.
As she returned to join her classmates at her desk, discussion voraciously ensued about the toppings to be purchased in seconds rounds.
"This has to do with our curriculum," Kinne said. "The standards say they need to learn to count money, to use money and to learn what it's for.
Rosemary Smith, a Republican Women volunteer in Kinne's classroom, has worked there since the beginning of the year.
"When I started here in September, these kids didn't know much about counting money at all," she said. "Now they are so amazing."
Perhaps, too, they will learn the value of saving room for seconds.
Contact reporter Maggie O'Neill at moneill@nevadaappeal.com or 881-1219.