SELINSGROVE -- Little things mean a lot, so when Jackson-Penn Elementary School kindergarten teacher Carolyn Kratzer was brainstorming for a community project for her students, she tried to think of something that would fit easily in a child's hand.

"Let's do something small, that kids can do," she told then-fellow teacher Norma Schutter. From that, a soda tab tradition was born.

For the past seven years, Kratzer has asked her kindergarten students to bring in aluminum tabs, which then are donated to the Ronald McDonald House, Danville, a low-cost "home away from home" for families of hospitalized children. The money from the recycled tabs is used to offset the costs of everyday necessities at the house.

"They get more money for the tabs at the recycling center," Kratzer said, adding that there's more alum in them than in the cans.

When she first started collecting tabs, Kratzer was teaching at the Selinsgrove Elementary School, and some of her former students continue to support the program. On the day the tabs were weighed, a box from that school was added to the pile.

"So it's something the kids are saving for. They know what it goes for," she said. Parents have told her that their kids have stopped to pick up tabs off the street to give to her. Grandparents, friends and church groups also send tabs in through the children.

All 10 kindergarten classes at Jackson-Penn now participate in the program, which the teachers have turned into a schoolwide math and civics lesson.

"Who remembers why we are collecting these soda tabs?" Kratzer asked the children gathered in the school gym. Hands shot up, the answer was given and she continued with more questions. "What does recycling mean?" "Who gets the money?" "What is the Ronald McDonald House?"

At that, one boy whose family had used the house when he was ill answered, "It's for parents to sleep in." And then the big moment arrived. One by one, the boxes were weighed and the pounds were added up: "What's 26 pounds plus 30 pounds?" "What's 56 pounds plus 23 pounds?" When the grand total of 234 pounds was calculated, the kids gave themselves a hearty round of applause.

At 1,296 tabs per pound, that equaled about 303,264 tabs.

Kratzer told the students to listen for the Ronald McDonald House's thank-you note, which will be read during the announcements next year, then sent them off with one final encouraging nudge.

"This is something that you can do even when you're a first- or second-grader," she reminded them.