Jackie

Food for thought…my 1st grader is better at math than my 4th grader. He’s fast, intuitively grasps ‘new math’ concepts, does mental math quickly and loves it. His test scores for math this year say he’s below grade level. Why? He was in a bad mood that day and didn’t feel like sitting at a computer. Because, you know, he’s a smart (often bored) 7 y/o boy. So….

re: classroom rewards
my biggest concern about rewards systems is schools (including my children’s elementary school) is the extent that unhealthy foods are used as rewards. not only is there the direct, tangible problem that they are providing children with food that contributes to poor health, without their parents consent or knowledge. there is the additional (intangible) problem of teaching kids that unhealthy foods are high-value foods to be sought after. it is a foundational principle of teaching healthy eating that no food should be ‘good’ or ‘bad’. no food should be celebrated as a reward or used as a punishment. obviously, this happens ALL the time in our culture, but i would hope that our publicly funded schools that are responsible for teaching our kids would be part of the solution, not a large contributor to the problem.