Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a parent (who is against the idea of kids receiving candy as a reward) and as a teacher (who is dealing with students coming to school this year with SO MANY different experiences they have had over the past 18 months), it is a fine line to balance creating an incentive (that works!) and being health conscious.

Let me tell you - teachers this year are EXHAUSTED, way more than last year (just today at my elem school, we had over 7 teachers out and there are NO SUBS available, so teachers are being asked to cover other classes and also missing part of their planning time from specials teachers being out), so my advice to parents is to please reach out to the teacher about this issue. If financially possible, please offer to provide trinket toys (small animal erasers, happy meal toys, squishes, fun pencils, sticker sheets, small toy cars, and even things like unwanted costume jewelry or cool small geodes are always well received) so teachers have this available to offer to students as an incentive. Along with helping incentivize students who are working on self control with behavior or other issues, I also make it a point to reward students who consistently do the right thing.

Also, keep in mind the difference between teachers giving out candy daily (it would drive me crazy to see teachers who do this!) and teachers who only give out candy occasionally. If it’s daily, I would still email the teacher in a friendly way but would also cc the VP. Giving out candy daily is an indication the teacher may need some additional support with management.

Yes, I believe that students need to have / develop that intrinsic motivation to do the right thing without receiving candy or a small trinket but we are in survival mode right now!

ugh please no. I don't love candy but I'd 10x rather have that than literal plastic garbage that's just gonna end up in the landfill. pencils are ok.

I cleaned out my two now college age kids rooms after they left. I found 87 "fun" never used pencils from teachers and bday parties stashed in various places in their rooms. I wil drop them at the school when I think of it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Raise it at the PTA meeting. It can be suggested to teachers to use other incentives and not sweets. We did that in our school, little by little it becomes accepted.

Yeah our DC’s teacher has a “treasure chest” with small things they can earn, like bouncy balls, stickers, etc. Seems reasonable.

Certainly healthier!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait until middle school. Teachers give out candy prolifically.

Lots of jolly ranchers! The kids even use it as some kind of currency.

My Larlo mines Jolly Coins in 2nd period.

I reward my students liberally at the beginning of the year and then starting the 3rd or 4th week I will make the rewards bigger and harder to earn. I’ve found over the years that a couple lollipops or stickers, lavish praise, or a fun activity or game given easily shows the students that I recognize their effort and gives them something to work toward. We earned stickers today for keeping masks on for an entire lesson. Later in the year lollipops will be few and far between but we’ll get things like extra playground time for finishing a tough end of unit project. Especially this year with students out of good classroom habits the carrot helps remind them and gives them a concrete goal, and with a lollipop or sticker something tangible to show their accomplishment. I hope that some of the things I’m giving stickers out for now will be habits we don’t even think about in a few weeks.

Anonymous wrote:As a parent (who is against the idea of kids receiving candy as a reward) and as a teacher (who is dealing with students coming to school this year with SO MANY different experiences they have had over the past 18 months), it is a fine line to balance creating an incentive (that works!) and being health conscious.

Let me tell you - teachers this year are EXHAUSTED, way more than last year (just today at my elem school, we had over 7 teachers out and there are NO SUBS available, so teachers are being asked to cover other classes and also missing part of their planning time from specials teachers being out), so my advice to parents is to please reach out to the teacher about this issue. If financially possible, please offer to provide trinket toys (small animal erasers, happy meal toys, squishes, fun pencils, sticker sheets, small toy cars, and even things like unwanted costume jewelry or cool small geodes are always well received) so teachers have this available to offer to students as an incentive. Along with helping incentivize students who are working on self control with behavior or other issues, I also make it a point to reward students who consistently do the right thing.

Also, keep in mind the difference between teachers giving out candy daily (it would drive me crazy to see teachers who do this!) and teachers who only give out candy occasionally. If it’s daily, I would still email the teacher in a friendly way but would also cc the VP. Giving out candy daily is an indication the teacher may need some additional support with management.

Yes, I believe that students need to have / develop that intrinsic motivation to do the right thing without receiving candy or a small trinket but we are in survival mode right now!

ugh please no. I don't love candy but I'd 10x rather have that than literal plastic garbage that's just gonna end up in the landfill. pencils are ok.

Anonymous wrote:As a parent (who is against the idea of kids receiving candy as a reward) and as a teacher (who is dealing with students coming to school this year with SO MANY different experiences they have had over the past 18 months), it is a fine line to balance creating an incentive (that works!) and being health conscious.

Let me tell you - teachers this year are EXHAUSTED, way more than last year (just today at my elem school, we had over 7 teachers out and there are NO SUBS available, so teachers are being asked to cover other classes and also missing part of their planning time from specials teachers being out), so my advice to parents is to please reach out to the teacher about this issue. If financially possible, please offer to provide trinket toys (small animal erasers, happy meal toys, squishes, fun pencils, sticker sheets, small toy cars, and even things like unwanted costume jewelry or cool small geodes are always well received) so teachers have this available to offer to students as an incentive. Along with helping incentivize students who are working on self control with behavior or other issues, I also make it a point to reward students who consistently do the right thing.

Also, keep in mind the difference between teachers giving out candy daily (it would drive me crazy to see teachers who do this!) and teachers who only give out candy occasionally. If it’s daily, I would still email the teacher in a friendly way but would also cc the VP. Giving out candy daily is an indication the teacher may need some additional support with management.

Yes, I believe that students need to have / develop that intrinsic motivation to do the right thing without receiving candy or a small trinket but we are in survival mode right now!

OMG this. If the teachers have to bribe kids to shut up and sit down, then so be it. DS' entire class was sent home on Wednesday and was virtual Thursday and Friday because a student had covid symptoms. The teacher had to switch gears on Day 6 of the school year. I don't care how much incentivizing candy she has to give kids to get this school year to go smoothly. I'll save the health complaints for a normal year.

Parents that are looking to supplement phonics instruction at home - I highly recommend looking into the science of reading (lots of good info from groups on FB and Instagram). It’s also helpful to understand the importance of Phonological Awareness skills. David Kilpatrick has tons of quick 3-6 minute ‘skill drills’ that are great for this (E.g. instructing your child to “say pancake,” [child says pancake] “now say pancake but don’t say pan…child should say “cake!” Another example is “say hat” [child says hat], “now say hat but change the /h/ sound to /m/…”mat!”) FYI - /h/ means you say the sound, not the letter name. PA is primarily about the phonemes or sounds, so this is a verbal/listening activity, not showing letters). Many kids are not able to isolate and manipulate the individual sounds in words, and I believe that strong PA skills are the foundation for a child to blend and read words fluently. I do not feel that MCPS adequately addresses explicit phonics instruction or facilitates Phonological Awareness skill development. As a teacher, I definitely supplement with students in my class, but unfortunately have not seen many teachers that do the same.

For older students (upper elementary), I feel it is helpful to look at the word etymology, studying Latin and Greek bases, prefixes, suffixes, etc. This is actually helpful for all students (E.g. understanding why two, to and too are spelled differently) but you can start off with helping children gain a fundamental understanding of phonics.

An app I REALLY like is the Secret Stories developed by Katie Garner (I think). You can also search “The Better Alphabet” song on YouTube. The app is neat because you can click on a letter and it will read a fun story to help children associate the sound/spelling pattern. The app is about $25 but is worth it!

I was not with MCPS when they used curriculum to point out but have definitely seen the fallout and the deficits created from it…also not a huge fan of Benchmark but that is why I supplement with so many other things, and encourage parents to do the same (if possible).

Anonymous wrote:Wait until middle school. Teachers give out candy prolifically.

Lots of jolly ranchers! The kids even use it as some kind of currency.

I would say that if it’s happening every day/weekly I’d be concerned and email
The teacher directly. If it’s a once in a while reward for a big celebration or seasonal I’m not too worried about it. Kids lost a lot of learning in virtual I’m happy
To have them in-person and won’t be griping about a piece of candy for motivation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Raise it at the PTA meeting. It can be suggested to teachers to use other incentives and not sweets. We did that in our school, little by little it becomes accepted.

Yeah our DC’s teacher has a “treasure chest” with small things they can earn, like bouncy balls, stickers, etc. Seems reasonable.

Yea give them literal garbage plastic that will go into the landfill the next day. If you have time to be upset about this I’m going to assume that you are perfectly satisfied with literally everything else the school is doing. You pleased with the math curriculum? Do you know anything about it? How about reading and PE? If you want your children to only be exposed to the things you want them to be exposed to then public school is not the place for you. Wait until they start teaching them about ideas and history.

I am the PP who just posted (parent and teacher). PLEASE take these curriculum issues up with the BoE! We have very little say in the math curriculum, Benchmark, etc. As much as I try to squeeze in direct, explicit phonics instruction, along with Phonological Awareness skill development, technically I am supposed to follow Benchmark standards like every other MCPS teacher who teaches the same grade I am teaching. Parents - please advocate for change!

And yes, I am aware of the effects of things going into the landfill, it would likely have gone into the landfill at some point anyway and I would rather a child get some enjoyment from the bouncy ball or costume jewelry bracelet versus giving out candy left and right.

Re: the curriculum, many of us DID advocate when MCPS was going through the process of selecting curriculums after the 2.0 failure. And we feel ignored. They’ve invested too much in their selections now, it would take another audit to change again. How can we as parents supplement phonics at home??

Anonymous wrote:It happens. It'd rather it not but it's very low on my "pick your battles" list so I let it go.

+1 Happened a lot when my kids were in ES. I didn't like it, but then I can't imagine being a teacher to 20-30 rowdy, distracted kids, so I let it go!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Raise it at the PTA meeting. It can be suggested to teachers to use other incentives and not sweets. We did that in our school, little by little it becomes accepted.

Yeah our DC’s teacher has a “treasure chest” with small things they can earn, like bouncy balls, stickers, etc. Seems reasonable.

Yea give them literal garbage plastic that will go into the landfill the next day. If you have time to be upset about this I’m going to assume that you are perfectly satisfied with literally everything else the school is doing. You pleased with the math curriculum? Do you know anything about it? How about reading and PE? If you want your children to only be exposed to the things you want them to be exposed to then public school is not the place for you. Wait until they start teaching them about ideas and history.

I am the PP who just posted (parent and teacher). PLEASE take these curriculum issues up with the BoE! We have very little say in the math curriculum, Benchmark, etc. As much as I try to squeeze in direct, explicit phonics instruction, along with Phonological Awareness skill development, technically I am supposed to follow Benchmark standards like every other MCPS teacher who teaches the same grade I am teaching. Parents - please advocate for change!

And yes, I am aware of the effects of things going into the landfill, it would likely have gone into the landfill at some point anyway and I would rather a child get some enjoyment from the bouncy ball or costume jewelry bracelet versus giving out candy left and right.