"Working Snacks" at school?!

[swilphil]

It's fallout from NCLB. The schools are under so much pressure to make AYP and raise test scores they don't have time for a break. I was surprised last year at how jam packed my son's day was in Kindergarten. What happened to learning social skills and cooperative play?

 

[believe]

My kids, 2nd and 4th grade, have never had snacks since entering Kindergarten...unless it was party and it has to be after they eat lunch. They are allowed water bottles. They are fine with that since they eat lunch within 3.5hrs of arriving at school (4hrs from leaving the house)

 

[mjkacmom]

I'm sorry, but why do kids need a snack, anyway? We have 1/2 kindy, less than 3 hours - no need to snack (and the older grades don't have snack time). I definately see having them have a working snack, instead of a break - it takes time to get some kids back on task.

 

[The Mystery Machine]

This year my dd's 5th grade teacher is allowing snacks to be eaten at any time. So I suppose it is a "working snack". However it is better because she can snack when she is hungry and not on a schedule.

And to answer some of you about snack time.....

MY DD'S LUNCH IS AT 1PM!!!! I do not think it is right to let her go from 8am-1pm without ANY snack.

 

[elizke]

The need for snack question aside, I think it's not a big deal to not get a technical break. They do get plenty of "breaks" throughout the day as a natural part of transitions and bathroom breaks and then an extra recess many days at my kids' school.

 

[FinallyBoughtDVC]

Bodies should be given fuel every 3-4 hours. If a child is up and eats breakfast at 6:30am and doesn't have lunch at school until 12:00pm - that's a long time for a little body to have nothing to eat.

I see nothing wrong with a working midmorning snack and a working mid afternoon snack, depending on the time of dismissal.

I like the idea that in some classrooms, children are being allowed to make the choice - which is good. Better to eat when your body is telling you it's hungry than shove food down at some set time because someone else is telling you you should eat.

My daughter (age 8) eats basically as follows:

Breakfast 6:30-7:00 - Egg white omelet with cheese & vegetable, whole wheat toast, piece of fruit
Snack 9:30 - 10:00 - Couple of slices of turkey, crackers, carrot sticks, yogurt
Lunch 12:30 - 1:00 - Salad, some kind of meat (she loves sushi - so that's usually what she ends up with), fruit
Snack 3:30 - 4:00 - whole wheat mini-bagel, cream cheese, lox, carrot sticks
Dinner 6:30 - 7:00 - usually fish or chicken, pasta or rice, vegetable

If she's still up, she'll also have a snack before bedtime (it's a long time between bedtime and breakfast). Keeping one's blood sugar even is really important - especially for kids and teens. Their bodies are growing, they're so active - they need to keep fueling up.

I think a working snack is the perfect compromise between stopping the whole class for a set snack time and not having one at all. I also like the teachers who allow the kids to quietly choose to snack throughout the day.

As for a break - I can't imagine these kids work straight through without a little downtime here and there. Then again, my children's ES had so many specials, they were hardly in their seats long enough to do anything anyway.

One more reason why I am glad we've made the decision to homeschool - my daughter and I can take breaks when needed, eat when needed and not be on anyone else's schedule.

 

[Disney1fan2002]

Here, starting in 2nd grade, snack time is a working snack. I love it! My Ds does not always want to bring a snack, so the fact that it is a working snack makes it less noticable that he is not eating anything.