A School of Voices

Are you getting enough sleep?

Research conducted at Brown Medical School concluded that students who got eight hours of sleep or less a night were more forgetful, had the most trouble learning new lessons, and had the most problems paying attention.

The above chart shows the recommended amount of sleep per day by age group. Compare that with your actual sleep habits.

Read all of the article "Kids Doing Poorly in Schools?" to learn some important facts about sleep and how it affects your learning. Even staying up an hour or two past bedtime makes it harder for kids to learn.  So how about you? How much sleep do you get each night?  Some school districts have adjusted their school starting time and believe that the change has had a positive impact on student learning. They found students were more alert, better focused on what they were doing, and fewer students fell asleep during class. So how about it?  Do you believe starting school later would improve student performance?  Think of the pros and cons. Do you have any other creative ideas for helping students realize the importance of a good nights  sleep?

What's for lunch?

Kids Grade Cafeteria Food is an article published in Scholastic News. Middle-school students  happily gave their opinions after tasting new, healthy versions of their favorite cafeteria foods. They scored each different food and were able to add comments giving their opinions. Vendors were able to offer their healthy food selections while school officials could hear from the students on their likes and dislikes. So, if you could plan the menu for a day, what would your healthy lunch include?