Raring to get back to class

ADAM GELMON

As a young student, I was always bothered that back-to-school sale signs started sprouting up as early as mid-July. Not that I didn't like school, I just wasn't ready to think about getting back to class so quickly.

By the time August rolled around, there was absolutely no escaping the back-to-school propaganda. The mall stopped being a place to get ice cream and go to the movies, and transformed into a living billboard reminding us that, "There are only 35 more days until school starts!" I did my best to rebel against this by growing a couple of inches if my parents dared to buy my back to school clothes too early. Mid- to late August seems a much more civilized time for that back-to-school stuff, don't you think?

Returning to school is an exciting time, but after a long vacation, the transition back to the classroom can be a bit stressful for kids and parents. The end of the summer is a good time to talk with your kids about the upcoming year. Here are some tips to help make this school year the best yet.

Set goals for the year

With batteries recharged, the end of the holiday is an ideal time for reflection and goal setting with your child. Take some time during the week before school to think about the previous school year – the successes as well as the areas for the improvement. The previous year's report card can offer valuable insight. When looking for areas for improvement, try to find patterns in your child's performance, learning styles and needs. When you put two or three years' worth of report cards together, you'll undoubtedly gain some knowledge that you and your child can use to plan for the year ahead.

Comments on your child's effort and areas for growth are especially important. The first response to observations and comments regarding areas for growth are to encourage your child to work harder or pay more attention in class. This kind of intervention rarely works for adults, and even fewer children are motivated by direct suggestions to "try harder."

Work with your children to set some realistic and measurable goals aimed at supporting them with areas for growth. Goals should be specific and as detailed as possible. Make sure to work together to define how your child will reach a particular goal and how they will know when they have achieved it. Write them down and put the goals in your child's work area. Keep the list short and revisit them on a regular basis. Also, make sure to celebrate with your children when they have achieved a goal. Use this opportunity to build their confidence as they strive for greater heights, and to remind them of past successes when they hit a bump in the road.

Create a work space

Most kids will tell you they work better on the couch with the TV on and music playing in the background. The distractions (or, should I say, temptations) of a busy household often get in the way of working and learning at home. Kids can get lost for hours on pencil-seeking missions when met with ringing phones, barking dogs, siblings and the ever-lurking and impossible to resist refrigerator door. By the time they return from their quest for a pencil – often empty-handed – the hunt begins again.

"What'd you do last night?"

"Man ... I swear I spent four hours on my homework."

You can save your child countless hours over the course of their academic life by simply having a well-stocked, comfortable and distraction-free area used for schoolwork. Keep the resources and supplies handy, the chair comfortable, the desk clutter-free and the lighting bright.

Meet the teachers

Meet the teacher nights are excellent opportunities to get a feel for the exciting year ahead. Your child's new teachers will give you an overview of the upcoming curriculum, tell you about the workings of the class and explain the best ways to communicate with them. You may have time to ask some general questions at the end, and teachers definitely love to meet the parents, so make sure to introduce yourself – we're going to be important teammates over the upcoming year. When you get home later that night, tell your kids what you've learned and how much you're looking forward to a hugely successful year together.

Don't over-program

Whether it's 5:30 a.m. hockey practice or three hours of dance every day of the week, many students' schedules are overstuffed with programmed activities. If your child is enrolled in a regular curriculum, as opposed to a specialized athletics or arts school, it's important to make sure that their schedule supports their overall well-being. Extracurricular activities are excellent for promoting balance, health and emotional and social growth, but problems usually arise when they overshadow everything else in your child's life.

Going to school is a full-time job. Then, of course, there's homework and time needed to study and review for tests. A school week that's bursting with programming can be overwhelming, especially when the pressures and deadlines of schoolwork start to pile up. Also, keep in mind that your kids need some downtime, and do better when their schedules allow for some free time.

Eat well. Do better.

How about a new school year's resolution to set or reset some healthy eating habits? Simply put, students who eat better, do better. Breakfasts don't have to be elaborate, just balanced. Make sure your child's breakfasts have a healthy dose of protein and complex carbohydrates to jumpstart and sustain energy levels for the morning. Overly sugary cereals are not good choices, as they cause a spike in blood sugar levels, followed by a quick crash. Moreover, they don't contain enough protein to get the brain primed for learning. The same goes for snacks and lunches. Lunches that are high in fat and sugar will have your kids begging for a nap at one in the afternoon, and will negatively affect performance.

Get out and exercise

Daily exercise is a must for kids. This doesn't have to be in the form of organized programs. Take a walk, ride a bike, hit the skateboard park – just get moving and have fun. If it's possible for your kids to walk to school, the morning exercise will kickstart their day. You can even drop them off a few blocks from school in the morning and have them walk the rest of the way. It really doesn't matter what they do, as long as they do something active on a daily basis, and the more enjoyable and accessible, the more likely they'll do it.

OK, malls, bring on your back-to-school campaigns – we're ready now. We're going to take advantage of this short, but all-important, window of time to prepare, reset and build on the successes of years past, and tackle any difficulties in a proactive and positive manner. Here's to the best school year yet!

Adam Gelmon is a teacher at Vancouver Talmud Torah school who is currently completing his master's degree in education. He can be reached at [email protected].

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