The Parent Voice

People for Education recently released a Parent Involvement Toolkit. This toolkit is for principals, teachers and parents about doing what matters most. You can download the toolkit for free from their website here plus you can watch an accompanying video, a recent webinar with University of Toronto Professor, Carl Corter, entitled, “Parent Involvement That Makes a Difference”.

Surprisingly, findings show the kind of involvement that makes the biggest difference in students’ chances for success in school isn’t what most parents might expect. More important than limiting TV time, volunteering on the school council, or even monitoring homework, there are four things that lead the pack:

• Letting your child know you have high expectations for him or her
• Talking with your child about school
• Focusing on students’ attitudes, more than their marks
• Reading to and/or with your child

In addition to the download for the Parent Toolkit, you’ll find handy tip sheets to share and download for parents, principals and teachers.

Although Anne Hathaway Public School already had a great snack program in place, Vice-Principal JoAnne Knechtel knew there was room for improvement. Along with another teaching staff member, the school nurse, nine students, and the Perth District Health Unit, the Health Busters are working together to educate the school body and at the same time provide healthy snacks options the whole school can enjoy.

To help get the group started, team members went on field trip to the grocery store and participated in a Supermarket Tour, lead by a PDHU dietitian. The tour lasted a little over one hour, and gave students time to learn how to read a food label, how to compare similar products for nutritional content, and where to find healthy options in the grocery store.

Since then, the Health Busters have been meeting regularly to brainstorm snack ideas and ‘bust’ common snack myths. For example, the group promotes eating fresh fruits instead of gummy fruit-flavoured snacks, as gummy snack products do not typically contain any real fruit, and therefore provide little, if any, nutritional value. And the team is sure to stick to the rules – snacks must contain foods from at least two food groups, while meals must include a minimum of three. Congratulations to Anne Hathaway for busting their way to healthier eating!

Watch these health-fighting students in action at the grocery store: