Goodbye Classroom Candy

Next fall, Wayzata School District educators will likely stop using candy and other sweet snacks to reward students.

Although school board approval is pending, parents across the district can anticipate only non-food items to be used as motivators and rewards  in classrooms at the beginning of the 2011-2012 school year. Classroom celebrations, daily snacks or special education student programs aren’t affected by the proposed change.

The initiative is part of a larger effort by the district to strengthen its tobacco, nutrition and physical activities policies. The district received a $62,000 grant through the Statewide Health Improvement Program to help implement several new programs aimed at helping Minnesotans live “longer, healthier lives by preventing the leading causes of chronic disease: tobacco and obesity.”

After receiving the grant in 2009, a Wayzata School District Wellness Committee recommended the district focus on three wellness initiatives: non-food classroom rewards, staff physical activity and tobacco-free schools.

“Kids are consuming more calories, eating more and exercising less. Schools are changing their environment to give fewer options for unhealthy eating,” said Cathy Stahl of the Hennepin County Human Services and Public Health Department. The county administers the grant for the district.

“Traditionally we’ve been teaching kids the best way to be rewarded is through candy. But, there is a lot of research showing non-food rewards are just as effective in the classroom," Stahl said. "It’s about creating a different culture in schools.”

Thirty Wayzata School District elementary teachers took the new non-food reward initiative for a test drive for two months last fall, when they agreed to have their classrooms be part of the district’s pilot program. Teachers were given a binder filled with ideas of how to replace non-food rewards for students and for removing candy from the classroom.

“The feedback has been really outstanding,” District Nurse Meg Reese said. “There has been very little objection from the kids, and they are more motivated in the classroom.”

Oakwood Elementary second grade teacher Anna Magnuson volunteered her classroom to be part of the project as a way to help “motivate students in a healthier way.” She replaced candy rewards with several different rewards, ranging from stickers to encouraging positive peer feedback.

So far, the results are positive and Magnuson feels the students are more internally motivated in the classroom. One particularly popular practice has been student-led nominations of peers who have done a good deed in the classroom. Those receiving the most peer nominations wear a special medal the next day.

“They [students] seem to find it more rewarding to be supported by their peers instead of the teacher,” Magnuson said.

The changing culture of how food is presented to students isn’t isolated to the Wayzata School District. Nearby Deephaven Elementary School in Minnetonka is using a grant from the Life Time Foundation to reduce ingredients such as bleached flour and high fructose corn syrup in next school year's meals.

Wayzata School District Wellness Committee will continue to meet after the grant ends in May to follow-up on the initiatives and look into other ideas to encourage staff and students to engage in healthy lifestyles.