There was a post a while back from jaylivg
http://giftedissues.davidsongifted...._overreacting_about_this.html#Post152493

I agreed that having a silent 5 minutes at the end of lunch would be difficult and that losing recess the next day for not following this rule did not make sense. I now have one even better - that makes even less sense to me.

Some of DD9's classmates have been having issues at lunch time. The note that was sent home said they are acting silly, talking, and not eating. It was decided that the solution to this problem should be 3 days of "no talking" during lunch, then the students would have the opportunity to "earn the right to talk" at lunch back if they could "handle it". That is a group of 8-9 year olds sitting shoulder to shoulder and toe to toe with each other for 15-20 minutes without any talking what-so-ever. The note didn't say specifically what the consequences would be if a student did talk during this time, but it did mention that detention would be given for any "excessive" talking.

Here is the kicker...these 3 days just so happen to coincide with math state assessments, which IMHO makes this not only a bad idea, but a really bad idea!

Some of the same things that applied to the previous post apply here. Lunch is a time to talk with your friends and kids need this down time. If kids are too busy talking to eat then they will already have a natural consequence of being hungry later. If a child is not one of the ones talking then why should they be punished by not being allowed to talk at all. If they don't get their social time in at lunch they may try to get it in during class instead. Then on top of all that, why start this at the same time of state assessments.

I followed the advice I gave to jaylivg and nicely and calmly explained our reasons why we have concerns about this. We spoke with DD9 and tried to explain what was going to be expected of her at lunch the next few days and made some suggestions to her about trying to sit away from others that might cause her to want to talk, etc.

DD9 assured us she will be too busy eating to be talking since she looked at the lunch menu and told us she likes what they are serving the next 3 days. We can only hope!!!