Would You Count Gym?

I would find out why she is not doing well - talk to the teacher. If it is because she does not pay attention or doesn't try, then I would hold that against her. If it is becuase she does not have spectacular physical abilities (and not all kids do) then I would not.

Just my thoughts...

I agree with Joanne T and will add that if you're not going to count Gym, then you shouldn't hang her reward on "all As". She'll learn that "all" doesn't really mean all.

Agree with Joanne.
Personally I think grading kids, especially at that age in gym is ridiculous. Kids should be encouraged to be active and get a grade for participation.

My short answer? No.

I suggest that rewarding grades in a physical way, i.e. going to the Melting Pot, will back fire. You want your daughter to get good grades because she wants to learn. She's only in grade school now. What will be her reward in high school?

I urge you to find other ways in which to reward her. Praise her for learning and for trying. Expecting straight A's will become unreasonable as she gets older and subject matter gets more difficult. I suggest that you want her focus to be on learning and not on getting a's.

Go to the Melting Pot because she was successful in learning. A B in one subject does not mean she was not successful. I would do something special with my child every grading period because they worked hard. That would mean if they failed in one subject it would be an indication of lack of success. A B or a C is still success.

Ugh! I would not count gym in this case.

She may be getting a B because the class is generally unruly even if she is not, or because she didn't go as fast on her "pacer" running test as some other kids who are just naturally faster. I am not a fan of rewards based strictly on specific grades, but even if I were, I would not count gym, music or art grades unless they were very low, or I knew the issue was lack of effort.

This speaks to something that has really bothered me the past fewr years. Personally I think that in elementary school, gym, art and music should all be simple pass-fail or a mark based solely on effort, not on achievement.
But since we can't change that system -- do not let her B in gym deny your girl the treat she has earned in all her tougher academic subjects!

By the way, if your school does both a letter grade and a separate effort mark (unsatisfactory/satisfactory/good/outstanding), maybe next time, tell her that the reward will be based on the effort marks rather than the letter grades....

I wouldn't count it against her.

I have a straight A student. She even carried a 100 in one of her (academic) subjects in 3rd grade, and a FEW 99's every year. And she LOVES PE and sports and is good at them, too. She has zero disciplinary issues at school. They have zero written work in PE (rules about how to play games), and zero physical markers (doing x number of sit-ups), or anything at all measurable... it is all participation type stuff---or-- something. I really don't know WHAT they based the grade off of, since there was NO written or oral testing of any kind, or fitness requirements. She received a 99 in PE every 9 weeks all year.
Why? Her teacher TOLD her, "I don't give 100's".
Ummm... well, that's pretty subjective, don't ya think? Of course, no person can always give 100% every day all the time. Isn't possible. And I get that, but it seems so arbitrary. Why not set up some sort of parameter that allows the kids to meet requirements that can be measured. Participation: 75% of the grade. If they participate they get the points. Etc.
I just feel like, especially in elementary, that to tell them: no matter what you do, you won't get a 100, can have a LOT of negative effects. What is the point of that, exactly?

I'd ignore the PE grade. If they did not give your daughter specific, tangible guidelines or requirements to meet, that can be measured objectively, then it is purely a subjective grade. Whether it is a C or an A.
Don't count it. Reward her for her hard work in the academic areas!

The hard @ss side of me says - A grade is a grade. It counts whether we want it to or not once you get to high school and college. Gym is the one class you can get an easy A. You have to learn to take advantage of those easy A opportunities, because the rest of it can be so hard. It helps to have classes like Gym to pull the GPA up.

The sweet, loving momma in me says - just focus on the word academics. "You made straight As in all your academic classes and I want to reward your hard work"

Bottom line, I would give a little lecture on the importance of making every opportunity count and taking ALL classes seriously, but I'd still take her.

I would reward her. Perfect attendance, all A's and one B in gym sounds really, really good to me. I think asking for kids to get straight A's is like asking them to be perfect. It's a good goal to strive for, but if you accept nothing less it says you expect perfection. Better question, did she give her best effort? Has she always been docked in gym for being too chatty or is this a first offense? Have you ever been notified during the quarter that she isn't behaving during gym? Has she? If her grade were lower than a B or there were more serious comments than "too chatty" from the teacher on negative behavior, maybe I would say consider not rewarding. But in this case, I think she should still get to go. There are some gym teachers that only give As to very naturally athletic kids, kids in school sports, etc, which I think is unfair. Effort should figure in as much more important than natural ability.

Personallly, I would NOT count gym!!! But maybe that's because of my own experience in school. I was an elite swimmer and I swam for a Division 1A college. You'd think I'd do OK in gym, right? Nope. I couldn't do some of that presidential stuff - hanging from a bar, doing 5000 sit-ups in a minute or whatever. I always got a B in gym, no matter how hard I tried!!! Like your daughter, I was also a straight A student otherwise. My parents did something similar to what you're doing, they just said something like "we're rewarding you for achieving straight A's in all of your academic classes." Take her to the Melting Pot - she deserves it :)

My artistic daughter always hated gym and stunk at the sports stuff. Had fun in FUN activities, but her schools always stressed the athletics too much. She is not a jock and was always a bit chunky.

The last 2 years (shes a senior this year) shes been at a great, very unique Arts High school here in MN (public, but apply/audition/acceptance policy to go there, and some fees involved) that is a great school model. She is very talented and gets almost straight A's in all her classes (only 1 B so far this year in Sociology). I would have never faulted my child for gym.

Encourage that Art!! They are a great bunch!! (my profile pic on here is a drawing my daughter did!)

some people are just not athletic. I don't think you should count gym class. Go and have fun with her at the melting pot! Congrats on all A's!!

Don't count gym. I got super grades academically but wasn't athletic and paid the price there with my grade. Gym isn't based on your effort; it's based on natural talent. If you don't have it, you're out of luck. I went through this all the way through school.

Congratulations on having such a motivated, hard-working daughter! Sounds like she's doing great!

They get graded in gym???? Isn't that a pass (you show up) or fail (you don't)? I hope your daughter is doing well in school because she loves learning, not because she is looking forward to a single fondue experience. I would take her no matter what. And I wouldn't try to bribe her next year. I would just be excited with her when she is excited about school.

Hi! It's all about trying their best. That's all I ever ask my kids to do. How they can grade athleticism is beyond me. I can show you a blind baseball player that can run to first (after hitting the ball) in seven seconds. But he can't make a basket. How do you grade him? Compare him to a kid who can't run or can make baskets? Just as long as she is giving it her all, that's what will carry her through life. Have fun at the Melting Pot and as a summer activity put her in charge of learning how to make fondue!

I'm all for rewarding kids for grades. At my job if I worked hard, I got a bonus, even though I was expected to work hard. I think kids should be rewarded for working hard despite what ever grades they get. We always had an end of the year celebration dinner with my parents no matter what our grades as long as we worked hard and behaved well in school. I would make a deal with her that you will talk to her teacher find out if there is anything she can do to pull her grade up to an A, and if she makes every effort to do so, and still falls short, than take her. But if she is unwilling to attempt to pull her grade up, than no don't take her.

At my kids school, as long as they wear the right shoes and clothes, and participate, they get an A. That's my understanding. Maybe talk to the teacher and find out why she got a B.

BUT - we tell our kids to the best they can. If they try very hard and get a C, that's better than not trying and getting a C. Make sense?

So if she pulled off straight A's all year minus gym...I'd watn to find out why first of all, and then take her to the Melting Pot :).

I've always hated gym and so do my girls. In my house gym doesn't count, although they are expected to try. However, the other specialties like art and music do count.

Ha! What memories you triggered. They had to change my college's requirements for graduation for the entire class, all because I could not pass the Harvard step test of endurance in gym! (Bad lungs, genetically.)

I think gym is very important and I would not discount it. But then again, I would not only reward all A's. I think the point of your reward was to encourage your daughter to try her very best. So you need to ask the P.E. teacher if she tried her very best, and then think about the response.

Does she get a grade in Gym? Is she "typical" (with out any needs) and able to do what is asked of her? I think allowing her to do "less" in gym is telling her that physical activity is not as important as everything math/social studies. So, I would say that she can still be rewarded for good grades, just not straight "A's."

I honestly would not count gym. To me if they are not athletic they are nto going to want to perticipate very much. Most the time with my kids I look at their cumlative grades for the year. Like my oldest has made I think 3 B's this year in different things but it will average out for the year to an A. He's in all but one Pre AP class. So I try to give him a little leway. My youngest struggles more so we are not as hard on him with grades. But encurage him to do his best.