what does a star, a sunshine and a smiley face mean for year reception?

[someoneoutthere]

It was dd's first day at school yesterday. She was all upset after picking up yesterday, apparently she wanted a star on her board, but got a sunshine instead. I had no idea what she meant until this morning dd dragged me to the board and I noticed the board had all the children's name on it and some names had stars against them, some sunshines and some smiley faces. I was not sure what to tell her as I did not know what it meant. I have ds who is ASD and goes to a SS, so I am not familiar with the normal school reward system. Knowing DD, I know she will be asking me again after school about stars. I feel embarrased about asking the teacher about the system and look like a fool and one of those competitive mum. Anybody knows?

[Scootergrrrl]

I'd ask the teacher about it. I'm sure any reception teacher worth their salt wouldn't want a child to start off so upset about something small. Just tell her you don't understand the system so you haven't been able to explain it to your DD what she'll have to do to earn a star.

[silverfrog]

I don't know, I'm sorry. They are all positive symbols, though, so the teacher was clearly happy .

But a reward system only works of the person being rewarded understands it (as you'll know full well form the ASD side of things!)

Ask the teacher - you won't look a fool. It sounds as though it is a school-specific system to me.

[pozzled]

You need to ask the teacher- you won't look like a fool at all. Every school has different reward systems and often different teachers within a school use different methods, so there is no way you can tell without asking.

FWIW if your child wanted a star I would guess that it's something like a smiley face as first reward, then sunshine, then star. So if the teacher sees them behaving nicely three times they will get a star.

[LawrieMarlow]

It could be something like different groups children were in - all of them sound positive things. Definitely ask the teacher as I'm sure they wouldn't want your DD to be unhappy.

[PatriciaHolm]

Ask! We can't possibly know. They all sound positive though - maybe the star is for good helping, the sunshine for a happy day, the smile for good attitude? Only the teacher knows.

[someoneoutthere]

Ok, if MNers telling me they don't know, I will ask . I was so worried about making myself look like a fool .

[PatriciaHolm]

You won't look a fool at all, you'll just look like a positive, interested parent - I'm sure the teacher would be happy to explain!