Achievement medals are a way to say “thank you for your efforts”.
ThinkStretch medals represent hundreds of math facts, at least 800 minutes of reading, 8 journal entries, and a dozen STEM bonus activities completed over the summer. Most importantly, achievement medals represent effort. It does not matter if you read the toughest book or simply read the book you like the most – what matters is that you read. Did you take 5 minutes or 30 minutes to complete your math facts? It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you finished them. ThinkStretch achievement medals are a way to thank students for persevering over the summer to keep school year skills in tact.
ThinkStretch medals change every year so kids can build a great collection of achievement!
We all know that kids love to collect things. Isn’t that the drive behind many of our crazy trends – beanie babies, Pokemon cards, and eraser tops? At ThinkStretch, we want to see students build a collection of achievement. Every summer ThinkStretch issues a new medal series featuring the Brain. We are so proud to have been sent images of ThinkStretch medals in school photos, local newspaper articles, decorating Christmas trees, and hanging around the necks of lots of smiling children!
Achievement medals celebrate effort, not academic levels.
Awarding medals can be controversial. Academic achievement generally refers to how well a student is accomplishing tasks and tests. ThinkStretch takes a different perspective over the summer. We choose to award academic effort. We believe in grit and perseverance. We believe making an effort to maintain skills over the summer is worthy of celebration. If you choose to read the most interesting book to you, whether or not it is the perfect reading level assigned to you, we believe it is worthy of celebration. If you persevere and complete the math problems, even if it takes you longer than it took your sibling, we believe you are worthy of celebration. ThinkStretch wants every student to return to school prepared, confident and ready to learn. And we want to celebrate all the effort it took to come to school that way!
