When your child is supposed to be doing homework, are they chatting with their friends on Facebook or playing games? Many studies have shown that multitasking doesn’t   (1)  ,   (2)   your child is probably proudly claiming they can do ten things   (3)  ! Many people believe that they can   (4)   two or more tasks at the same time, but Dr. Edward Hallowell says this is   (5)  . The reality is that multitasking   (6)   poor job performance.

    New hand-held   (7)   such as smartphones, iPads, games and social networking sites make it very easy to multitask and “attention   (8)  ” leading to difficulty focusing on the task   (9)  , such as listening in the classroom or doing homework. “  (10)  , the brain actually   (11)   kids for multitasking even if performance on every task gets worse and worse. Kids don’t know they’re doing   (12)   because they feel better when they multitask,” says Dr. Edward Hallowell.

      (13)   the appearance of hand-held devices and social networking sites, teachers have noticed a difference in   (14)   performance, critical thinking skills and how information is   (15)  . “Multitasking prevents people from gaining a deep understanding of the information they are trying to learn,” says Dr. Edward Hallowell. Kids have a difficult time sticking with a “difficult to understand” topic and   (16)   to allow themselves to be distracted（分散的）, to tune out and switch   (17)   to Facebook or using their cell phones   (18)   working harder at understanding a difficult subject or problem. In the long   (19)  , multitasking affects grades, One study showed that kids that use the Internet while in class did   (20)   on tests resulting in lower grades.

I have never understood the importance of parties in the classroom. As a mother of two school age children, I believe that public schools should no longer   (1)   classroom parties during the school day.

  (2)   is very important to students in school today. Our school year is already too short. Teachers can only just get all the basics of the courses (课程) into the   (3)   instructional minutes of the day.   (4)  , there is no time for anything useless or silly.   (5)   time is best spent focusing on the primary goal — learning.

And what about food? For health and safety reasons, schools often require that   (6)   for these activities should be bought from a store. This   (7)   a real problem for many families. Biscuits for a class of students, plus drinks and napkins can   (8)  what it costs a family to eat a meal at home. The   (9)  of a classroom party is   (10)   a problem for many people, especially in these difficult times.   (11)  , we all know that our children have eaten enough sugar and junk food without the school   (12)   such unhealthy choices.

All the   (13)   that a party can create is unacceptable! I   (14)   those birthday parties held at home for my children. I would just buy the disposable (一次性的) plates, cups, and napkins   (15)   I didn’t need to do any cleaning up. But even so, I just   (16)   to fit all the party time rubbish into the rubbish bin (垃圾桶).   (17)  the trash thrown out by a school of 16 classrooms and over 400 students. It only adds to the   (18)   of our planet’s environment.

I am not sure when our public schools decided that classroom   (19)  needed to become a part of the school calendar (日历), but I do not see the   (20)  . So I do believe schools should forbid (禁止) classroom celebrations.

One important event during the pre-Christmas rush at our house was the arrival of mydaughter’s kindergarten report card. She got high __(1)__ for her reading, vocabulary and overall enthusiasm. On the other hand,we learnt that she has work to do on her numbers and computer skills, __   (1)   __ her report is absent of any words that might be interpreted(解读) as __   (2)   __．A number system __(4)__ how she’s measuring up in each area without any mention of passing or failing, all of which seems to make my daughter’s school neither fish nor fowl（不伦不类）.
    The benefits are often __   (3)   _when it comes to giving formal __   (4)   _ to kids. At one level, the advantages and disadvantages are obvious. A grade system provides a straightforward standard by which to measure how your child is __   (5)   __ at school and how they are __   (6)   __ compared to other children. __   (7)   __ as writer Sue Ferguson notes, "Grades can deceive.（欺骗）" The __   (8)   _ should be "to measure learning, not simply what a student can remember on a test."
　　If you’re old enough, you’ve lived through this debate before. At one time, it was considered unfair to put children in _   (9)   _competition with one another if it could be avoided. The _   (10)   _ behind that may have been good, but it _   (11)   _ the fact that competition, and the willto come out on top, are   (12)  parts of the human condition．
　　This time around, educators working with a no-grades __   (13)   _ are emphasizing(强调) different reasons. The thing is that the method is much more common in the adult workplace than in the traditional pass-fail system we place on our children. Many workplaces __   (14)   __ regular employee evaluations. There are usually fairly strict _   (15)   _ to what an employer can tell an employee in those evaluations. And even then, negative evaluations can be __   (16)   _ by the employee. No matter where you stand in the debate _   (17)  the grade system, then, the real question is this: if it’s so good for kids, why isnˈt that also _   (18)   _ for adults?