Recess Necessity

As I am back in my main placement, I am learning about a few changes that have occurred. One of the biggest ones is an extra morning recess for my second grade class and the other second grade class next to ours. My cooperating teacher arranged this with the principal, explaining that the class is so large (30 kids), with there being eight more boys than girls. These boys are rowdy, too! It seems they never stop moving, eating and taking bathroom breaks. I forget what it is to be a growing kid. So, because of these factors, this class is allowed to get a little extra play time. They take their morning recess from 10:30-10:45 am. It is less than an hour and a half into the school day, but already these students are raring to go! During these precious fifteen minutes, I witness a large game of freeze tag, continuous spinning of the merry-go-round, several circles of hand-song games, WWF style wrestling and so on. The amount of energy being exerted is amazing. When the class comes back inside I can sense a noticeable difference in behavior. Although most of the students could easily play all day, they are for the most part, more relaxed and able to concentrate on the next activity. In addition, these extra playtime minutes aid in building healthy habits for children, which is especially important for overweight America. Another added benefit is the social aspect. Students are able to develop connections with their peers. The pros far outweigh any cons.

Of course, none of this is particularly surprising. I think most students in this school could benefit from an extra fifteen minutes of recess. The logistics of putting it into practice would not be extremely challenging, either. Students could be allocated a block of time by grade level and teachers could supervise. There is an observable difference in performance with the students in this second grade class that it seems sensible to make it school wide. As a college student, I appreciate and need a break from class every once while. Once the short break is over, I certainly notice a difference is my level of attentiveness.

With the pressure of staying on course with the curriculum and passing standardized tests, it is understandable that recess gets the boot first. Some view it as a waste of time when time is always of the essence. However, when grade school students can barely sit still and concentrate for more than 20 minutes at a time, anyway, then a lot of information is going in one ear and out the other. This would be the ideal time for a break, like recess.