The Rightful Return of Recess

Geralyn — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 13:21:35 +0000

Did you see this headline earlier this week in the New York Times?!?

Recess, which has been squeezed out of so many school days, is starting to gain traction once again. Recess has become part of Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign, and national organizations such as KaBoom! and Playworks are advocating hard for recess. This is good news for children of all ages. The benefits of recess are widely known - from reducing stress and obesity, to increased attention and more. Even with the focus on high-stakes testing, it is hard to understand why we have strayed so far from daily recess for our school children. It just doesn’t make any sense.

Now that the school year is in full swing, I wonder what your child’s recess experience has been. When my children were in Kindergarten, recess was one of the few parts of the day they looked forward to. When mandated assessments and curriculum constraints put pressure on their teachers to produce, produce, produce – it was recess that was shortened or even lost for the day. And boy, did I hear it from my sons when they didn’t have recess. They, to put it politely, were not happy. And how often does losing recess become a consequence that leads to more disruptive behavior and unhappiness?

Luckily, when I spoke to my boys’ Kindergarten teachers, they were very receptive. They agreed that recess is critical, and tried their hardest to bring it back. My boys were happier at school when recess returned. I’ve spoken to many parents who have had to advocate for recess for their children, not always with such positive results. If you find yourself needing to advocate for more recess in your school, I urge you to check out Peaceful Playgrounds where they have a very active Right to Recess campaign with loads of fantastic and free resources. This includes a webinar and a Power Point Presentation with a companion speaker’s guide with lecture notes and references!

And, if you are trying to advocate at your school, find other parents to work with. If your child is crying every evening, and feeling stressed at school, and lack of recess is at part of the problem, chances are very good that other children are feeling the same way. When parents join together, with the research and information to back their requests, schools will respond. If you are a teacher trying to bring back recess at your school – the Right to Recess campaign can help you, as well.

Play on!

Check out some related posts:

Recess (It’s not just for Congressmen)

Playful learning is more than just Sight Word BINGO

Alliance for Childhood’s press release on free plan and childhood obesity

Agents of change

Geralyn — Thu, 25 Mar 2010 02:07:17 +0000

Today I write about two unique opportunities. Your voice can help make this country a better place for children and play. First, as I’ve written recently, the Common Core Standards are now available for public comment at www.corestandards.org (until April 2nd). The current draft for kindergarten includes:

“Read with sufficient accuracy and fluency to support comprehension.”

“Use the most common affixes in English (e.g., -ed, -s, re-, un-, pre-, -ful, -less) as a clue to the meaning of an unknown word.”

“Say the number name sequence forward or backward beginning from a given number within the known sequence (instead of always beginning at 1).”

“Understand that names of shapes apply regardless of the orientation or overall size of the shape.”

As you may recall, Alliance for Childhood recently released a joint statement about the Common Core Standards signed by concerned early childhood experts from across the country. (Here is an excerpt from that statement: “Young children learn best in active, hands-on ways and in the context of meaningful real-life experiences. New research shows that didactic instruction of discrete reading and math skills has already pushed play-based learning out of many kindergartens.”)

The statement has already impacted the Common Core Standards, with some small changes having been made. (Now kindergarten students must know haw to write most upper and lowercase letters instead of all upper and lower case letters.) There is a chance that we can make an even bigger impact. The Alliance for Childhood website has links to all the early childhood standards and ideas about how to respond to the survey. I filled one in yesterday, and urge you to do the same – before the comment period closes. Currently (according to Catherine Gewetrz of Education Week) the comments being submitted about the standards are 75% positive and 25% negative. Let’s get that negative percentage higher and get some attention! Also, for more information and ideas about the Common Core Standards, Race to the Top, No Child Left Behind and more…you can also check out the insightful exchanges between Deborah Meier and Diane Ravitch on the Bridging Differences blog in Ed Week.

Another way to speak out on behalf of children is to encouraging Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move campaign to include recess in their plan to fight childhood obesity. Check out this recent blog post for more on that. Currently, and only for the next few days, there is a chance to send your comments and ideas to the task force at Let’s Move. Click here to send in your ideas. Last week I was talking with a frustrated mom who has a very sad little 6 year-old daughter. Every day, her daughter has to “earn” her recess, and sometimes she just isn’t able to. On those days, she gets off the bus crying. To me, that is outrageous and unacceptable. Recess belongs in the school day, for exercise, relieving stress and having some fun!

I hope you find some moments in the next day or so to use your voice on behalf of children and play. And I urge you to spread the word about these two unique opportunities.

Empowered by Play » Let’s Move

The Rightful Return of Recess

Agents of change