Hi I am just curious as to how long your students get for lunch. Do you think their lunch period is too short, too long or just about right?
7th and 8th grades get 30 minutes-about 15 or so to eat, then some time outside. The younger grades get about 45 minutes to eat and have recess.
Our kiddos get 25 minutes to eat and 25 minutes of recess. It works well for most. There are a few who spend too much time talking and aren't finished with their lunch. If it happens too often, they have to eat before they talk.
Our lunch period is 25 minutes. Time starts when the first person gets in the cafeteria which means the last kid through the line might only have 15 minutes to eat if that long. I then go get them from the cafeteria and we have a 15 minute recess if we didn't have PE that day. If we had PE then they don't get recess. I remember when I first started at this school we got 40minutes for lunch and it was wonderful. Now there's not even time to eat most of the time. Oh well at least they had to start giving us duty free lunch again. It was a welcome change from the past 3 years.
Ours is 30 minutes including lunch and recess. It is far too short. By the time my kids get through the line, they have maybe ten minutes to eat and they are in kindergarten. I barely get enough time to eat myself by the time I drop them off and get upstairs to have my own lunch. We hardly ever get back to class on time because when I go get them, half of them are still eating(and it's not because they were talking too much). I wish we had a 45 minute lunch.
Our kids get 30 minutes for lunch, but recess is not scheduled. It's up to the teacher to work Teacher PE into the class schedule any day there isn't PE. Those of you who have recess following lunch - Are you supervising your own class outside? Just curious how it all works. Thanks!
My kids have 45 minutes for lunch and recess. It use to be 35 minutes so the extra 10 minutes is nice...
30 minutes for lunch--however we eat in our classroom--and teachers stay with kids. My kids eat in about 15 minutes and they play, talk or go online for the rest of the time. We only have PE twice a week.
They get 15 minutes of recess followed by 25 minutes of lunchtime. The lunch line takes a while to get through so some complain of not getting enough time. I think some of it has to do with a little less talking and a little more eating.
In the district last year, we had a 30 minute duty free lunch and 15-20 minute recess following lunch. And to answer the poster's question, there were two teachers that had recess duty and supervised 4 classes. The other two teachers had study hall or a free prep period.
1/2 hour lunch, 1/2 hour recess- we have paras so it's an hour duty free for teachers....Just right to me!!
Our kids get 20 minutes to eat and then 40 minutes recess. They bring their lunches and eat in the classrooms. Supervision is done by a few teachers and by paid lay assistants who cover several classrooms. The younger classrooms also have grade 6 and 7 students who help with supervision. Teachers don't have more than 20 minutes supervision at lunch-time and it is either at the start or at the end--our contract guarantees 40 minutes uninterrupted lunch.
30 minutes of lunch, and then 15 minutes of recess. Most grade levels don't go to recess right after lunch, our schedule just works out that way.
30 minutes, I think it is about right. We leave the room about 2 minutes til time and they get through the line with 25 minutes to spare. When I pick them up they have all finished eating. I know if I am early they still have trays but there isn't really any food left.
I think having recess BEFORE lunch makes sense for elementary school kids. My daughters' school gives 15 minutes for lunch and then 30 minutes of recess with paid "yard duty" supervision (teacher lunch). Some kids just take a couple of bites and run off to play. When the bell rings, they say, "I'm hungry! Wouldn't it be better to have 30 minutes of running around (perhaps start at 11:45) and then 15 minutes to eat. I doubt they'd eat a couple of bites and run off to class .
Our kids get 30 minutes, with no recess before or after. If they are last in line in the cafeteria, they don't get much time to eat. They can't stay late either, because as soon as we get up from the table, the next class that is assigned the table is coming in.
After reading the other responses, I think I am very lucky. We have a 50 minute duty free lunch period which can be used for lunch and recess depending on the weather. I think a 20 minute lunch hour is ridiculous
Funny you say that. Many parents were up in arms about the change to recess first. I totally agree with it. It helps their metabolism and their appetite. However, many students were complaining about not having enough time to eat. Last year they could eat and if they were running late the cafeteria staff would let them stay in and finish, then go to recess. But like I said, less talking, more eating.
Several of the schools where I sub do this - FIRST is recess and then the students go in for lunch. It works great!
They have from 11:10 (if the lunch ladies are ready) until 11:35 which means walking out of the cafe. If we get there first they have a enough time to eat. If we get there last they have to shovel and can't talk. The last class through the line gets 10 to 15 minutes to eat.
Our lunch is 30 minutes. Almost everyone is done at the end of lunch (we have a few stragglers) and we feed over 300 kids in that 30 minutes.
Our students get 35 minutes lunch and recess combined. They generally spend 10-15 min. eating and the rest is recess. Teachers do not have lunch duty. Our principal works in the lunchroom everyday unless she has a meeting. Parents must work for one week during the year in the lunch room and out on the playground or they pay a fee to have someone fill in their spot.
At my first school, we had an hour for lunch. The kids had about 30 minutes to eat and the rest was recess. We loved that! The lunch time was a nice time to relax and the kids had plenty of time to eat and play. Now, as I said, we only have 30 minutes for eating and playing. We do recess first and I thought I would like that. Actually, I have found that I don't. By the time we go out for lunch, my kids are so hungry they just stand in line waiting to go in and be first through the lunch line. They don't play. Then, when I pick them up, they are extremely hyper because they didn't play outside.
We have 25 minutes. But...the kids have to go through the lunch line one at a time. So..by the time the last kids sits down it's closer to about 18 or 19 minutes!!
We actually have a 45 min long working lunch (meetings, full faculty) and the TA's cover for us during lunch. Often our meetings run over and are a full hour though, which leaves the trusty TA's with the kids for even longer! Of that time, they probably spend 10-15 minutes eating - or less, then they have recess for the next 20-25 minutes and then they have some time with the TA for 10-15 minutes. Classes do different things like a read aloud, silent reading, resting (in pre k/k) or whatever else. The kids eat in the classroom. It may be totally different, as I am not there. Some kids may eat for 30 minutes and get hardly any recess, or eat for 2 minutes and get more recess! It's pretty flexible and the TA's shared outside duty, so if kids eat early they can go outside once a TA is there. The TA's also cover for one another if a kiddo wants to take a long time to eat. We also have picnic tables outside so if someone is REALLY taking a long time, they will make them bring the rest of their food to the picnic table. It's too long I think, 1) for meetings, and 2) to be away from the classroom. BUT I do like that the whole faculty eats together, as we are very united and know one another well. We also don't have many before and after school meetings because we do them during lunch (2-3x a week.) I don't think my colleagues would agree that it's too long!
At the local elementary school that is the closest to me they have only 20 minutes allotted for lunch. I have witnessed the kindergarten lunch there. By the time the last hot lunch line kid sits down he/she only gets 13 minutes to eat. The hot lunch and cold lunch kids are not allowed to sit together due to time and space issues. Some of the kids do not even touch/eat their hot lunch food. Many of the cold lunch kiddos shovel in their food as fast as they can. There is also a mandatory no talking time the last ten minutes, so the children eat and don't talk. They are threatened with stars being taken away from their star chart if they talk. Half of the lights go out, so they quiet down also. There are two adult lunch/recess supervisors (not professionally trained in dealing with children). The kindergarten kids also seem to have trouble even getting into their lunches. They have to ask for help getting applesauce, plastic ware, juice boxes and etc. open. There seems to be many issues that take away from their actual eating time (waiting in line, waiting for someone to help open things, dealing with spills). 67 kindergartners in a little lunchroom with only two adult helpers seems like a chaotic anxiety riddled experience. Maybe that's normal though. After the 20 minute lunch the children are ushered out of the cafeteria to go down to their hallway to get their coats etc. for recess time. They have about a 15-20 minute recess. The two untrained adult supervisors then try to watch all of the 67 kindergartners on the playground. Personally, I think the 20 minute lunch is too short. There is no fix for it in the near future says the current superintendent. The only solution the super has is to extend the school day, which I think would be way too long for all day k-ers. They already go to school from 8:15 to 3:15.
We have 45 minutes schedules for the kids to eat and have recess. If you're one of the first classes to eat you get more recess time. There's 12 second grade classes and the last group might only have 10 minutes for recess. We do rotational duty in semesters. I pulled my 2 days a week last semester so now I get about 35-40 minutes to sit down and eat. If the weather is bad the kids sit in the halls and talk softly. It's not enough time for them to move around. They have 1 hour of P.E. a week.
Since all the aides and teachers rotate lunch duty, the P scheduled one day a week that NO aides have duty on that day so that we can have our meetings during lunch. I love those meetings. Interestinly enough, our TEACHERS voted to keep the rotation rather than asking TA to cover all the lunches. They said they preferred our help in the classroom. The P was saying that if we covered a duty lunch every single day then we would have to have a duty free time to eat (ie, during class time).
Our kids have 50 minutes, including recess. They eat in classrooms, but I don't have lunch duty. Yay! I'd rather teach middle school math one period a day and have no lunch duty. The amount of time seems just right. Two days a week they also have PE in addition to recess, so I don't think they are shortchanged.
We have a 45 minute lunch including recess. The kids go to the playground when they are done eating. The teacher aides watch the students at this time so the teachers are free for this time period, unless it rains. I think it is a fair amount of time.
30 min for lunch, and 30 min recess for them. We get a 30 min lunch, 3 times per week, but then 2 times per week we have to do a lunch duty or recess duty.
