The new super. has eliminated recess for grades 3-5 to add more instructional time. I am curious-are there other schools with no recess? Or is this the most ridiculous thing you have ever heard of??
I DO think this is one of the most ridiculous things I've heard off. Little kids need to run around and be active if they are going to learn anything! I wish our 7th & 8th graders had some sort of recess besides 15 minutes at lunch, because some of them are so squirrely! Yesterday there was an article in the Chicago Tribune about the growing trend of using fitness balls as seating in classrooms. Seems being able to bounce lightly or roll a bit on the balls helps keep overactive kids focused and more engaged. Maybe your super would invest in about 30 of those for each of the classrooms!
That is insane and borders on criminal. What about the fear of childhood obesity? What about all the kids who are going crazy sitting still for so long. In my opinion, the parents and community should protest strongly and get it changed.
So so so silly!!! Could the teachers/parents/comunity present him with research stating the negative effects of eliminating recess?!
I'm guessing that whoever made this decision needs to get out of an administrative office and into a school, to get a feel for the reality of life as a child.
In the state I teach in the super would be in violation of a state educational regulation as recess is mandated.
My kindergarten students last year got between 15 and 20 minutes each day of free choice centers (housekeeping, blocks, cars, sensory, art, puzzles, etc.) OR outside recess. Not both. Every other minute was structured, usually involving sitting down. And we wonder why behavior problems are increasing!
OUtisde recess isn't a must; in many parts of the country it simply isn't possible for a good part of the school year. But, speaking as a mom, I KNOW that kids can't sit and concentrate on academics all day long without a break!!
Here is an article our principal sent out to all staff. http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/exercise-boost-brainpower/story?id=8840026
We haven't had recess in the three years that I've been where I am. I don't think they've had it for quite a while. The play ground out back has started to look very abandoned.
Why just 3rd-5th-is that for test prep or they just don't think they need it because they are older? I know when January rolls around you see our intermediate grades on the playground less and less because they are concentrating on test prep. Physical activity is also a requirement here-we are supposed to have 30 minutes in our lesson plans every day. It's the only time of day the kids have to run around and make noise. I personally love to watch them make up games (no they play "zombies") and interact with each other. Some kids completely come out of their shell and some go back in.
I posted this article a few months back when this issue came up. I think removing recess is one of the biggest errors we can make in our schools! recess is crucial To the OP, I really wish you would pass this info on to the bean counters down at central office. Maybe if enough people speak up, both teachers and parents, they would WAKE UP!!!!!!!
I teach 2nd grade and we don't have recess. The kids have had such a hard time with it and still ask daily if we can go out for recess! I try to get them up and moving as often as I can in the classroom, but it's not the same at all!
UGH! What a shame that this new super has no clue on education and the development of our brains. Our brains can only take so much. Makes me sick. I'm so glad the both of the districts I've worked for required 25 minutes of recess each day (35 at the other), not counting lunch recess which is another 30 minutes PLUS PE time. And geeee, our scores are getting higher!
When I was in elementary school recess stopped after kindergarten... we occasionally got to go out to the playground for half an hour or so, but it was not a scheduled thing and it rarely happened...
Short sighted and bound to fail. I am not looking forward to the kinds of adults these test-obsessed schools are creating.
I don't know if this would even be legal in CA. According to California Law, California Code of Regulations, Title 5, Section 304 - "every pupil shall leave the schoolroom at recess unless it would occasion an exposure of health" (reg 77, No 39) Section 352 - "A pupil shal not be required to remian in school during the intermission at noon, or during any recess." (Reg 77, No 39) I can't find anything that directly mandates recess, just that students cannot be required to serve detention during recess or lunch. Kind of a weird law though. Hmmmm
Our state mandates recess and I take full advantage of it! However, we are told that you can count the time walking to and from specials and lunch as recess time. So, many of our students don't get time to go out and play (same test obsessed mentality).
The guy is nuts! So many studies have come out that indicate how important recess is for LEARNING! I would definitely get some parents involved to fight this. My kids get 45 min of recess every day, and 80 min of PE per week. Also discretionary 15 min. afternoon recess, which come to think of it, I need to be using because my first graders are antsy and tired in the afternoon - 15 min. of running around outside, even in the rain! - and they will be ready to spend the last hour of the day actually learning instead of zombie-ing out. I just don't understand how someone can nix recess with all the obesity studies plus the studies that prove children learn better with free play time outdoors - or in the gym as a last resort. This sounds like cruel and unusual punishment.
To the OP, I'm sorry to hear about your loss of this important time. The first thing I would do, is get some teachers together to research/plan some active learning that can be done in class and try to plan at least 20 min everyday where students are out of their seats and moving.
If nothing else, it ought to be a violation of labor law! - isn't one supposed to get two breaks not counting lunch during an eight-hour shift?
My district, or at least my school, K-3 has 15 minutes in either the morning or the afternoon, whichever their special doesn't fall in (so if you have an AM special, you have PM recess... if you have PM special that day, you have AM recess). Everybody (K-5) has recess opposite thier lunch, I think it's 20 min. or so. They get PE 3x/wk for 30 min (younger kids) or 40 min (older kids). They days they don't have PE, they have music. (plus 4-6 has art). We don't have a playground... well, we do, but it's considered park district property, so kids are supposed to have a permission slip on file in order to play there (even though that's what our PreK/EC gym class consists of when it's nice outside)... we have a HUGE blacktop area, though, and the kids play there with jump ropes, balls, hoola hoops, chalk, etc.
I find it insane that every school does not have a well cared playground area for kids to run around and play. I am so glad to have grown up in a time where we were still allowed to have recess and they did a very nice job providing sports equipment and playground equipment. How sad and depressing.
As a PE teacher for MANY years I can confidently say that ALL kids need to get outside or in a gym and let off steam. Learn to and have time for interaction with other children. PE is much more than playing ball or jumping rope. It is about learning to find out your possibilities physically and socially. I remember a few years ago sitting in an inservice for a few hours and thinking, "im going nuts just IMAGINE how an 8 year old feels sitting for long periods of time doing book work.
All of our students (JK-grade 8) have a 30 minute recess in the morning and a 40 minute recess after eating lunch. They are outside unless it is bitterly cold or raining. If we need to stay in, they have down time in their classrooms--drawing, cards, board games, talking with friends. They need to have these breaks; I can't imagine a day with no breaks!
I agree! My first year teaching, my fifth graders only had 5-10 minutes of recess after lunch. I had so many behavior problems in the afternoons, that in the spring I started keeping them out longer, even though that 5-10 minutes was my only break. The next year, we had a new P, and I asked for the schedule to be looked at so 5th grade could have a 20 minute lunch recess. Even with a more difficult class, I could tell it made such a difference!
That's crazy! At my school, our kids get only 1 break, which is for 30 minutes, and early in the morning, from 10.30 to 10.5 (sorry, my keyboard is acting up and the colon mark is not working). Anyway, I give them an extra break in the afternoon because kids need it!
I have about 2-3 kids that use the exercise balls as seats. Some of them have outgrown the need to use it, I had 2 first graders last year. It seemed to help..but they have to be taught to use it the correct way. I have a really low 5th grader that uses one and he gets literally bouncing and I have to tell him to stop.
Recess is not just about obesity, although that is a part of it. Free, unstructured play has been shown to improve cognition, and of course, social skills. Cutting kids off from that is unconscionable. However, many policy makers believe the school is there to educate the mind only, and that the mind is separate from and not affected by the rest of the human.
If I was a parent of one of those children I would be FURIOUS. Kids need some down time to MOVE. It will make them more focused later. HORRIBLE to take that away from them.
Ya'll come to Florida where our wonderful governor put in to law a designated 30 minute slot daily for teacher directed PE. If you don't have it in your plans and/or you are caught by the powers to be you are not following the law enforced by the governor....of watch out! Now, don't get me wrong.....I agree kids need a recess, but a mandated 30 minute block of teacher led recess? That's a huge chunk of time out of your instructional block.
I am surprised that they have not done that here. We got hit with 17 furlough days. We do not have another full five day week until February- then one in May and then the year ends! I have not heard rumors about this but I would not be surprised. Can you take your kids out anyway?
Thanks for all your responses!! I am a specialist teacher, so I do not deal with the repercussions of this action. I was just curious, because I have never heard of this being done-ever. The deal is, the block they assign for lunch/recess is 30 minutes. The P told the teachers to hurry the kids up eating so they could have recess. But 20 kids through the lunch line and done eating in 15 minutes? Right. This was all done for test scores as well. One of my teacher friends took his kids out and got in trouble
Heather, what? The kids don't have school 17 days? They don't go a full week until February? I feel like that is insane, yet that is the kind of thing that is happening.
It will be interesting to see if the test scores drop. I'm just waiting for someone to listen and say yeah..all this crazy testing is stupid. In the back of one of the rooms I teach in...I teach from a cart, which is a whole other educational problem, there are HUGE letters that says 75% or higher! Pushing them for the number on the tests. I thought I remembered reading somewhere that in Ohio it was required the kids have recess. But I might be wrong? like a pp said..if I had children in this district I would be outraged. Course I'll never let my future child go to a school that would try and pull that kind of crap off. Or to a school that doesn't have art and music in a room...being taught by someone trained in that field. oop! climbing up on a soapbox. stopping before I get there. I hope this plan in your district is a temporary failure and will go back to how it should be.
