“Ninety-nine percent of the teachers talked about how bad the behavior was,” Jean-Michel shared. “Students didn’t have cooperative skills to even talk to each other. They were fighting. There was no social-emotional curriculum in place.”
So Principal Jean-Michel brought Playworks to Mattahunt. “I believe that Playworks is a social-emotional program. I knew we needed Playworks right away. I needed the support that Playworks provides.”
In partnering with Playworks, Coach Akeem Flowers leads games and supports student learning on the playground all day long. He is on his feet smiling and giving high fives 180 minutes of recess doing everything he can to get kids active and included so they are ready to learn when they head back to the classroom.
And Akeem’s work is paying off. “I’m noticing that students are able to cooperate a lot more,” Jean-Michel said.
When Coach Akeem arrived to school on the first day, however, the only recess equipment available was a play structure and blacktop. So when he found out about Playworks Back to School, Back to Recess sweepstakes for $1,000 of recess equipment, he knew those kids deserve that equipment.
Coach Akeem walked into each and every classroom before and after school to introduce himself to the teachers of Mattahunt and request their help entering for a chance to win. It paid off. With more than 50 submissions to the giveaway, kindergarten teacher Mary Burke was randomly selected as the grand prize winner.
Upon hearing that Mattahunt won, Principal Jean-Michel cried. “I thought ‘this cannot be happening to us.’ I often feel like the Mattahunt is the forgotten school.”
Now everyone in the Mattahunt community knows and loves Coach Akeem. With $1,000 of recess equipment on the way, this school is ready to play!
“We absolutely need [the equipment].” Jean-Michel shared. “Maybe this is the turnaround that we need.”
Special thanks to S&S Worldwide for their donation of the prizes. Playworks and S&S Worldwide are working together to help schools and youth organizations increase healthy play opportunities for students throughout the school day and beyond. Learn more by visiting: www.ssww.com/
