School districts across the country are making a statement that children deserve time for play in their school day. Last year Chicago Public Schools mandated daily recess. This year Rochester City School District followed suit. These stories make us proud. But underneath the mandates are hundreds of school administrators and staff trying to make recess not only work, but shine for the kids in their schools.
The understanding: making recess mandates work takes time, commitment and funding. Given the constraints that schools are already facing, figuring out where to start can be overwhelming. We hope we can help steer administrators and staff in the right direction. Here are the key components to focus on to make sure mandated play time works for both your students and staff:
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A plan. First and foremost, administrators, teachers, parents, and even community members and/or partner organizations need to get together to make a plan. This plan must be discussed, developed, redeveloped and agreed upon by all parties. Having everyone on board for your recess plan will make it more manageable, and even fun. In fact, we recommend you kick off your first recess meeting with the ice breaker game, Zip, Zap, Pop. Hey, adults need playtime too!
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Professional development. Give every recess monitor proactive tools to manage both recess and groups of kids. This professional development will give adults on the playground the confidence and skills to make recess more fun, active and inclusive for every kid.
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Great games. Introduce rotational games and new tag games to the playground. These games will get dozens of students active and involved — not wasting their precious recess minutes standing on the sidelines or arguing with other students.
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Smooth transitions. Often, challenging behavior flares up during transitions to and from recess. Plan and introduce engaging and fun transitions to move smoothly back to classroom learning.
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Space. You may need to get creative to ensure students have space to play. Have blacktop, but no lines? Work with parents and community members to put down some paint. Don’t know what to do for indoor recess? Consider any room or even hallway.
This is going to take time, but when you see the joy on the students faces, it will be worth it! So start learning and exploring now, put together a team and a plan so your daily mandatory recess is great!
Need help? Playworks provides workshops and consultative visits to schools and school districts all across the country. Request an assessment today!
